Essential #2 is to Reduce Your Toxic Exposure and Essential #5 is to Embrace Biological Dentistry. If you are going to do those two things, then you want to make sure that what you put in your mouth is clean and healthy! Why? Because everything that is absorbed into your oral cavity eventually makes its way directly into your bloodstream.

Below are 5 products that I highly recommend for keeping your gums healthy and teeth shiny white while staying safe and providing health for your whole body!

What Are the Dangers of Commercial Oral Products?

You probably already know that if you want to have a healthy body, you have to have a healthy mouth as well.

In fact, studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between inflammation in the gums, gingivitis, and incidents of Breast Cancer. At the same time, you want to make sure that the oral products that you use are beneficial and non-toxic. 

Unfortunately, this is not the case with many commercial name-brand toothpaste, dental floss, mouthwashes, and teeth whiteners on the market today.

For example, known risks of fluoride to the kidneys, bones, reproductive system, endocrine system (especially the thyroid and pineal gland), and the brain are why companies are mandated by the US Food and Drug Administration to issue a warning on the back of their oral products. 

Other harmful chemicals found in oral products include artificial sweeteners and artificial coloring (found in mouthwashes especially), chlorhexidine, methyl salicylate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), triclosan, sodium nitrate, sodium benzoate, and methylparaben. Many of these substances have been linked to Breast Cancer in women.

You can learn more about how everyday oral products are doing more harm than good by checking out the podcast interview I did with oral wellness expert Trina Felber. Trina is the Creator and CEO of Primal Life Organics, a “premier, all-natural dental care company that focuses on oral health as the gateway to internal health.” She is also a wealth of information about alternative ways of looking at oral health and health in general.

4 Safe and Effective Healthy Oral Care Alternatives 

The need to search out and use clean alternatives to commercial oral products is pretty clear. But where do you go to find brands and products that you can trust? In my years of healing my own oral and dental issues, I have found a group of oral care manufacturers that I can trust.

#1 Ora Wellness Toothpaste

I love Ora Wellness because of the care and integrity that this Hawaii-based company and family put into each one of their products.

I have used their Shine – Remineralizing Tooth Whitening Powder for years. Shine is unique because it uses Microcrystalline Hydroxyapatite in the formula, which is a form of powdered bone. Ora Wellness gets its bone from grass-fed New Zealand cattle so you know that it is made with super clean ingredients. It is effective because it is made with the same basic minerals that our own teeth are made from.

Shine whitens original teeth as well as dental restorations such as dentures, veneers, and composites through the use of white kaolin clay powder. Research has found that this one substance works best at whitening the most sensitive surfaces prone to staining.

I also like to combine Shine with the Ora Wellness USDA Certified Organic Healthy Mouth Blend, which contains cinnamon, peppermint, spearmint, clove, myrrh, and manuka essential oils. The evidence-based anti-bacterial and gum rejuvenating power of these particular essential oils has been known for decades.

Co-founder of Ora Wellness, Susan Revak, has her own “pain to passion” story with advanced periodontal disease. In fact, her journey eventually led her and her husband Will to put together their first product, the Healthy Mouth System, which is designed for individuals with advanced periodontal disease.

You can check out the Ora Wellness products HERE.

#2 Uncle Harry’s Toothpaste

Another toothpaste brand I love and have used for years is Uncle Harry’s.

Uncle Harry’s is a bentonite clay-based cleaning paste that also contains sea salt, and “pure plant essences” and that is about it! This toothpaste is a great tooth enamel “remineralizer” and it does this naturally by neutralizing both harmful bacteria and acids that may damage and weaken teeth. Uncle Harry’s comes in mild mint, cinnamon, and more. All of Uncle Harry’s products are free of harmful chemicals such as triclosan, SLS, and fluoride.

You can check out Uncle Harry’s HERE.

#3 Dental Herb Company Mouthwash

While swishing with a commercial mouthwash product may leave your mouth feeling fresh for a little while, in the end, these products absolutely do more harm than good. There is even some research that suggests that the ongoing use of certain kinds of commercial mouthwash can lead to certain kinds of cancer.

A product that I recently found out about and really like is Dental Herb Company’s Tooth and Gums Tonic.

Tooth & Gum Tonic is a real alternative to regular mouthwash that works to leave your mouth feeling fresh without harmful chlorhexidine. It is specifically designed to reduce oral bacteria and contains key herbs Gotu kola and Echinacea, both of which have been shown to stimulate healing in damaged tissue. The formula also contains essential oils like eucalyptus and lavender.

I like this product especially because it has the backing of many biological dentists and the formula is specifically designed to lower inflammation and prevent oral infection naturally.

You can find out more about Dental Herb Company HERE.

What’s In Your Dental Floss?

The next product I would like to highlight requires a little more explanation.

I know what you might be thinking: Okay, natural alternatives to harmful commercial mouthwashes and toothpaste I get. But a dental floss? What could be harmful about that?

Surprisingly, new research has shown that there could be some questionable ingredients in that glide-floss or waxed mint variety you are rubbing against your teeth and gums night after night.

A 2019 study conducted by the Silent Spring Institute found that 6 out of 18 dental floss products, including three of the major Oral B Glide Floss products, contained Teflon®-like compounds. This particular study was significant because it was able to “implicate exposure from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-based dental floss for the first time.”

PTFE (also known as “Teflon”) has been used for making Teflon®-coated cookware since the 1940s. PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid, or C8) is used in the making of Teflon®. Although it has been replaced with other (questionable) substances in many industries, PFOA is still heavily used for fast-food packaging, dental floss, and other consumer goods.

Currently, the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO-IARC) classifies PFOA as a Group 2B “possibly carcinogenic to humans” substance. The US Environmental Protection Agency states that there is “suggestive evidence of carcinogenicity…,” according to a report put out by the American Cancer Society.

Meanwhile, dozens of studies have linked both Teflon® and its raw material, PFOA, to many forms of cancer. 

#4 Burst Dental Floss

The dental floss brand I recommend comes from a company called Burst Oral Care. Burst Expanding Floss is made from microcrystalline wax, charcoal, xylitol, and mint eucalyptus. Charcoal is a natural absorber of bacteria and stain-producing materials like coffee and wine. The black color means that you can see the debris and actual plaque that you are getting out of your mouth each time you floss. The microcrystalline wax material that the floss is made out of is expandable. It is “clinically proven to remove up to 85% of plaque on tooth surfaces the toothbrush cannot reach.”

What’s more, you get to keep and reuse the outer case (and simply replace the bobbin ribbons as needed) so this is also a win for the planet as well!

You can learn more about and order Burst Expanding Dental Floss HERE.

Take Charge of Your Oral Health

You are your own best advocate when it comes to oral health. As a wise consumer, you can also decide which products are best for you. I hope that the suggestions I put out above will help make your decisions easier when choosing products.

Now that you know what to avoid and especially what options you have for your oral care, you can both embrace biological dentistry and reduce your toxic exposure at the same time!