Natural Toothpaste Recipe for Children

Why a natural toothpaste recipe?

Why do I like to use a natural toothpaste recipe? The iffy ingredients in most brands available in stores. Even a lot of “natural” brands contain risky ingredients. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to be greenwashed.

Why didn't anyone tell me how easy it is to make this natural toothpaste recipe?! My kids LOVE the taste!

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Greenwashing

Unfortunately, American laws lend themselves to greenwashing. Even brands with natural looking words and package design contain less-than-the-best ingredients. Sadly, deceptive tactics used by personal care companies are rampant here in the U.S. It is really important to read labels! Simple? Yes. But not always easy in our hectic world.

Commercial Toothpaste Ingredients

Some of the ingredients I don't care for in store bought toothpastes, some even found in the natural-looking brands, include:

fluoride
sodium laurel sulfate
propylene glycol
dea
hydrated silica
glycerine
saccharin
aspartame
triclosan and recently, even
polyethylene beads.

Check your toothpaste labels. Do you see any of these ingredients listed?

I'm not going to go into all the risks of using these ingredients, some are certainly more risky than others. But you can google more information about each easily enough. Let's just say I just don't want those things in my mouth. Nor in my children's. That's why I created our natural toothpaste recipe.

What I want in a natural toothpaste recipe for children

Safe, natural ingredients
Yummy flavor, so my kids will WANT to brush!

Simple, right?

Remineralizing ingredients would be ideal, but my first goal is to get my kids used to using homemade toothpaste before I add some of the mineral rich ingredients. I added some bentonite clay to my first batch, but the flavor was just too earthy for my nine year old. So I took it to use for myself, and I love it!

Plus, so far my six kids have all been cavity free. Kind of amazing, considering my mouth full of fillings! So minerals are not the most important ingredient for the kiddos just now. My husband has really good teeth. I, on the other hand, have a lot of fillings. The kids must have more of his good genes, thankfully. Plus our diet probably helps a little, too.

Natural Toothpaste Recipe for Children:
Mandarin Berry Toothpaste

Recipe Ingredients:

1/3 cup Coconut Oil, you can get it here.

a pinch of Sea Salt, get it here.

1/4 teaspoon (or 25 drops) Berry Stevia, for flavor and sweetness (I bought locally, but this is a better deal).

10 drops Vanilla Stevia, for flavor and sweetness, you can get it here.

10 drops Mandarin Essential Oil, for scent and flavor (get it here). This mandarin oil smells amazing. I LOVE it!

Directions:

Add ingredients in the order listed, stir with a spoon, and put in a small glass dish or jar. I may work on a recipe for a squeeze-tube version of this recipe, but this formulation is runny at warm temperatures, due to using coconut oil as the main ingredient. I like using a food-grade glass dish (a little Pyrex dish, like this, in this case) because it will not leach anything harmful into the toothpaste.

How to use:

Ok, here is where I usually get grossed out with a lot of online homemade toothpaste recipes. I almost gag when I see photos of freshly made toothpaste, with a toothbrush dipped in to the large batch that is supposed to last a while. In one photo, the toothpaste contained charcoal powder (which is a GREAT whitener). But the gal who wrote the recipe rested the toothbrush in a shallow dish with the toothpaste. To me, it looked like a toothbrush in an ash tray! Ugh.

Or when I read “just dip the toothbrush into the toothpaste, and use.”

Ew. Really?

It is one thing for my kids to share a water bottle, which gets washed daily (or close to it, if they are listening to my instructions, lol). It is another thing to add bacteria into the toothpaste that is intended to last for a few weeks or longer. Why use the toothpaste jar as a petri dish? Yuck! I can think of a lot of better ways to culture bacteria in our home. Like by making sauerkraut, or kefir, or kombucha (I love Mickey Trescott's Kombucha recipe in her AIP Cookbook). Yes, coconut oil is said to be antibacterial, but no. Just no. No turning the toothpaste jar into a petri dish. No dipping, please!

Here is what I tell my children: grab a clean teaspoon (our kitchen is very close to the bathroom they use), and use it to dip in to the toothpaste. Then re-cover the dish with the jar lid or plastic wrap, and brush your teeth. Bring the spoon back to the kitchen after you’re done. So far, it is working for us. (My youngest child is 7. Your mileage may vary.)

In my bathroom, a little further from the kitchen, I have some cosmetic spatulas that came with my NYR Organic kit. I use them to keep bacteria out of my face cream, so I can use my own products to share samples with my local friends.

I also use some for my toothpaste, and thoroughly wash each spatula after I’m done. You can get the spatulas from Amazon, or from NYR Organic when you join as a consultant, (if you like a bargain, you will LOVE the savings with the NYR Organic consultant kits).

Well, that's my natural toothpaste recipe for kids. Have you tried making your own toothpaste before? How did it work? Let me know in the comments!

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