My Oral Health Protocol

As a child my parents made me floss every single night, no exception, and brush every single night. They actually set a timer for 2 minutes and my brothers and I would have to brush continuously until the timer finished. From so many years of doing it, I felt icky on the rare occasions that I didn’t floss and brush before bed and so always brought my floss and toothbrush everywhere. No matter how late it was or how tired I was, I just always had to brush and floss my teeth.

I honestly only go maybe one night every couple months where I don’t, and still continue to brush AND floss every night (ok now I’m starting to feel like a dentist). About 4.5 years ago, I started using natural toothpastes. Now, I’m actually experimenting with brushing with neem oil and xylitol, both natural substances that support teeth and gum health.

Neem is a tree, and its oil has been widely used in India for a long time and is an amazing antiseptic. It can also be taken internally and I often put it in teas. Xylitol, despite its odd name that makes it sound like a very highly processed and fake substance, is actually from birch tree bark. Not all xylitol on the market is actually from birch trees, some is from corn. Gabriel has done a fair amount of testing and research on this particular brand of xylitol and has found it to be quite good. Xylitol is often used in european toothpastes and gum. There’s an interesting little article on xylitol and dental health here. I often use xylitol in my sweet treats, smoothies and in tea, too. I get wacked out on too much sugar so it works well for me.

Usually I put about 2 drops neem oil on my toothbrush and then just dip it in the xylitol container and brush. It’s nice because neem is super strong and bitter and the sweet xylitol evens it out. The coolest thing? If you swallow some of the mix, it’s good for you internally, too!

Brush.. AND floss.. every day, kiddos!

Here’s to sparkly white grins,
Courtney