Homemade Natural Lemon Drop Toothpaste

I love it when I can save money with homemade DIY products!

 I received a sample of lemon extract which was perfect for this recipe.

  Many years ago we discovered that my youngest son was allergic to ingredients that are in many brands of toothpaste. There are only a couple brands of natural toothpaste that my son can use and he only likes one of these brands, the expensive one. So I keep buying this lemon toothpaste as I want my son to brush his teeth. When I realized that I could make a homemade toothpaste that was similar to the one my son likes, I was so happy as that meant I could save money. I like saving money.

So how is one allergic to toothpaste?

 It was a free sample of toothpaste that led to my discovery of my son's allergies. My son had painful mouth sores at an early and his doctor prescribed a mouthwash to help it feel better. The mouthwash for mouth sores was called magic mouthwash and it had to be applied frequently to his mouth sores to make them feel better. The cold sore mouthwash did not cure the sores in my sons mouth but just made them feel better. It seemed that my son always had a couple of red sores in his mouth and he was using a lot of the magic mouthwash on a daily basis.

  I had no clue that the mouth sores caused by the ingredients in his toothpaste. When I received a sample of an all-natural toothpaste at a conference, I went to their website to check it out. It was there that I discovered that a common ingredient in toothpaste called SLS could be causing his mouth sores. SLS or sodium lauryl sulfate is an ingredient in many common toothpaste brands like Crest and Colgate. So I encourage my son to try the toothpaste for a week and the mouth sores went away. My son continued to brush his teeth with the natural toothpaste and his mouth felt so much better. I was glad that I discovered that my son's mouth sores were caused by an allergy to SLS. So my son no longer needed to use the cold sore mouth wash.

My son was also allergic to an ingredient in natural toothpaste.

  When the sample of natural toothpaste ran out, I bought a different brand of natural toothpaste that did not have SLS in it. A week after using this natural toothpaste that did not have SLS, the mouth sores came back. So I did some more research into ingredients in toothpaste that could cause mouth sores and I discovered that the ingredient glycerin could be causing the mouth sores. So my son went back to using the other natural toothpaste that did not have any glycerin in it and the cold sores disappeared. I also later discovered that glycerin can be in chewing gum and candy. So now my son has learned to read ingredients before he has gum or candy.
sodium lauryl sulfate
     Even mom loves the taste of this natural toothpaste!

Mom is tired of spending $7.00 on a tube of toothpaste.

When I received a sample of a lemon extract, I decided to make this natural toothpaste in hopes that my son would like the taste. I already had the other ingredients on hand as the bentonite clay is rich in magnesium, which we use for his growing pains. So I mixed up the homemade natural toothpaste in a small batch to see if my son liked it. I also made a small batch so it would stay free of bacteria. Once I discovered my son loved the taste of the lemon toothpaste I doubled the toothpaste recipe and divided it into small containers. I stored the containers that my son was not using in the fridge. This toothpaste did a great job of cleaning my teeth. My son says that I should use chocolate extract next time for chocolate toothpaste.

 This natural toothpaste is so easy to make and I recommend storing the toothpaste in a small container as it has no preservatives in it. Also, make sure that you use a small clean spoon to apply the DIY toothpaste to your toothbrush, that way no bacteria gets into the container of natural toothpaste. This delicious tasting natural toothpaste can be made into other flavors like mint or cinnamon by switching out the lemon extract for mint or cinnamon extract. The toothpaste that is all-natural does not foam like traditional toothpaste but it still cleans your teeth. My son has not had any cavities and his dentist approves of the toothpaste. This natural toothpaste does not contain fluoride either and my son's dentist is on board with my son not using fluoride in his toothpaste. 

Homemade Natural Lemon Drop Toothpaste

Ingredients
2 Tbsp bentonite clay
3-4 Tbsp distilled or boiled water that has cooled
1/8 teaspoon powder stevia
1/4- 1/2 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Organic Pure Lemon Extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
plastic or wooden spoon or spatula
dropper

Directions
Combine 3 Tbsp of water with clay in a non-metal bowl and mix well using a non-metal spoon (the clay should never come in contact with any metals). Add half of the stevia and 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract. Mix well.

Add a pinch of salt, mix well, and taste. Add additional stevia and/or lemon extract and/or water to taste and texture, adding extract one drop at a time and water 1/2 Tbsp at a time. The flavors will blend together over time, so wait 48 hours before making significant adjustments to the flavor.