Tooth Soap - or perhaps I just need a vacation

And did I mention that I love old tools? They just don't make
them like they used to.  Those toothbrushes have real boar
bristles, but they are way too big and scratchy to be used for
anything other than cleaning. And, yes, I use them for that.

I made tooth soap, oh! probably about a year ago.  I actually got quite absorbed by the subject and experimented with different recipes and forms.  I made one that actually (quite by accident) had the consistency of toothpaste and I really liked it.  It had a mild and nice taste and a lovely green colour but it oxidized very quickly and turned an ugly brown colour.  I used it for the longest time by wiping off the oxidized surface and using the fresh lovely green paste, but in the end I gave up and threw it out.  My current tooth soap is a white bar soap.

My interest in tooth soap started a few years ago when I started to look at toothpaste in the "natural" section of the grocery store.  I had tried Tom's and found that to be quite nice, but then I tried Weleda toothpaste and that had no fluoride.  Now I'm not going to say anything to discourage anyone from using toothpaste with fluoride, but I decided for myself that the health of my gums was a higher priority than cavities.  So I used the red Weleda toothpaste for a while and liked it a lot.  But it started me wondering what toothpaste was anyway.  And after reading labels and researching I discovered that people have used a lot of different stuff to clean their teeth and soap is certainly one of them and modern day toothpaste contains SLS.

Now, I need to say that my dentist hasn't noticed any change in my oral health since I gave up commercial toothpaste, but I would not want to interfere with anyones use of the commercial stuff.  I just gag if I use it after all this time.  Nuclear waste springs to mind.

But I am very interested to hear if anyone has done experiments with tooth soap.  The soap that I have used for the last few months is very simple and I have to admit that it has a horrible taste.  But only in the beginning, you get used to it.  It's a basic 70% olive and 30% coconut.  To that I added calcium and magnesium tablets that I crushed and some bicarbonate as well.  The bicarb is what gives it an unpleasant taste.  In an effort to counteract that I added some Xylitol, but I cant's say that I taste any sweetness.

If I were to do another one (which I will eventually although tooth soap seems to lasts forever) I would probably try to dig up the recipe for the green paste and use some parts of that and use 100% olive oil.  Suds really are unnecessary.  But I have to say that my favorite recipe is the one that I read that Benjamin Franklin used. It was honey and charcoal.  My son-in-law agreed to try it out with me and I think I have to hold him to it.

But, having confessed to this strangeness, I also have to admit that I just really need a vacation.  I think I have mentioned once or twice that I don't like cold weather at all.  So even if we have had a fairly mild winter so far I am jumping ship and heading for the southern seas to bask in sunshine for two weeks.
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