New RSS Feed and Homemade Natural Mouthwash
First, let's get to business. I updated my RSS feed! Please update your readers with this new feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/affairsofliving/RYpC If you aren't into using feed readers, you can also receive notifications of new posts by e-mail; just enter your email address in the form in the right nav bar on my blog.
What's new about this feed? Simplicity! Now, all the feeds from from each section of my site - Recipes & Lifestyle, Healing Journal, and Garden Journal - have been merged into a single feed. Finally! It took a little head scratching and some quality time on YahooPipes and Feedburner, but I figured it out!
Now, on to something more exciting: dental hygiene.
Homemade natural mouthwash is effective, affordable, easy, and tasty!
I make most of my own body products from very basic, simple ingredients. One thing I've changed in the last year is going from using natural store-bought toothpastes to using tooth powder and homemade mouthwash. I use pascalite clay and baking soda to brush my teeth, and it works like charm. My dentist even commented that my teeth look better than they did at my last visit (I didn't tell him I stopped using toothpaste). I love how smooth my teeth feel from the gentle abrasion of the clay and baking soda. The one downside of pascalite clay is that it tastes like clay. Sometimes I add a drop of peppermint or tea tree oil, but it still has a very strange, clay-like flavor that doesn't feel so "fresh". I wanted a minty rinse after brushing to wake up my mouth. I also wanted to make sure that any stray bacteria lurking around my mouth - be it Candida-related, Lyme-related, or something generally unfriendly (especially in cold season) - didn't stand a chance. I needed a mouth wash! Thankfully, there is a wonderful option that is affordable, natural, and easy-to-find: hydrogen peroxide!
Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful germicidal agent. It completes my home remedy holy trinity, along with raw apple cider vinegar and aluminum-free baking soda. I use it for all sorts of things around the house. I add it to my bath water for a detox bath, I add it to foot soaks, I use it to clean wounds and cuts, and use it to disinfect everything from toothbrushes to countertops. I love the stuff. But until recently, I'd never considered putting it in my mouth! After a little internet research and reading the bottle itself, I decided on a combination of hydrogen peroxide, water, baking soda, and essential oils to make an effective and tasty mouthwash.
It costs pennies to make, is a breeze to throw together, and helps whiten your teeth (for real!) and clean your mouth. I've had teeth staining from all my antibiotics I take for Lyme Disease treatment, and this seems to be helping clear up some of the grey color, which I'm thrilled about. But whiteness isn't everything, people! Proper mouth hygiene is good for everyone, it is imperative for individuals dealing with Candida overgrowth, Lyme Disease, Herpes simplex type 1, various inflammatory mouth conditions, or other chronic bacterial or viral infections. Oh yeah, and did I mention it's cold season? Keeping your hands and mouth clean will help you avoid getting the winter plague.
So, without further adieu, here's my recipe for natural mouthwash. Enjoy! And don't forget to update your feed reader or subscribe by email.
Homemade Natural Mouthwash
yield 2 cups
- 1 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1 Tbsp aluminum-free baking soda (I like Bob's Red Mill)
- optional: 5-8 drops high-quality organic essential oil (I like peppermint and/or tea tree from Young Living best, even though the oils in the photo are from different companies)
Combine in a jar/bottle and shake. Baking soda will slowly dissolve. Then it's ready!
When you want to use it, shake it up, then take a swig or a shot glass full of it and swish around the mouth for a minute, then spit out. You can also gargle with it. Do not swallow the mouthwash solution, consuming non-food grade hydrogen peroxide and non-food grade essential oils can be toxic. If administering to children, watch them closely to make sure they don't swallow it. Mixture will store indefinitely.
Kim @ Affairs of Living
RE: aluminum-free baking soda...
After being told by a reader that all baking soda is aluminum free, I did a little more research, and yes, it turns out that from what I can find online, that may very well be true! Baking soda is nothing but sodium bicarbonate, and by default shouldn't contain aluminum. So, you can probably buy the cheap stuff rather than shelling out the money for Bob's Red Mill "Aluminum-Free" Baking soda - it seems that calling it such is just a marketing ploy to get us to spend more money on baking soda!
Any thoughts/experience on this? any opinions/facts to counter it?
xo
Reader Comments (7)
Thanks for this recipe... I have been thinking that I would like to switch out my mouthwash for something healthier... the tinctures that my ND gives me are staining my teeth and my current regime does not seem to be helping with the staining.
Perfect timing... thanks
Jen
I hadn't realized that even swishing it in your mouth wouldn't be toxic (since I assume you inadvertently swallow some anyway). But I'm only recently discovering that hydrogen peroxide is a miracle solution!
I am just wondering about the aluminum content of pascalite clay as a toothpaste ingredient. Any research on the safety of that?j
@JEN - I hope that it works for you. I've also found that the pascalite clay/baking soda mixture seems to be helping with the whitening as well. I never thought about tinctures as a source of toothbrowning - I bet that is part of my problem too! Good luck, I hope you have pearly whites soon!
@RICKI - I love H202! I don't think that the minute amount that gets in your throat while rinsing/gargling is a problem - I think that it is an issue of quantity.
@FAY - No, I'm sorry, I dont have any research info to share about that, but that is an excellent question. I suggest you check out the FAQ portion for more information on the contents - http://www.pascalite.com/Freq.htm - or contact the company to ask them. their customer service is really great, and you should hear a response about any of your concerns. here is their contact: http://www.pascalite.com/Contact.htm
Thanks for sharing, that's a great recipe!
I was just reading on another blog about how H2O2 is dangerous in that it kills both bad stuff (bacteria, virii) and good stuff (healthy cells) and that it has carcinogenic qualities. I'm not sure what to believe, but I'm hesitant to start using it regularly. Have you read anything about that?
Thanks for posting this! I'm especially interested in your toothpaste substitutes, as I feel like a jerk every time I have to throw the empty tubes away for lack of a recycling option. I'll have to look into these alternatives!