Brush your teeth with charcoal? This is a natural method that is intriguing, but this plant substance contains a multitude of benefits for the mouth. Indeed, charcoal has a purifying and whitening power. It therefore has a priori everything you need for good oral health. However, let’s take a closer look at its characteristics.

The return to nature

With the various studies of consumer associations on the dangerousness of certain toothpastes, the time has come for mistrust. Endocrine disruptors, antibacterials which make microbes resistant, allergenic: traditional toothpaste seems suspect. Turning to a vegetable toothpaste can therefore be an interesting solution.

To counter these worrying ingredients, many people are therefore looking for natural alternatives to brushing their teeth. Among them, essential oils of lemon or mint, coconut oil, or the famous baking soda. Options which are not without reproach. Coal nevertheless seems to have all the qualities. But by the way, what coal are we really talking about?

Activated vegetable charcoal

Even though activated charcoal toothpaste is growing in popularity, brushing your teeth with dark matter can be puzzling. All the more so since coal, in the first sense of the term, mainly evokes combustion and a pile of ash. Nothing very tempting at first glance.

Of course, even if the principle of combustion is the same, there are several kinds of coals. To wash your teeth, you must use activated vegetable charcoal, which is easily found in pharmacies. The charcoal which is used as fuel contains toxic elements, of course absent from vegetable charcoal.

This famous black powder is obtained primarily by burning different types of trees, such as oak, birch or poplar, or even coconut. There are thus in the trade of toothpastes with coconut charcoal.

This charcoal is nothing new, it was already used in Antiquity for its detoxifying and digestive powers. Indeed, the activated vegetable charcoal for the teeth is the same one that is used to cure mild intestinal disorders.

Reviews of charcoal toothpaste are fairly unanimous after a few uses. On the one hand, it helps to purify the mouth. This has the effect of giving fresh breath that lasts and in a natural way. On the other hand, it can also temporarily soothe sensitive teeth, although this does not make a visit to the dentist optional.

As for the whiteness of the teeth, the debate is not settled. It is proven that charcoal erases stains and yellowing generated by the consumption of coffee, tobacco, in other words the external causes. It thus makes them mechanically whiter, thanks to a surface scrub. But the natural shade of the teeth will not be profoundly changed. Only treatment at the dentist can make the teeth really whiter.

Although less so than baking soda, charcoal is abrasive. Using it once in a while is no problem, but daily use can damage the enamel.

Not to mention that the other natural methods currently promoted also have undesirable effects. This is the case with lemon essential oil which, when used daily, ends up creating severe erosion of the enamel.

Dentists also specify that the long-term effect of charcoal on teeth is not yet established and urge caution. It is therefore preferable to use charcoal once a week maximum, alternating with toothpaste, without dangerous substances of course.

There is no one and only charcoal toothpaste recipe. It all depends on the effect you want, more or less refreshing, and therefore more or less strong in taste thanks to the essential oils. However, here is a basic, simple and economical recipe:

Melt in a saucepan over low heat a teaspoon of organic coconut oil. Wait for it to cool and add a teaspoon of charcoal et 5 drops of lemon essential oil. You can decrease the doses to obtain a smaller quantity of product.

This preparation can be kept in the refrigerator for 10 days maximum.

Remember that too regular use of toothpaste with charcoal and / or with an essential oil, such as lemon, can damage tooth enamel.

For simplicity and if you don’t have the time to prepare your own toothpaste, many brands now offer their charcoal toothpaste. Of course, favor entirely vegetable toothpastes. You will find them in pharmacies or organic stores.