Ask Yahoo!
Ask Home - Yahoo! - Help

 Ask Yahoo!
Wednesday January 2, 2002 Previous | Next
Dear Yahoo!:
Is it possible to make toothpaste with supplies already located in a household?
Kristen
Gardiner, Maine
Dear Kristen:
According to various web sites, you can make effective and economical toothpaste from ingredients you may have around the house or ones you can usually find at a drugstore or supermarket. Searching on homemade toothpaste led to several recipes.

The basis for most homemade tooth cleansers is baking soda. Just mix it with a few drops of water, dunk your toothbrush in the paste, and brush your teeth. Another recipe calls for mixing three parts baking soda to one part salt for a more abrasive toothpaste -- better for scrubbing debris off your choppers. For extra whitening power, put a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in the baking soda.

Some chemicals commonly found in commercial toothpastes can be found at home. Calcium carbonate is an abrasive mineral used in many toothpastes -- at home, you can use finely powdered, unflavored Tums antacid. Add that to the cleaning agent, sodium bicarbonate (good old baking soda again), mix with a little bit of water, and you have paste for your teeth.

If you prefer a thicker paste consistency, try adding a little glycerin to any of the baking soda mixes. Glycerin is often available in drugstores. For a minty fresh taste, add peppermint or wintergreen oil or even cinnamon extract, flavoring ingredients which can be found at grocery stores.

 
Related Links
·Does toothpaste expire?
·How do they make pork rinds?
·What are the basic ingredients of toothpaste?
·Crest
·Oral-B Brush Buddies
More Questions About
·Health & Wellness
·Yahoo! Answers - Health
Get Ask Your Way
·Most Popular
·Yahoo! Toolbar
· View RSS Feed  add to My Yahoo!
Email this page -    Save to del.icio.us    Save to My Web    Digg This

Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy

All information available through or in connection with Ask Yahoo! is informational only and provided "as is" without warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind. Yahoo! disclaims any and all implied warranties respecting Ask Yahoo!. Use of Ask Yahoo! is entirely at your own risk and is not a substitute for conducting your own research.