Is Your Toothpaste Toxic?
Do me a favor. Go and get your tube of toothpaste right now and look on the back. Somewhere on there you are going to probably see a warning, in case you swallow any of the toothpaste. It will tell you to call the poison center. Surprised? I don’t know about you but it seems pretty crazy to me that something most all of us put in our mouths 2-3 times or more everyday, should be considered a poison. Granted I usually don’t swallow my toothpaste, but I am sure that I am not getting absolutely all of it rinsed out every time I brush and some of it ends up being swallowed. And since I brush so much, that has to add up over time, and it can’t be good, the toxins eventually have to build up. So what is poisonous about most toothpastes?
Turns out there one chemical that is commonly present in a lot, if not most toothpastes, and one that is becoming more and more common. The first one is fluoride. Yep, fluoride is a poison and from day one when it was first introduced into our water supplies and put into our toothpastes many medical scientists and researchers have warned of the health risks. In fact many, if not most of the rest of the developed world has banned it from products, let alone their water supplies. If you check the research you will find that there is a large amount of research showing it to be dangerous for human consumption and not a shred of credible evidence (research not funded or otherwise controlled by the fluoride industry) to show that it helps with tooth health or has any other health benefit, whatsoever.
The other nasty substance that is popping up in toothpaste more and more is an off shoot of the recent “bacteria phobia”. Seems increasingly toothpaste manufacturers are making their products antibacterial and the majority of the time they will use the chemical triclosan as their antibacterial agent. The problem with this is triclosan is a pesticide that has plenty of research showing it causes disease in humans. Now if this was the only exposure we were presented with it might not be a big deal, but it is not. The fact is way too many of our products have disease causing chemistry and it all adds up eventually to a large toxic load. Probably the best strategy to deal with your toxic load is to cleanup the areas where you are exposed everyday or multiple times per day, such as your toothpaste.
It is a particularly easy area to address as there are many natural products on the market. They are relatively inexpensive and they last forever if used correctly. Contrary to popular belief you only need a small glob of paste, on the tip of your brush, not covering the whole brush as is usually advertised. You can even make your own by creating a paste of baking soda with peroxide. It is not sweet like most commercial pastes but I hear it does an exceptional job of cleaning and sanitizing the teeth and mouth. I still wouldn’t swallow!
Yours In Health.