I was having some trouble with cyclical vomiting syndrome for a couple years and perhaps as a result of that I have holes in my teeth now which I have never had before. This year I am focusing on remineralising my teeth, so I will be posting ways to get more dietary calcium soon too. In reading about remineralising your teeth I came across some information that indicated that glycerin might actually damage your tooth enamel. Most of the herbal toothpastes that I have been using over the past couple years have glycerin in them. I have never had a filling and prior to these recent health issues, I never even had a hole in my teeth. Over the last couple years I switched to herbal toothpastes, so it is possible that the glycerin could have caused additional damage.

It seems the jury is still out about the glycerin, but I am not taking any risks, therefore I have started making my own tooth powder. I have been using it for about a month now and things are going pretty well. I combine this with oil pulling for two weeks out of every month. While on the GAPS diet when going through detoxification processes it is common to get really bad breath. The oil pulling helps a lot with this and I have also gotten in the habit of carrying a little case of fennel seeds with me wherever I go in case of emergencies.

Sage and Soda Tooth Powder

• 3T sage (dry or fresh, if you use fresh you can use less)
• 1 t ground fennel
• 1 t ground cloves
• 1/2 c sea salt (I always use Himalayan crystal salt these days
• 4 T baking soda

Method:
Grind all the ingredients together in a spice grinder. Put into a container and use a pinch or two on your wet toothbrush when brushing your teeth. Sage and cloves are both very good for your teeth, the salt gives a little texture to the mix, and the baking soda is a great cleaner.

This mixture is great for healing gum disease problems as well. Please feel free to experiment with this recipe and add in mint or other flavors if that is what you like. It takes a little getting used to as it doesn’t foam up like conventional toothpaste, but at least you don’t have to worry about fluoride and those other chemicals they like to put in there and it is much cheaper!

Another recipe for homemade toothpaste here.