Peppermint/Spearmint Tooth Soap

[Christy Doc Holley]

Robin it looks great ! I too have only been using soap since I read the thread .I really do see a diffrence in using it .Im using a salt bar and I told my son it is special tooth paste and he loves it !

[lindsaycb]

Well I have to say my teeth feel spectacular just from one brushing. I'll be keeping at this one!

Thanks for the thread Robin!

[maryann]

Meredith, that's some interesting reading!!

I tried it with my oatmeal castile (no FO)~yuk... I tried it w/ a peppermint eo salt bar~yuk! Hurry Leslie I need those EOs I'm all out .

[lindsaycb]

Well my husband wants to shoot me on how I won't shut up about the feeling.

I just grabbed one of my lavender bars and its made of rbo, lard, coconut, palm & olive. But I'll go to a basic recipe without lard.

My thought would be...can we add flavor oil to it? But then I thought...DUH...you're brushing with sugar.

[Jeana]

Ok, so you just make a batch of regualar soap and put in way more eo than normal?

Would you stick with a more basic recipe, leaving out all the shea butter and silk stuff?

This is a totally new concept to me.

How fresh is your breath after?

[lindsaycb]

I would think its pointless for any extras. I'm almost curious if you could do a simple base of coconut oil soap.

Then I was thinking, why not liquid soap then?

Bunny, try your new liquid soap out on your teeth and tell it how it feels.

[RobinInOR]

No, don't put in "way more" EO - that could be incredibly dangerous. Stick to .5 oz or even less ppo - gums can be very sensitive.

I would just use a basic recipe - it's the soap molecule that's doing the cleaning, not the excess oils. My standard recipe is 3-4% lye discount and it seems to work well.

I saw some mention of liquid soap and teeth somewhere - but they said don't cuz there's other chemicals in there. They probably didn't mean handmade tho.

[Jeana]

I would think clove or tea tree would be really beneficial to add too. They are well known for their antibac and antiviral qualities.

The link Raising men gave has liquid tooth soap. Her products seemed super expensive.

I have a peppermint soap I'll have to try for this. Yikes, I'm scared!

I know you said to keep it off your tongue to avoid tasting the soap, but I am big on brushing my tongue. So you just have to deal with the taste if you are a tongue brusher right? Sorry for such a stupid question:embarasse

[TexasBrat]

Is there concern for selling these that people might do it wrong and come after you b/c they didn't follow instructions? They get sick, swallow the soap and claim they have issues now, kwim?

[lindsaycb]

I would think anyone could get sick from swallowing toothpaste. Guess we just fall in the same field as listing the instructions like they do.

[RobinInOR]

Yup, you aren't supposed to swallow regular toothpaste either. This product does have more liability exposure than soap, but then again, so do candles

Actually, most toothpastes are classified as drugs (another reason you don't want to add fluoride, you don't want to go there...). Hear are the warnings on Crest:

Keep out of reach of children under 6 yrs of age. If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.

Do not Swallow. To minimize swallowing use a pea-sized amount in children under 6. Supervise children's brushing until good habits are established. Children under 2, ask a dentist.

We should market it just as soap (it cleans teeth) and that's it. But I'd definately label it along with the cosmetic rules - full ingredient list, net weight, etc. etc.

[Raising Men]

I'm a tongue-brusher too, so I just brush my tongue with plain water. It works fine for me. The book recommends using a tongue scraper or some other method for scraping the tongue if it bothers you. I haven't had a problem with breath, and my mouth tastes fresh. My kids say they like tooth soap because you can eat or drink something in the morning right after brushing, and it doesn't taste nasty like toothpaste did.

[angiebaby]

Just thinking out loud, but I wonder if you could add some sweetener (not sugar of course) like stevia or splenda. Maybe that might make it more palatable. But, not sure if the lye might do something to the molecules that might make it bitter. I wouldn't use aspartame (Nutrasweet) because I would guess that it would split the molecules up and have a bitter effect rather than sweet (the reason you can't bake with Nutrasweet).

[Raising Men]

Well, I would definitely NOT use Splenda. As a purchaser of tooth soap, I wouldn't buy one with Splenda in it. To me, you might as well put flouride in it if you use Splenda. It's considered pretty unhealthy, just as bad as aspartame, etc. Most purchasers of tooth soap will probably be health-concious, and would steer clear of it.

If I were going to try to sweeten it somehow, I'd probably lean toward something like Xylitol. It's natural, safe, healthy, and is actually GOOD for your teeth. It helps prevent tooth decay. It comes from sources like fruit. Many chewing gums now prominently display the fact that they contain Xylitol.

I have it in my cabinet and use it for sweetening some of our drinks. It's in white powder form and I get it from my health food coop. I don't know how it would react in soap, but I guess it's worth a shot, eh?

I suppose you could use Stevia too. I use Stevia everyday in my morning cup of tea. Healthy, natural. If I were to choose, I'd probably go for Xylitol in a tooth product I was buying over Stevia, but either one would have label appeal for me.

HTH!

Your friendly consumer

[OFCILynn]

Boy, this sure does give new meaning to getting your mouth washed ouit with soap!! LOL I may not have minded when I was a kid if soap was like this!! Amazing concept you got going there!! Ill have to try some!!

God Bless,

Lynn

[lindsaycb]

I would think you'd want to HP a soap with sweetener in it. If you add it in the lye water like sugar, doesn't it just make the lather nicer?

Just a thought.

I'm thinking I'd HP this soap just for the purpose of getting the most out of my essential oils. Tea tree, orange/peppermint.

We're giving it a thumbs up in our house. My son swears that he'll never use toothpaste again. He doesn't want the poison in his mouth. FUNNY what 8 year olds say.

[Rebecca_IA]

One of the things that I have come across in my research about teeth is that glycerin is in most toothpastes and it's sticky. It takes several rinses (I think 5 or 7) to completely get the glycerin off of your teeth. When damage happens to teeth (not major damage) they are designed to remineralize themselves, but they can't do that if they are coated.

In the process of making soap, glycerin is a natural by product so wouldn't tooth soap have the same problem? I wonder though, if the glycerin from tooth soap is easier to rinse off or it's not as sticky as the glycerin added to commercial toothpaste.

I have a son that is very susceptible to cavities. He's off of fluoride altogether and this has not created more cavities, fewer of them. July 2005 checkup he had 7 of them. By the time he got them fixed, there were 4. January 2006, he had one very small surface one. We've also stopped with the fluoride treatments at the dentist and the fluoride mouth washes and he's on bottled non-fluoridated water. And the only sweetener we use is Xylitol (sold in the health food stores, costs more per pound but you use way less of it so in the end, you are about even). (Yes, our dentist knows everything I am doing with/for him and he approves of it all and he also knows I'm making these changes for my entire family, not just one and he's okay with that too, so these are supervised changes approved of by the dentist).

From my research, the teeth will benefit from fluoride on them, but not in your body, so it's senseless to add it to the water. Toothpaste and mouth rinses are enough. But in my son's case, he seems to have a sensitivity to fluoride, so for him, removing as much as we can from his diet and hygiene has been beneficial.

I also wonder if adding clay wouldn't increase the benefit of using tooth salt, like adding scrubbies to the soap. Most toothpastes purchased at the health food store have clay in them, but they aren't gritty at all.

The tooth shreds that I came across were made from 100% castor oil. I did some initial research on this, but set this project aside for the time period. I don't remember why 100% castor, but there was a reason.

[Rebecca_IA]

Said all that and forgot to tell you the soap looks great Robin.

[Sara]

You raise some interesting points, Rebecca. I like the idea of it, but think the shreds are more hygenic. I'm not sure about rubbing a toothbrush on a bar of soap day after day? Especially if you share the bar with more than one person.

But I like the idea of the soap. Is there nothing we soapers can't do?

Great job, Robin!!

[Raising Men]

Rebecca, you've read some of the same things I have. Regarding the glycerin and rinsing the teeth, according to the Tooth Soap book, the "natural" glycerin in homemade soap is not as "sticky" to the teeth and washes off after about 2 rinses. I have instructed my sons to rinse twice after brushing.

You're right about the teeth re-mineralizing. One other thing the book recommends is rinsing the mouth with water after eating anything. Another thing is AVOIDING the harsh tooth-scraping you get at a dental cleaning. Apparently it destroys the coating the teeth have built up, and punctures "holes" in it, allowing for more cavities. Using tooth soap, however, prevents the toothpaste-stickiness which causes plaque to stick to your teeth like glue, which prevents the need for the scraping altogether.

Who knew tooth stuff could be so fascinating??

[RobinInOR]

I don't think our soaps have as much glycerin in them as toothpaste (and, interestingly enough, mouthwash). Crest toothpaste has glycerin in position #4, right after water and sorbitol.

Well, multi person families will just have to buy more than one bar, eh Sara? I guess I don't worry about it that much because a) the soap doesn't get that wet from a damp toothbrush and the soap environment, even if there's a little water there, is too basic to support any kind of nasty life, really. All mine gets is dusty

But I agree that there are better ways to package it than the way I've got - I'm just lazy. It would be cute shredded up in a little jar.

[Rebecca_IA]

Rebecca, you've read some of the same things I have. Regarding the glycerin and rinsing the teeth, according to the Tooth Soap book, the "natural" glycerin in homemade soap is not as "sticky" to the teeth and washes off after about 2 rinses. I have instructed my sons to rinse twice after brushing.

You're right about the teeth re-mineralizing. One other thing the book recommends is rinsing the mouth with water after eating anything. Another thing is AVOIDING the harsh tooth-scraping you get at a dental cleaning. Apparently it destroys the coating the teeth have built up, and punctures "holes" in it, allowing for more cavities. Using tooth soap, however, prevents the toothpaste-stickiness which causes plaque to stick to your teeth like glue, which prevents the need for the scraping altogether.

Who knew tooth stuff could be so fascinating??

Hey, thanks a lot for answering my question(s) about the glycerin.

I think I need to add this to my list of things to do and try it out to see how it works.

[Brenda]

I've been following this thread with interest. After brushing my teeth with frosty lime soap for over a week and a half I do notice a difference! So now my husband is on the bandwagon too!

I shredded up another of my frosty lime bars (eo's), popped some of it in a 4 oz. container and took it into work. Our school secretary is going to test it out for me. Then at lunch a gal who had talked to our secretary expressed interest, and while I was talking to her two other co-workers said they wanted to test it out too. So I've got their containers ready. I'm most interested in what their results will be. I am very pleased with how my teeth and gums feel.

Might have to mix up a special batch of tooth soap this weekend. Thanks, Robin, for posting your creation. This is fun! There is always something to learn here on CT.

[maryann]

I'm having a brain freeze ... I've read else where about shredding and don't understand why?? Someone please explain, I can see how its more sanitary is that it? If so another ?? how do you use shreds w/ your toothbrush? Silly ??s I know but I can't wrap my brain around this :rolleyes2 TIA.

[Raising Men]

Hi Maryann! I got my wonderful box from you today and your products are awesome! I'll e-mail you later with my raves...

About the tooth soap...The shreds are very convenient to use and more sanitary. You only need one shred per brushing. With the jar of soap I bought, there were 2 sets of instructions for using it, one in the book and one on the jar. One said to place one shred on your wet toothbrush and run water over it, then start brushing. The other said to place a shred on your back teeth, bite down, then start brushing. I've tried both ways, and I prefer the shred-on-toothbrush approach. No reason really, except that it's a little less time consuming for me.

Also, acc'd to the research, we should brush our teeth no longer than 2 minutes, and use a soft toothbrush with a light hand.

I really would like to read the book again, but I lent it to a friend. Fascinating stuff.