Baking Soda Toothpaste: Good or Bad for Teeth?
We all love a good life hack!
One that seems to be on the rise at the moment is baking soda toothpaste.
Yes, you read that correctly. Baking soda toothpaste is commonly used to produce cleaner and brighter teeth and a smile we are confident about.
Who knew that a core pantry item could have such a powerful impact on our oral hygiene? While baking soda is often a key ingredient in baking bread, it is also now a key ingredient in a range of natural toothpaste, helping with overall oral hygiene, including your tooth and gum health--two key parts of your dental health!
Contrary to the current belief that brushing your teeth with baking soda is only just becoming popular, people have actually been doing it for over a hundred years! In fact, baking soda was one of the original tooth cleaning solutions to receive an official ADA seal of approval—meaning that experts in the industry deemed baking soda to be an effective solution the general public could trust when it came to cleaning their teeth!
The reason that baking soda toothpaste is making such a comeback is that people are realizing the tremendous effects it has on whitening your teeth and making your breath smell amazing! But it is important to also remember that bad breath and teeth stains are often a result of what you eat and drink, so it is all about finding a balance between a healthy diet and the toothpaste you use.
But our entire oral hygiene routine is all about balance at the end of the day. No one single dental hygiene product can keep your oral hygiene intact. It is all about your routine and the combination of cleaning techniques and products you use, along with your goals around reducing your own oral hygiene waste.
While baking soda toothpaste is making quite a comeback in dental hygiene products, some sources argue that there is not enough scientific evidence to confidently state there are medical benefits to brushing your teeth with baking soda toothpaste.
So this brings us to investigate the following question, is brushing your teeth with baking soda toothpaste good or bad for you?
The Benefits of Baking Soda Toothpaste
For those wanting to up their game with strong toothpaste, making the switch to baking soda toothpaste can produce a range of positive results for your oral hygiene. Here are some of the benefits you can expect to get:
1. Baking soda gets rid of bad acid.
While our teeth have strong enamel, too much bad acid can still manage to break down our tough protective barriers. This acid comes from the types of foods and drinks we consume so it’s impossible to completely eliminate it just based on diet. This is where baking soda toothpaste comes in handy, as it naturally reduces the acidity in our mouth, which neutralizes the acids and prevents them from damaging our enamel!
2. Baking soda can attack plaque
Plaque is the number one cause of both cavities and gum disease. Neither are fun to deal with and baking soda toothpaste is here to save the day for both! It is able to attack the plaque through the actual molecule of sodium bicarbonate found in baking soda. This molecule is able to not only dissolve fast but can reach tiny places in your teeth, and can remove sticky plaque other toothpaste may struggle to remove. With less plaque to worry about, your teeth and gums stand a much more positive chance of remaining healthy!
3. Baking soda helps your breath smell better
No one wants to deal with bad breath. Thankfully, baking soda toothpaste takes combating bad breath to the next level. Acid is the main cause of developing smelly breath, and as we mentioned earlier, baking soda is able to neutralize those acid levels. This will result in your breath smelling better, along with your teeth staying strong. So there should be no more need for breath mints when you brush your teeth with baking soda!
4. Baking soda gives you a brighter smile
Our smile is something that we should never be ashamed to show off. But unfortunately, many of us become self-conscious about our smile over time, most commonly because of the teeth stains we develop with age. This is where baking soda toothpaste comes into play, as it is a tried and tested method of naturally whitening our teeth without causing much damage to our enamel. In addition, it acts as a buffer to prevent future stains on our teeth from occurring!
5. Baking soda toothpaste is generally fluoride-free
Fluoride in small doses is good, but too much of it can be very bad for our health! With fluoride found in a lot of our drinking water and food, it is often less risky to use toothpaste that is fluoride-free. The great news is that baking soda toothpaste is made with natural ingredients and does not use fluoride!
Possible Problems with Baking Soda Toothpaste
There is always a risk and reward balance required when evaluating any dental hygiene product. The same goes for toothpaste. While there are so many positive benefits of using baking soda toothpaste, ranging from neutralizing acid, protecting our enamel, and whitening our teeth, there are some potential risks that are important for you to consider.
1. Baking soda toothpaste is not the most flavorful
One of the biggest turn-offs people have from baking soda toothpaste is the unappealing flavor. This is because the texture is very chalky and the flavor can be quite bitter. This makes it extra difficult to use with kids.
2. Baking soda toothpaste only removes surface stains
While baking soda toothpaste gets a wonderful reputation for whitening your teeth, it is important to note that it only addresses the top most stains on your teeth to give it the appearance of being whiter and brighter. It is important to understand this as it means that the whitening effects of baking soda toothpaste are not permanent and you should consider making other additional health changes to prevent future stains from occurring on your teeth.
3. No fluoride is not always a good thing
For a lot of people, it is the preferred option for their oral health to use fluoride-free toothpaste. This is one of the big benefits of using baking soda toothpaste, as it is a fluoride-free option. However, there are some people who do need fluoride toothpaste to maintain good oral health and we totally get that, or they at least need a fluoride-free toothpaste with the needed ingredients to make up for the work that fluoride does. For example, Coral Toothpaste uses Nano Silver and Xylitol to help combat bacteria and plaque for cavity-free teeth!
4. It’s often too strong and too abrasive
While one of the biggest benefits to baking soda toothpaste is its ability to protect your teeth and gums through neutralizing the acid and bacteria in your mouth and scrubbing off plaque, there may be a risk of it being too strong for you. If the baking soda toothpaste goes overboard and neutralizes the acid and bacteria too extensively, you could be at risk of developing tooth and gum damage. Additionally, the abrasiveness of baking soda is often too much for most teeth, especially sensitive teeth.
The Final Decision—Good or Bad?
As we have just outlined, there are many positive benefits of using baking soda toothpaste as part of your oral hygiene routine. It is a natural toothpaste that is able to neutralize the acids and bacteria in your mouth, can reduce the risk of developing bad breath, can make your smile brighter, and leave your enamel strong and intact.
However, there are some potential negative side-effects of using baking soda toothpaste. This involves the toothpaste being really abrasive in nature, and overcompensating and neutralizing too much acid and bacteria, resulting in tooth and gum damage. It also is not able to actually remove deeper stains on your teeth long-term. And of course, the lack of fluoride could pose a problem to certain people depending on their individual oral hygiene.
So overall, the answer is that baking soda toothpaste isn’t necessarily bad for your teeth, but there are other all-natural, fluoride-free oral hygiene products out there with the same benefits and less risks!
And of course, there are a range of natural ingredients you should consider! Baking soda in and of itself is great, but there are better natural ingredients out there that are a whole lot better suited to protect your teeth (like ours!)
And remember, as amazing as baking soda toothpaste is, it all comes down to the balance of your oral hygiene routine. So don’t forget to floss your teeth, invest in a quality toothbrush, and rinse out with mouthwash on the regular as well!
If you find your oral hygiene regimen needs an update, we have a starter bundle to help! Good luck!
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/baking-soda-toothpaste
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/03/health/salt-baking-soda-teeth-whitening-wellness/index.html
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