What is Nano Silver and Why is it In Our Toothpaste?

When you think about natural ingredients, you probably think about apothecary herbs, like lavender and mint. Perhaps clay, camphor, coconut oil, or tea tree oil. Nano silver is probably the last thing that comes to mind. It sounds like a futuristic high tech device that has more of a role in making artificial intelligence work than keeping your teeth clean.

Nano silver is a modernized version of an antiquated natural method of killing germs. We have technology that we didn’t have when silver first became a widely accepted antibacterial ingredient. That technology has allowed us to bring antibacterial silver into the 21st century - and it’s 1,000 times more effective than before.

The Strange and Fascinating History of Silver

For centuries, silver has been known to serve as an antibacterial substance. Since the 18th century, Spanish doctors have used melted silver coins to repair holes or fractures in bones, and silver sutures to reduce the risk of infection in wounds. Surgical scalpels were often made of silver because it was believed that silver blades were easier to keep clean. 

During the bubonic plague, royalty used goblets, plates, forks, knives, and spoons made of silver as a primitive method of keeping their dinner tables sanitary. That’s where the phrase “born with a silver spoon in your mouth” comes from. Its original meaning was to indicate that someone was born into wealth and good health. 

Silver became such a popular medicinal material that it thoroughly wove its way into folklore. If you’ve ever seen a werewolf movie or read old werewolf stories, you know that they can only be killed with silver bullets. People believed so strongly in the curative power of silver that legend deemed it the only material fit to slay a beast. Most vampire tales also mention that silver will scorch the skin of vampires, making them easier to stake. 

How Silver Works to Kill Germs

For six millennia, doctors or their era equivalent have been using silver to kill germs. Most of silver’s antibacterial properties were discovered through trial and error processes. It was as simple as medical specialists making note of what worked and what didn’t, and it seemed as though patients treated with silver had better outcomes than patients that were not. 

We know now that silver works by stealing electrons away from bacteria. Each molecule of silver can steal one electron away from each cell of bacteria, weakening it. The antibacterial effect is a direct result of a scientific reaction that weakens bacteria to the point that they become unable to reproduce or spread infection.

Silver consistently delivers the same result, time and time again. The only problem with this result is that it isn’t profound enough to be deemed reliable by modern standards. Repeated applications or continuous treatments with silver would be necessary to effectively wipe out all the bad bacteria when traditional silver is used.

Nano silver, an advancement that modifies silver, drastically amplifies the potency of silver to help its capabilities become comparable to other unnatural antibacterial agents. 

How Nano Silver Works to Kill Germs 

Nano silver particles are small pieces of silver that will execute the same antibacterial functions of silver, but with one significant difference. The core of every piece of nano silver is coated with a special silver oxide that drastically enhances its ability to steal electrons. 

Rather than robbing bacteria of electrons at a one to one ratio, nano silver steals electrons at a one to 1,000 ratio, making it a thousand times more effective. That means that one treatment with nano silver is as potent as a thousand treatments with traditional silver.

Nano silver’s supercharged abilities ravage bacteria, rather than merely damaging them. As electrons are removed, the cell wall of the bacteria significantly degrades. This makes the bacteria porous, which allows them to absorb more nano silver particles. As the bacteria cells are dying, they float around and bump into other bacterial cells. 

Bacteria bloated with nano silver will leech out the silver it’s absorbed, destroying other bacteria in the process. It’s almost like a little bit of a zombie outbreak. Since the bacteria’s purpose and mission are destroyed by the significant damage the nano silver causes, they’re floating around in a state of half life and killing each other. 

Is Nano Silver Safe?

Nano silver is completely harmless to the tissues of your body. It can pass through the bloodstream without damaging vital components, and it’s easily expelled from the body within 24 hours. Throughout the six millenia silver has been used in medicine, there have been no known illnesses or serious complications associated with the internal use of silver. 

The unique way that nano silver works may make it safer than other antimicrobial agents. These differences are what make nano silver so appealing.

Why Nano Silver is Different

When you use an antibacterial solution like nano silver, your mouth is better able to re-establish its microbiome. The microbiome is a balance of good and bad bacteria. Enough of your various good bacteria will manage the bad bacteria that naturally find their way unto your mouth. To some extent, your mouth is self cleaning when your microbiome is properly established. 

Most antibiotic or antimicrobial agents are harsh. They’re designed to kill everything they come in contact with, wiping the slate clean. They’re slightly damaging to every cell and may have unintended side effects. Alcohol, one of the most popular antibacterial agents, is highly drying. It works a little too well to sterilize the body, killing a lot of healthy microbes along with the bad ones. 

Nano silver works a little more slowly. It damages bacteria and renders them ineffective. They eventually die and are expelled by your system. While this is happening, your mouth is going about its business. It’s performing all the functions it needs to function, including deploying more good bacteria. 

Rather than removing everything from your mouth all at once, including the microorganisms and bacteria that your mouth needs to be healthy, nano silver is effective without being overpowering. It won’t supersede your body’s ability to manage itself. It will simply make it easier for your body to get a handle on your mouth and balance things out to the way they were intended to be.

How Conventional Toothpastes Work

Most toothpastes don’t kill germs, and many people will be shocked to hear that. We’re always told that toothpaste keeps our mouths clean. It’s only reasonable to assume there would be some kind of ingredient that kills the bad stuff lurking around our mouths, but this is not the case. 

Toothpaste is made to remove things that build up on the surface of the teeth that may lead to infection, gathering them in the foam you spit out when you’re done brushing. Unless toothpaste contains an ingredient like triclosan (which is dubious in efficiency at best), it doesn’t have any antibacterial properties.

That’s why so many dentists recommend mouthwash. It’s the mouthwash that’s designed to rid your mouth of germs. If you look at a bottle of conventional mouthwash, you’ll see that the ingredients are all harsh antibacterial agents that kill everything living in your mouth. 

Neither conventional toothpaste nor conventional mouthwash adequately serve dental hygiene needs. One kills no bacteria or microorganisms, and the other kills all of them. None of them consider the proper balance of microorganisms needed for a health microbiome.

Why Use Nano Silver in Toothpaste?

Our nano silver toothpaste serves multiple needs at once. It’s keeping your teeth clean, gently polishing them, providing minerals necessary for strong and healthy teeth, and helping your mouth restore the proper natural bacterial balance. It’s only common sense to use a toothpaste that will tend to every one of your mouth’s needs.

We also put nano silver in our mouthwash, which will help to provide bacteria balancing benefits for your entire mouth. Your gums, tongue, and soft tissue are just as covered with bacteria as your teeth. They may need a little reset after a long day of eating and drinking. All you have to do is swish the bad bacteria away. Your mouth will restore its bacterial balance as you sleep.

Because nano silver works so well, it doesn’t need to be paired with ingredients like sulfates or other surfactants. The natural minerals in our toothpaste help to remineralize teeth without ingredients like fluoride. There’s nothing in the tube that doesn’t need to be there, and we think that’s a beautiful thing.

Conclusion

Here’s the “too long, didn’t read” answer to the question. What is nano silver and why is it in our toothpaste? Nano silver is one of the most effective and safe germ killers, and it’s in our toothpaste because common sense says it should be. It’s slightly unconventional, but it’s not any less safe than most toothpastes on the market. It’s also more effective than the stuff that comes in the typical tube you’d pick up at the drugstore. 

Source 1 - medical history of silver

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19566416/

Source 2 - nano silver safety

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3702006/

Source 3 -