I was recently asked by a client of mine to read a book on the subject of brushing your teeth with soap and I accepted the challenge despite the fact that many of the tidbits of knowledge she shared with me went against my conventional knowledge of dentistry. Yes, I said challenge because as a conventionally trained dental hygienist the statements “sugar doesn’t cause decay” and having your teeth professionally cleaned “is harmful” were anathema to me. That said, I took the challenge and broke the barrier and learned something.
For my readers I think the most positive gleaned bit of knowledge I can share is brushing your teeth with soap can be quite pleasant. I tried several pure soaps that I had around the house and nearly gagged on most of them. Through some investigation I found a Kiss My Face Brand olive oil soap that is sans additives and tastes rather like brushing your teeth with olive oil without an oily feeling and no burn or unpleasant aftertaste. Dr. Bronner’s castile soap was not pleasant used in your mouth and my Tropical Traditions saponified coconut soap burned and left a bad taste. I am sure one could buy the Tooth Soap being sold online but it is expensive and why bother when olive oil soap is about $3.99 a bar and will last forever.
You might ask why bother at all? I know I did, so I have a few reasons to give it a try. First, my teeth do feel cleaner after brushing with olive oil soap and my Braun Oral-B toothbrush. It took awhile to completely get the artificial toothpaste feeling off of the tooth surfaces but once that was accomplished (within a couple of days) my teeth felt like they had been professionally cleaned without the harshness of silica, baking soda or a plethora of other polishing agents used in toothpaste and the polishing gels that we use in the dental office.
Secondly, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is an ingredient in most toothpastes and it causes a variety of negative reactions in many people. Personally,my gums (gingiva) sometimes develop aphthous ulcers from trauma (toothbrush hitting the gums) and from irritants like SLS. I still occasionally get an outbreak, which may be herpetic in nature, but they are short lived and not as irritating as they used to be. Brushing with soap seems to greatly reduce such irritations and when they do occur I brush with “sole” made from Himalayan Salt crystals and practically watch the problem disappear as I brush.
There is no fluoride in olive oil soap but I do not want fluoride in my mouth I just want clean plaque free teeth. If I feel the need for cavity protection I use xylitol in a mouth rinse that I make myself from xylitol crystals, cayenne pepper oil and a drop or two of mint essential oil. Spry makes a pleasant gum in a green tea flavor with xylitol that can be chewed for 5 minutes and then removed from your mouth or their tiny mints are preferred by those who don’t chew gum. Also Biotene (dry mouth products) makes a refreshing mouth rinse with enzymes and xylitol if you don’t want to mix up your own.
Do I believe all the assertions made in the book by the inventor of “Tooth Soap”? No. Do I think that brushing with a pure, additive free soap like Kiss My Face Olive Oil soap is a good idea? Yes, yes, yes! Give it a try. If you hate brushing with the soap you can wash your hands with it nothing lost but something gained.
Bernie McCann Friday, November 21, 2008 on 2:40 Permalink |
I was never diagnosed with Candida Albicans or ‘thrush’. I was diagnosed with Crohns. When I get ulcers or a Crohns flare-up, I get them all the way through my digestive tract. Crohns was in my family history at some point and was passed down to me. If I stay on a low-residue diet, I don’t get flare-ups. I’m sure you’re right that Prednisone, Pentasa and other drugs I take to keep it in check might lead to more serious damage, but not taking these drugs is not an option for me at the moment. I have been careful about brushing, though, and I did hear that xylitol is very good for the mouth, so I bought some gum with that stuff in it. I’m not sure where to buy xylitol by itself so that I can mix it in a mouthwash. Do you know what kind of store might carry that?
Thanks again for your helpful response.
Bernie
krisinsight Tuesday, December 9, 2008 on 19:22 Permalink |
Most doctors don’t look at yeast overgrowth as a possible cause of disease especially Crohn’s but often it is at the root of the problem going back generations in your case. In the birth canal the baby picks up the yeast from a mother who has yeast overgrowth of Candida Albicans and the painful cycle of Crohn’s repeats and repeats through the generations.
If you have any interest in checking to see if you have yeast overgrowth Great Smokies Lab sells a Yeast Sensitivity Panel but you do need a prescription from your doctor.
Iherb.com is a good place to buy pure Xylitol at a reasonable price. You can also buy Spry gum and mints (both have xylitol as the first ingredient) at Iherb for a price that is hard to beat. I use Xylitol for almost all my baking in addition to in my herbal tea and mouthwash.
krisinsight Wednesday, November 5, 2008 on 8:45 Permalink |
Hi Bernie,
I am pleased that you find my site informative and I hope to add even more information regarding candida and homeopathy. I am sure you know from my site that I will not take prescription medications unless it is the last resort as there are so many other things one can try first. I am pleased that you found something to temporarily treat the problem of aphthous ulcers but I believe that all the pharmaceutical product does is bury the problem and its return is almost guaranteed not to mention wherever it goes it may “talk” to other cells causing a more serious problem down the road than a pesky aphthous ulcer.Have you ever been treated for Candida Albicans? I am thinking more and more that it may, in fact, be the source of most ulcerations that occur in the mouth not to mention the cause of Crohn’s and other debilitating diseases.
Bernie McCann Sunday, September 28, 2008 on 7:26 Permalink |
Hi Kris,
I did not know that you can “sometimes develop aphthous ulcers from trauma (toothbrush hitting the gums)”. I get aphthous ulcers as a result of Crohns flare-ups. I use regular toothpaste, which, although it does include the sodium lauryl sulfate that some folks say causes the ulcers as well, I don’t seem to have that reaction to it.
The quickest way for me to get rid of the ulcers was by getting a prescription from my doctor for Pentasa. I take 2 grams per day in 500 mg doses. When I first started taking it, the ulcers went away in a few days and didn’t come back for over 11 months, and even then it was never as bad as the first time, when my mouth was covered with them.
I realize that prescription drugs aren’t always the best solution, but these ulcers are so painful and so many people get them these days, that I thought I would offer this as a possible solution. There’s just one caveat – one side effect of Pentasa is intense abdominal pain. Not everyone gets that but some people do.
Your blog is very informative, especially the parts about brushing with ’sole’ which I had never heard of, and brushing with olive oil soap, which, although it doesn’t seem very attractive to me – I’d like to try it at least once.
Thanks much.
Bernie