Natural & Organic Oral Care
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Importance of good oral care
We all want to have healthy, attractive teeth and pleasant smelling breath. This is nothing new; throughout history people have used everything from honey and oil through to charcoal, plain baking powder and salt to clean their teeth.
Tooth decay and bad breath are very common human conditions, and we are told that it is very important that we brush our teeth at least twice a day. But why? Brushing is important as it removes food and bacteria from our mouths.
Tooth decay begins when we eat. Food gets stuck in our mouth, and between our teeth. If that food is not removed properly, it rots and bacteria thrives. Bacteria begins to weaken the enamel layer of the tooth and eventually causes cavities. Acidic foods like refined sugar, alcohol, carbonated drinks and peanuts create an environment that makes it even easier for cavity causing bacteria to thrive. Bacteria can also be a cause of bad breath.
So most oral health experts advise us to brush our teeth twice a day, floss and rinse with mouthwash. This helps to remove food deposits which gather around the gums and between the teeth. Brushing also stimulates blood flow in the gums and oral tissues, which helps to heal wounds.
Toothpaste & Mouthwash from Nature
Over the last century we have seen the industrial age come to Oral Care. These days most toothpaste and mouthwash is produced with the proverbial “cocktail of chemicals”. Have a look at the ingredients list of any conventional toothpaste or mouthwash brand and you’ll see a long list of chemicals.
Thankfully there are some natural and organic toothpaste and mouthwash products out there that work effectively without chemicals.
Ingredients in toothpaste
We use toothpaste to give our mouth a fresh clean feeling, to strengthen our teeth, and of course to help remove plaque from tooth enamel. But how does our toothpaste achieve this and what ingredients does it use?
Conventional toothpastes are generally made with a polishing agent, to help your toothbrush to remove gunk from your teeth, a surfactant which produces foam, a humectant for moisturising and preserving, a thickener, flavour, fluoride, sweetener, & artificial colouring. Most of these ingredients are straight from a refinery, laboratory or factory.
Naturally Safe Cosmetics have sourced toothpastes that still have the same oral care properties, but their ingredients are natural rather than chemical origin. For example, organic aloe vera leaf juice is used as a humectant and thickener rather than glycerine or sorbitol; and peppermint, fennel or lemon myrtle essential oils are used instead of manufactured artificial flavour.
Natural toothpastes use sodium bicarbonate as a main ingredient to help neutralise acids. High acid levels in our mouth provides an excellent environment for cavity causing bacteria to grow. Sodium bicarbonate is also a natural way to whiten your teeth. It can even be used as a cheap alternative mouthwash; just rinse a mouthful of water and a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate after eating.
Many natural tooth care products do not contain any sugar or artificial flavours. Their tastes are little sharper than ordinary toothpaste, but they won’t contribute to raising the acid level in your mouth.
Some of the natural ingredients that are used to replace the chemical cocktail include:
Aloe Vera’s healing properties help to prevent and heal cold sores, gingivitis and blisters. So its high usage in natural toothpaste helps to improve gum conditions and therefore prevents bad breath associated with oral bacteria.
Peppermint is added to toothpaste for more than its fresh taste. It inhibits growth of some bacteria and is high in vitamin C and A, and has trace amounts of nutrients like iron, calcium, magnesium and omega 3.
Parsley is rich in the green pigment chlorophyll, which is powerful breath freshener.
Thyme is a natural antiseptic and antifungal. Therefore mouthwash’s such as Riddells creek is also good for preventing oral thrush
Sodium bicarbonate neutralised acids and assists in whiten teeth
Calcium Carbonate not only polishes teeth and removes plaque, it also strengthens teeth by providing calcium
Fluoride in Toothpaste & Mouthwash
Although fluoride does strengthen teeth, it is a cumulative poison. This means that in large doses it causes harm and it can accumulate in the body and health experts recommend only trace amounts of fluoride should be consumed. Over the last couple of decades this has prompted significant debate about the Fluoride being added to dinking water and oral care products.
If fluoride is being added to our water supply, do we really need it in our toothpaste and mouthwash as well? Fluoride is not used in any of the natural toothpastes that Naturally Safe Cosmetics sell.
Preventing bad breath
To prevent bad breath, the following steps could be taken:
1. Floss your teeth daily, to remove food between your teeth where foul smelling bacteria flourishes
2. Drink water which helps to produce saliva; a natural mouth cleaner.
3. Wash your mouth out with a mouthwash that contains parsley, fennel or peppermint, which are natural breath fresheners.
4. Avoid acidic foods, especially at night, like garlic, carbonated drinks and something else
Cheers
Sonya
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More infomation at Wikipedia