Tooth Powder is a modern healthy alternative to toothpaste. It lacks the chemical ingredients that cause toothpaste to foam up in your mouth and is instead composed of mineral ingredients such as clay, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate (in the form of hydroxyapatite), and sometimes magnesium and or humic/fulvic minerals. Frequently, tooth powders also contain sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda), xylitol, sea salt, and essentials oils.
What sets tooth powder apart from toothpaste is the elimination of substances like sodium laurel sulfate, or any number of chemicals from the same family. These foaming agents do not serve a function related to cleaning or remineralizing the teeth, but instead produce a lather, like soap, which gives the sensation of 'cleaning the teeth'.
Alternatively, tooth powders eliminate unnecessary ingredients and instead focus on function. They function in four main ways. Mild abrasives such as clay and calcium carbonate help to remove debris from the tooth surface and gently polish the enamel. Simultaneously, mineral substances such as hydroxyapatite (a specific form of calcium phosphate), and fulvic acid, provide the basic building blocks for the tooth enamel and dentin (bony structure of tooth) and can help to remineralize these structures. Third, substances like baking soda help to alkalize the oral cavity and reduce the presence of cavity causing acids which erode the enamel, as well as helping to balance the microbiome (healthy bacterial colonies) of the mouth. Lastly, essential oils such as orange, and peppermint, freshen the breath and can reduce the presence of harmful bacteria, which contribute to the formation of acidic substances that break down the tooth enamel and lead to cavities.
In reality, tooth powder ingredients work synergistically with one another and often operate in more than one of the ways described above. Modern scientific studies have demonstrated in multiple lab controlled experiments that some of the ingredients, such as hydroxyapatite, do in fact help to remineralize and therefore strengthen the tooth enamel. While it’s true that this ingredient can be found in both toothpastes and tooth powders, the modern trend of moving away from unnecessary and toxic ingredients in favor of natural and organic alternatives makes tooth powder an obvious choice for the health minded consumer.
Whatever you may choose for your family remains up to you, but its always wise to know your ingredients, and to understand their function. After all, everything that goes into the mouth, also goes into the body because of the highly porous nature of the oral mucosa.
Click here for a detailed breakdown of our tooth powder ingredients...
