No BS

Unpacking Truth

No Bad Stuff of course...what were you thinking??

As many of you know, I have a passion for health and fitness.  An element of this passion is being conscious of not only what my family eats and drinks but also the products we use for household and personal cleaning.  With all the healthy eating and living we try to achieve, it never occurred to me to question or be concerned about what is in the toothpaste we use.  That is until an article appeared in my weekly dental readings identifying the different chemicals in over the counter pastes that serve little to no purpose in optimizing oral hygiene and this alarmed me.  I have spent several months trying different organic toothpastes available at the grocery store and have even tried a few attempts at making my own.  I could never quite find something that had both a fresh taste and made my mouth feel clean until now.  

While listening to a health science podcast, I heard an advertisement for an organic dentifrice called NoBS.  What prompted me to make the online purchase after the previous failed attempts was the support of the scientists conducting the podcast.  They only advertise items they use and love.  I purchased the product with a tempered expectation and can honestly say that I am profoundly impressed by the simplicity and benefit of the ingredients, the ease of use and the overall taste and performance.  The product is manufactured by Better Biom, a company started by a chemist and a dentist.  You can check out their website HERE.

NoBS all natural dentifrice is packaged in a glass jar instead of a tube and are a small chewable tablet versus a squeezable paste.  The following is a list of the ingredients in the NoBS all natural dentifrice and a brief summary of their purpose:

1. Nano-hydroxyapatite helps to remineralize tooth structure from the wear and tear of our diets.  Research has demonstrated hydroxyapatite achieved comparable efficacy with 500 ppm F− in remineralizing early tooth decay and preventing demineralization.  I have become interested in the benefit of hydroxyapatite in lieu of fluoride based on recent studies pointing to the neurotoxicity of fluoride and the accumulation in organs and bone over a lifetime of consumption.  I will have more to write about this in the future.  To quickly summarize my findings regarding fluoride:

Fluoride is to dentistry what vaccines are to medicine….

(there may be benefit but do we really understand how much and what harms may exist?)

2.  Xylitol helps to minimize the bad bacteria that can cause tooth decay and bad breath while sparing the good, beneficial bacteria.  Xylitol is a natural sweetener that has a side benefit of stimulating salivary production.  Saliva is our most natural cleansing and remineralizing agent.

3. Organic coconut oil helps to fight plaque and gingivitis.  Coconut oil has a favorable fatty acid profile, containing lauric acid which has antimicrobial properties.

4. British peppermint oil for the taste we love!

5. Natural mint because there can never be too much mint :)

6.  Sodium bicarbonate can gently polish the teeth and helps with neutralizing the acids from our diet.

7.  Calcium carbonate helps to remove unpleasant stains.  It is a natural pumice that can reduce the staining power of things that we eat and drink.

8.  Xanthan gum helps to improve the texture of the NoBS natural dentifrice when wet.  It is a common food additive that helps to thicken and stabilize.  Xanthan gum is created when sugar is fermented by a type of bacteria called Xanthomonas campestris. When sugar is fermented, it creates a broth which is then made into a solid by adding an alcohol. It is then dried and turned into a powder.

9.  Microcrystalline cellulose holds your NoBS tablets together, works as a binding agent.

10.  Zinc citrate has anti-microbial effects that help to neutralize and minimize the formation of dental plaque that can lead to bad breath.

11.  Hydrated silica keeps the product from getting stale.

12.  Ammonium glycyrrnhizinate...try saying that three times quickly!!  This is commonly known as licorice root and it is responsible for helping the product to foam.  Most toothpastes use sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) which is a known cell membrane disturber.  SLS has been implicated in being a potential cause of chronic mouth ulcers and tissue sloughing.

13.  Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate is derived from coconuts and is touted to be a safer cleaning agent due to its ability to mitigate disruption of skin’s barrier. It’s an anionic surfactant, meaning a cleansing agent with a negative instead of a positive charge. Anionic surfactants are the most common type due to their ability to lift and suspend dirt, oil, and debris, allowing them to be washed away.

I hope that you will check out this product. If they are too pricey, at least consider looking into alternatives to fluoride toothpaste using nano-hydroxyapatite.