Until recent years you either used what everyone else did, or you could make your own toothpaste at home with some simple ingredients.  Natural toothpaste is simply cleaning products for the teeth and gums that do not contain any chemicals or manmade ingredients. It may or may not be in a paste form.  Some natural cleaning products come in a liquid form and may only require a few drops sprinkled on your brush to clean well. Others may be powdered and mixed with water to form a paste that can then be used.

No matter what form it comes in the most important component is the ingredients themselves.  Most regular toothpaste contain a combination of several key ingredients including fluoride, some form of sugar, and sodium laurel sulfate (SLS)—a detergent found in many health and hygiene products like soap and shampoo.  SLS is what makes the foamy suds that we associate with brushing our teeth, and it may be combined with various other chemicals that keep your toothpaste moist, remove calcium and magnesium from the mouth, and to even make it thicker.

Natural toothpaste does not contain any of these synthetic chemicals and is derived from ingredients that are found from natural sources like plants and herbs. Even though they contain many different ingredients from what regular toothpaste holds you may notice very little differences when you use a natural form.  Effective and reliable, natural toothpaste is a safe alternative to traditional oral care methods.  When used regularly and with proper brushing techniques and flossing your oral health can be not only maintained but also improved.

Look for natural ingredients like peppermint, spearmint and almond oils in the ingredient list.  Keep an open mind about individual products and remember that just because it doesn’t look like a paste, doesn’t mean that it won’t be effective.