Making your own charcoal toothpaste

Marina Bistrin has been experimenting with making her own charcoal toothpaste.

Making your own toothpaste can save on plastic packaging as you can re-use your own containers such as little screw top pots or jars. I also think these toothpastes are also healthier for you and cheaper to make.

To make toothpaste or toothpowder, you need a very fine abrasive. So, activated charcoal by itself could be used to clean teeth, but people also often add a binder, such as coconut oil, when they make it from natural products. Most of the recipes that I have found on the Internet (listed at the end of this article) use activated charcoal, coconut oil and sodium bicarbonate, which in itself will make an effective tooth cleaner. I bought some activated charcoal/coconut oil toothpaste a few years back and found that it cleaned my teeth better than normal toothpaste.

You can also add other ingredients for their healing giving and purifying properties, including essential oils, turmeric and coconut oil. Essential oils are also added as breath freshers. An interesting addition is bentonite clay, which can be a mild abrasive and also absorbs toxins.

Some recipes include calcium carbonate, which is a common commercial toothpaste ingredient. Some also include sweeteners such as xylitol and stevia, but I don’t think that these are necessary.

I made my own recipe using:
Activated charcoal.
Coconut oil.
Sodium bicarbonate.
Fine sea salt.
Tea tree oil.

The coconut oil needs to be melted and then the other ingredients added in.

The activated charcoal powder is used as the abrasive instead of the calcium carbonate found in most commercial toothpastes. Activated charcoal is a very fine powder, so it won’t cause abrasive damage to your gums. It also binds toxins.

Mixing the charcoal with coconut oil as a binder works well and coconut oil also is meant to be good for cleaning/ purifying the mouth and teeth. There is a practice called oil-pulling, where you take about a teaspoon or so of coconut oil and swish it through your teeth for a long time and then spit it out. This is supposed to draw out impurities and help with gum health.

Sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda, bicarb soda), absorbs toxins, has a gentle soap-like action, and seems like a good binder (as it absorbs oils as well as mixing well with water). It’s also alkaline.

I add fine sea salt for antiseptic properties and for its initial abrasiveness before it dissolves in the mouth.

The final addition is tea tree oil for its antiseptic properties.

If I had had some peppermint oil, or other oil that had a nice fragrance, i would have included that. Adding essential oils is a chance to add some healing oils to not just clean your teeth but leave some health giving properties behind.

This toothpaste made a great tooth cleaner with a texture like an oily paste. Over time, it started to become powdery so I wet my toothbrush first before dipping into the mix.

Of course, the main thing you would want to know is what did the sink look like afterwards! Well, it was black but washed off really easily with warm water and a cloth. I am going to try adding turmeric powder next time – hope it doesn’t make my gums go yellow!

Another question you may ask: is activated charcoal the same as biochar? I’m not sure but you can read about the subject here.

Recipes from the Internet

www.biome.com.au/blog/natural-whitening-tooth-powder:
2 tablespoon bentonite clay.
1 teaspoon bicarb soda.
1 teaspoon pure, unrefined sea salt.
1 teaspoon turmeric.
½ teaspoon activated charcoal.
10 drops peppermint essential oil.

www.thecoconutmama.com/charcoal-toothpaste-recipe:
½ teaspoon activated charcoal.
2 tablespoons baking soda.
2 tablespoons coconut oil.
1-2 drops of essential oils (optional).

Askthedentist.com/diy-charcoal-whitening-toothpaste:
2 teaspoons activated charcoal.
3 teaspoons calcium carbonate.
1 teaspoon food grade bentonite clay.
2½ teaspoons xylitol.
4 teaspoons distilled water.
2 teaspoons cold-pressed organic coconut oil (melted).