Free Dental Care is in your Hands

(The Witch on the Mountain Bike is back for the next round!)

My dentist (hyperlink) and I were chatting about how dentists make a living off the residue left by soda pop, candy, and just about everything else sold at the grocery store. He explained to me that modern dentistry is not founded in prevention. It’s founded in minimizing the damage and aftermath of eating unnaturally. Our teeth aren’t designed to decay.

Look in your mouth. What’s the damage? Do you have though pretty white plastic fillings or the metals mined in the dark ages of dental? What is your mouth worth $$? What are you setting aside for your future investment?

We all expect to get fillings, root canals, braces, implants, and periodontal work from our modern dentistry professionals. We expect them to minimize the damage of our diet and oral habits. And what are the implications? Holistic practitioners chart energy meridians from the mouth into every endocrine gland and organ. If that tooth is decaying…. guess what else is unhealthy? You guessed it… the corresponding organ/gland, not to mention a weakening in the entire system (that system is You)!

Is there another way to invest in your mouth? Yes. Of course, it’s a simple investment of your education, your time, and your awareness.

The scoop on dental health is simple. You have what you need in your kitchen already.

IMG 0924 300x224 Free Dental Care is in your Hands

Cate’s top 3 tips for Free Dental Care:

  1. Brush your teeth with tooth powders (plant dust) that are bitter, astringent and pungent.
  2. Swish cold-pressed oil through your gums 20 minutes a day (oil pulling therapy) to remove ama and the doshas from your head.
  3. Massage your gums before bed with your index finger.

Let’s start with the first one.Brush your teeth with tooth powders (plant dust) that are bitter, astringent and pungent. Is your tooth paste bitter, pungent and astringent or is just mint and froth? Make your own tooth powder that you can use alone or with your frothy minty fluoride paste.

Ayurvedic Tooth Powder Recipes (Wild West Version)

After the ride in the woods with Cindy, I dried the horsetail, nettles, clover, sorrel and dandelion. Then I swirled it in the herb (coffee) grinder.  I added baking soda and pink salt (himalayan). Upon tasting I had the bitter, the astringent (sorrel), but I was missing pungent. I added cloves and cayenne. Perfecto. (See photos below for the “how-to”).

  • 3 parts horsetail (read more about horsetail)
    IMG 0918 300x224 Free Dental Care is in your Hands

    Horsetail, dandelions and nettle drying out

  • 2 parts nettles
  • 1 part dandelion leaf
  • 1 part sorrel
  • 1 part baking soda
  • 1 part mineral salt
  • a few pinches of cloves
  • a few pinches of cayenne
  • drops of tea tree oil

Ayurvedic Tooth Powder Recipes (Traditional)

Before my explosion into the wild plant world, I’d simply go into my herb room and start mixing. A traditional Ayurvedic homemade toothpaste formula might be:

  • 2 parts neem leaf powder
  • 1 part manjishta powder
  • 1 part bilva powder
  • 1 part myrrh gum
    IMG 0920 300x224 Free Dental Care is in your Hands

    Use a "coffee" grinder to turn dried plants into a powder.

  • 1 part trikatu

The neem is bitter. The bilva is astringent. The trikatu is pungent. And myrrh has a prabhava (special quality) of tonifying oral tissue.

Let me know your favorite hands-on dental care below. Be sure to leave a comment.


 

 

 

 

 

In the same vein:

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

6 Responses to “Free Dental Care is in your Hands”

  1. sarah hutchinson July 24, 2011 at 9:47 pm #

    This is over the top mountain living! Since I began foraging in my yard and on the mountain where I live I find such a deepening, natural and sweeter connection to this place. I swear I can see in the dark, as if feeling this place in all of it’s dimension. On a recent trip to Rhode Island I happily foraged and felt a shift to being there, by the sea, eating berries and leaves from the rocky shoreline. I swear I breathing in synch with that place, connected by the plants to elements that characterize that place. A sure cure for jet lag or geographic confusion.

  2. Heather August 12, 2011 at 8:56 pm #

    Ok So I can make the powder, now do I mix it with water? Does it become a paste? How do i use it?

  3. Cate Stillman August 12, 2011 at 9:10 pm #

    How to use a tooth powder:

    Dip wet toothbrush into powder. Brush teeth. Rinse your mouth. Rinse the sink.

  4. Ernesto August 19, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    Any chance I could get a recipe video of this?

  5. Cate Stillman August 19, 2011 at 8:33 pm #

    other than the recipe in the blogpost?

  6. Bobby Fernandez October 5, 2011 at 2:42 pm #

    When I finally buy a house, I’m planting a neem tree. I love chewing on the twigs after eating.

Leave a Reply