Comments on Toothpaste in the back-country and the principle of leave no trace
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Toothpaste in the back-country and the principle of leave no trace
I am a staunch proponent of leave no trace. I don't carry dish detergent (sand and small rocks work much better on stainless steel anyways,) and I don't use soap or shampoo, not even of the biodegradable kind (being smelly I have heard might even help with repelling mosquitos...) I do however use toothpaste, and am feeling pretty bad about it, since I leave a chemical behind in the wilderness. When I spit out my toothpaste, I attempt to spray it over a large area, to avoid creating concentrations of the chemical, and I avoid leaving it behind on fragile vegetation, but I would like to find an alternative that adheres more to the leave no trace philosophy. What are my options without sacrificing the health of my teeth on those multi-week treks?
There are some alternatives of toothpaste in ancient India as a part of YOGA. Try Teeth cleaning twig : https://en.wiki …
9y ago
Floss. If you brush with water only and then floss, your teeth and gums will be OK for even a multi-week trip. The den …
9y ago
I agree mostly with LBell's answer: just using water to dislodge food debris is enough! However, I felt I should write a …
9y ago
Even for "multi-week" trips, brushing with water alone is not going to compromise your tooth health. The abrasive action …
9y ago
Stefansson proved once and for all that diet affects teeth more than brushing. His experiences with the Arctic Inuit wer …
9y ago
I would look into OraWellness. It's a mix of essential oils that comes in a very small bottle, so it's nice and compact …
9y ago
Brush without paste. You do not need toothpaste. You get the minty freshness, you get fluoride, you get additional abras …
9y ago
I prepare my toothpaste using this recipe, main ingredients here being baking soda and coconut oil. Positive parts: it w …
9y ago
You can also use Miswak, then you don't need to cary a tooth paste along but still have medicinal benefits, instead of h …
9y ago
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). It's naturally occurring, and to get a level of toxicity to animals you would need to …
9y ago
You could use "toothy tabs" tablets, sold by lush. The tablets are solid toothpaste. They consist chiefly of kaolinite, …
9y ago
Because Toothpaste is nothing else than some kind of polish, you could use precipitate chalk. Or just brush with water. …
9y ago
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/9334. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Floss. If you brush with water only and then floss, your teeth and gums will be OK for even a multi-week trip. The dentist of @Henning advises flossing first, then brushing because "the dirt that you floss out from between the teeth is highly aggressive stuff that shouldn't remain on them." Thus I suggest a vigorous brushing, then flossing, then a light brushing.
Pack out your floss! Maybe add a pack of peppermints for a cleaner feel.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/9366. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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