Introducing Herbs for the Mouth
As I was waiting for the water to boil while getting ready to make a new mouthwash, I was thinking about some of the benefits of working with herbs to support oral care. Efficacy, empowerment, and safety rank high on my personal list, as well as ease and flavor.
Empowerment is shrouded in the joys of knowing that the materials I use to care for my mouth are all-natural, accessible, and can be found in a garden or a kitchen. They are unadulterated, born of the earth, not synthetic, and manufactured in a laboratory. Also, choosing how I care for my mouth with natural resources helps teach me about my oral health. I am accountable.
While we can make powders, pastes, rinses, and mouthwashes, here I’ll use mouthwashes as an example. A mouthwash can be as simple as warm water or warm water and salt, the latter offering anti-microbial and antiseptic action. An herbal mouthwash requires no more than herb(s), hot water, and a glass jar with a lid. It is ostensibly an herbal tea that most often has come to room temperature before use.
I enjoy choosing different herbs each week. Yes, I change my mouthwash each week because … well, I can! I like choosing on the basis of flavor, actions, and color. Frequently changing my mouthwash also introduces a broader approach to oral care as the herbs that I rely on have different properties, each benefiting my mouth accordingly.
I generally brew herbal teas in a cafetière or French Press. It’s simple and does a great job at separating the marc from the menstruum, or the herb from the liquid, and bits of leaf don’t get stuck in my teeth!
Pictured: French Press, a little jug and bee balm (Monarda didyma). There’s easily sufficient herb here for three batches of mouthwash to last three weeks.
Monarda didyma is one of my favorite herbs of all the mints and I look forward to rinsing my mouth with this tea. This is selfcare that I enjoy. When teaching oral care habits to young people, or people of any age, looking forward to an activity, indeed enjoying it, can help build consistency.
Once a tea is brewed, I can leave it in the vessel but I like transferring it to a glass jar and popping it in the frig. Then, each evening, I simply pour a wee bit of my brew into my jug and use it over the next day or two.
In my experience, households approach oral care as, “one size fits all”. This means that a single mouthwash, or tube of toothpaste, suffices for a household, or everyone who uses any given bathroom (think ‘couples’, or ‘kiddos’). This is a limited approach to oral care as each of our mouths is a unique environment and requires appropriate daily care. Not only are herbs for the mouth safe and effective, but making oral care products at home allows us to focus on the actions needed by each individual. That’s important because even identical twins have different oral care needs and the microbiome of each mouth is unique.
Blending herbs is simple when it comes to mouthwashes. Hibiscus offers a wash that’s packed with Vitamin C, and it’s a great antioxidant. Mints (Mentha spp.), like spearmint, peppermint, bee balm, and chocolate mint, are aromatic, mildly antimicrobial, and offer a bit of a cooling action to the mouth. They are certainly more aromatic than hibiscus. Tastier too. Blended together, two parts hibiscus and one part mint are enjoyable and leave the breath feeling fresh.
Another great thing about herbs for the mouth is that we can be selective about ingredients. Neither my mouthwash nor any paste that I make will contain harmful ingredients. Yes, that’s right. My mouthwash does not contain alcohol (which dries the gums), artificial coloring agents, or even sugar. The last thing I want to do is coat my mouth with these ingredients. Additionally, none of my oral care products carry health warnings.
For example, in the late 1990s, the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) mandated that toothpaste that contains fluoride boast the following, “Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately.” Why add a telephone number to contact Poison Control to tubes of toothpaste? Fluoride is a neurotoxin. For more information about fluoride, check out the Fluoride Action Network
Advantages abound when it comes to addressing oral care with medicinal herbs. Actions, cost, safety, taste, and variability are but a few. Relying on herbs allows us to not only focus our choices on flavor, actions, or both but also affords an opportunity to keep pace with an ever-changing oral environment.
A further advantage of relying on herbs for the mouth is purely financial. Whether we’re making an herbal rinse, a powder, or a paste, the economics cannot be overlooked.
I’d like to think that we can create a world where everyone has access to care. We can start by caring for our mouths, and who knows … our teeth may just last a lifetime.
