Herbal Mouth Care Experiment: Oak Bark Mouthwash Recipe

Recently I've been reading a lot about natural dental care. It seems that a good chunk of healthy teeth just comes down to diet. If we are properly nourished, and get the minerals our body needs, then we have healthy teeth. Something that's sort of unexpected is that I've read numerous reports of people healing their cavities with no professional dental intervention. I know it seems strange and hard to believe but it makes sense. How could we survive as a species for almost two hundred thousand years if we had teeth that rotted out of our brains? Especially before we began chemically altering our food with fire so it was easier to chew and digest? The initial stage of digestion, the process where we use saliva and OUR TEETH to prepare food for the lower digestive stages, is so crucial, it just doesn't add up that before the advent of dentistry, we just suffered through cavities. Or what about all of our fellow teeth-bearing mammals?

Not to mention, it just does not make sense that bones would have the power to regenerate and heal, while teeth do not. No.

So my sources aren't double-blind, peer-reviewed studies, but as an herbalist, I have to take those mom blogs seriously. I take people's personal accounts seriously because I like to believe people... especially people who are freely offering up information, methods, and strategies without monetary gain.

Most of what I've found suggests that diet is so crucial. We have to be sure that we are getting enough vitamins and minerals, and that our basic body processes are functioning well. The idea is this: our bodies prioritize functions. Think about a time you've been super duper cold. What parts of your body got cold the fastest? Chances are, it was your extremities- numb fingers, numb toes. That's because our body knows that to stay functioning, we must keep our trunk and our heads warm- it's where all of our vital organs live! We would be really sad and easily dead creatures if this wasn't the case. So the same idea I'm seeing applied to our teeth. If we don't have the proper minerals and nutrients in our bodies, our body thinks we are in crisis, and diverts those nutrients to places in the body that need them to keep us alive.

On top of that, things like sugar feed bacterias that eat away at our enamel, and eat holes into our teeth- gross! So high-sugar, low-nutrient diets= a bad, sad situation for dental health. Our body won't be putting resources into keeping our teeth strong, and bacteria will be having a rager with all kinds of booze and techno music, eating at your poor, vulnerable teeth.

Awhile back I decided to give coconut oil pulling a try. There's all sort of supposed benefits, I'm not certain there have been any scientific studies on it, but reported benefits range from body detoxification, to healthier teeth and protected enamel, to re-mineralization, to tooth whitening. I can attest to the teeth whitening- it's true. I've been doing it for several months and I noticed within the first couple weeks that my teeth were lightening. Another thing I've noticed is that my teeth are considerably less sensitive. In the past, I've experienced a lot of pain due to heat and cold in my teeth. Since I started coconut oil pulling, I've noticed that those symptoms have subsided tremendously.

One of my co-berry's, Elisa, recommended I infuse my coconut oil with sage and calendula, and some oak-bark tincture. I ended up just infusing the oil in stead of making any tincture, that was a mistake and I'll talk more about that in a second. Sage acts an anti-microbial, while calendula has incredible tissue-regenerative properties. I've definitely bit my tongue a few times in my day and since using this infusion, I've noticed they heal a lot quicker... it seems that mouth stuff lasts a long time usually- perhaps because it's so easy to pick at and keep re-irritating it... but with the sage and calendula, they really speed the process.

Up until this point, my regimen is to do the coconut oil pulling in the morning, then I floss and brush at night. This has been fine, and I've even noticed that the cavities I've had (yes I have cavities), have stopped growing any larger. They even seem to be getting better but that's debatable and even so, its not as much as I'd like.

So, upon talking to one of the guest-instructors at school, I decided to try out a new regimen:

• Morning: 
• 20-minute coconut oil pull
• drink a shot glass full of a mineralizing vinegar 
• Evening: 
• Floss 
• Brush
• Swish with oak bark mouthwash for 10 minute

Next time I infuse my coconut oil, I'm going to keep the calendula and sage but ditch the oak bark. This is because the things in oak bark that are beneficial to the teeth are more readily water soluble. What I've done in stead is make a gallon of oak bark mouth wash. I'll list the recipe below. I am also going to be making a vinegar infused with high-mineral plants (nettles, horsetail, parsley, alfalfa) that I will drink to make sure my body has ample access to the minerals it needs to make healthy teeth! I'm gonna try this out for awhile and see how it goes!

Oak Bark Mouthwash Recipe

My completed oak bark mouth wash

Makes: one gallon

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. dried oak bark (I'm sure fresh would be great too, maybe better, this is just what I had)
• 1 quart boiling water
• ~1 quart of alcohol (I used rubbing alcohol because I'm cheap)
• Optional: flavoring (I used peppermint oil)

Start by boiling your water. When it has come to a boil, pour it over your oak bark in a container that can be easily covered. I used a quart-sized mason jar. Allow to steep overnight, then strain.

In your gallon container, combine your strong oak bark decoction with the alcohol. The purpose of the alcohol is to keep the mixture shelf-stable, so it won't mold. Add whatever flavorings you desire. I used 2 Tbsps of peppermint oil flavoring. Once these are well combined, pour in cool or room-temperature water until your gallon jar is full. Then you're done! Use daily as a supplement to your dental health-care regimen!

I'll be sure to check in about this stuff once I've gotten a chance to test it out for awhile.

EDIT: I just got a chance to try and I recommend diluting it. Next time I'll probably dilute 1:2 solution to water... Might even do it for half the time...

Happy teeth times!!