Trash that toxic toothpaste !!!

[Khalid Saifullah]

TRASH THAT TOXIC TOOTHPASTE !!!

By Maulana Khalid Dhorat

Before you brush this article aside as just one of those “funny fumigation facts,” I appeal to you to read it with an open mind so that it changes the way you approach your dental hygiene from now on.

The fact that the majority of people uses a product or think in a certain way, doesn’t make it right. If a million people drink Coca Cola, did the product become any less harmful due it? No, it simply means two things: 1) Any product advertised enough, or any idea propagated enough, has the power to make an impact on one’s thinking and lifestyle, no matter how absurd it may be; 2) The concept of majority is no criterion for reality or for religion, and nor does it alter the facts. It simply means that the majority of people have lost their ability to think. They have become gullible like sheep and cattle, who will blindly follow their leader, either to a steep gorge in order to fall to their death, or to a verdant green field to graze in peace. We have become, as the English saying goes “monkey see, monkey do.”

So, if you feel that you will become the “black sheep” for trashing your toothpaste after reading this article, then remember that it’s better to be a fool for a few years, than to be one forever.

Conventional Toothpaste is Toxic
Conventional toothpaste is toxic, and should be dumped at once. An average person uses about 200 litres of toothpaste in his/her lifetime, and even if you spit most of it out, some of the chemicals it contains make their way into your bloodstream. Remember that your mouth is one of the most absorbent places in your entire body, so you wouldn’t to take a chance with even a small bit of toxins therein. This is why some medications are administered sublingually, or beneath the tongue.

There are six main toxic ingredients right there in your bathroom in every tube of toothpaste. These are as follows:

1. Triclosan: This is a supposedly an “antibacterial chemical” to help fight plaque and gingivitis, but it comes with a steep price. It may help a little, but triclosan has been linked to antibiotic resistance and endocrine disruption. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals cause a wide variety of health problems, including breast, ovarian, prostate, and testicular cancer, pre-term and low birth weight babies, precocious puberty in girls, and undescended testicles in boys. With cancer being one of the most common modern-day killer diseases, do you want to use such toothpaste that will make you end up doing chemotherapy in a hospital?

2. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS): SLS is a chemical surfactant responsible for the foaming action in toothpaste. Lots of foam may give the impression of good quality, but it interferes with the proper functioning of your taste buds by breaking up the phospholipids on your tongue. This causes bitter tastes and is the reason why everything tastes so bad or your saliva dries up right after you've brushed your teeth. In addition, SLS has been linked to skin irritation and painful canker sores and is registered as an insecticide that has toxic effects on marine life, including fish, insects, and crustaceans. It’s so toxic that it has been actually shunned by organic farmers. If you want to kill your tastebuds or cause your salivary glands to eventually dry up, go on and use toothpaste. Be my guest.

3. Artificial Sweeteners: Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are often added to commercial toothpastes. Aspartame is primarily made up of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is normally transformed into methyl alcohol and the human body is biologically not equipped to eliminate it from your body. This methyl alcohol then travels through your blood vessels into sensitive areas, such as your brain, where it is converted to formaldehyde. Symptoms from methanol poisoning include headaches, ear buzzing, dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness, and shooting pains in the extremities, behavioral disturbances, and neuritis. So, remember that the feel-good sweetness of your brush is nothing but an excuse to poison your nerves.

4. Fluoride: It’s claimed that fluoride creates a protective covering over one’s enamel, but research has shown that it only creates a layer six nanometers thick. This is so minute that you'd need 10,000 of these layers to get the width of a strand of a hair! Besides contained in water, children swallow lots of fluoride during a typical brushing session. Fluoride is nothing more than industrial waste. Yes, I didn’t make a typing error there. It’s the goo found in industrial dumps that is so expensive to dispose off that the industrial hawks have found an easy way out: by just placing it in your toothpaste. Flouride actually weakens ones teeth and bones, causes thyroid problems and arthritis, and actually kills the essential vitamins and enzymes in your body. Fluoride ensures you will have a painful retirement, so please go on and destroy your health.

5. Diethanolamine (DEA): DEA causes the lovely foam in our mouth, but it’s also known as a hormone disrupter and can react with other ingredients to form a potential carcinogen called NDEA (N-nitrosodiethanolamine). It has been linked with cancers of the stomach, esophagus, liver, and bladder. It is even used sparingly in cosmetics, so why should it still be used in toothpaste?

6. Microbeads: These are tiny plastic pellets found in body washes, facial scrubs, and some toothpastes. Many times, these become trapped under your gums and gives food and bacteria an entrance to your gum line, actually causing gum disease.

Alternatives
It’s now time to now head straight for the bathroom and trash that toothpaste. Tooth decay has been found many years ago in ancient people and animals that consumed no carbohydrates whatsoever, so we can’t only blame it on refined sugar, processed foods and not using commercial toothpaste. The latest research suggests that moderate amounts of omega-3 fats like krill oil will definitely help ward off tooth and gum decay. You’ll also want to make sure you consume a diet rich in fresh, whole foods, fermented vegetables, and grass-fed meats, which will ensure you're getting plenty of calcium and minerals that are so important for strong bones and teeth.

There are many herbal non-fluoride toothpastes available on the market today, so seek them out. If you don’t want to spend a few rands extra on them, then don’t allow your mouth to stink, make your own! The easiest recipe is to make a paste by mixing one tsp. baking soda, one drop peppermint or lemon essential oil, and a few drops of water together. To freshen your breath in between, simply squeeze some fresh lemon juice and a pinch of pink himaayan salt in water and gargle.

You have now changed your toothpaste, so you might as well also change your toothbrush. Toothbrushes retain much bacteria which can only be rid by regular boiling, and no one besides the fabled tooth-fairy boils their toothbrush! Substitute it with a miswaak stick that needs to be regularly shortened to keep it hygienic all the time. A miswaak has many more benefits than any herbal toothpaste, but its greatest benefit is that by constantly using it, we will be pleasing our Lord and will die whilst reciting the shahaadah (testimony of faith), as per an authentic tradition. Our Noble Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) also said that the reward of salaah (prayers) is multiplied 70 times if miswaak is used before it.

In conclusion, remember the golden rule in health; “Whatever cannot go down your throat, cannot be also used on your teeth and skin.”

[strivingobserver98]

:jz: for writing the article. Great insight into the topic :thumbs_up.

Keep it up :ia:.

Miswak one of the forgotten sunnahs, so try and revive it everyone :ia: :).

Remember the hadith: The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “Were I not afraid that I would cause hardship on my Ummah, I would have ordered them to use the tooth stick (miswak) before every prayer.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

[M.I.A.]

Can't go wrong with miswak.

I was under the impression that artificial sweeteners are not broken down in the body?

Although we looked at it purely from a blood sugar point of view that is interesting..

And it was a long time ago :/ ...metabolised

But you are right a lot of things have room for improvement but those considerations are not considered priorities.

I am really sceptical of your claim though, billions of people use toothpaste daily! Generations upon generations?

I saw an article once that showed american pizza ingredients to contain a health warning long before they were made into pizza.. Actually on the ingredient bags.

Strange days.

May Allah swt protect us from the evil of our own selves and of the shaitan and his followers.


Brondo, its what plants crave?

[Khalid Saifullah]

Can't go wrong with miswak.

I was under the impression that artificial sweeteners are not broken down in the body?

Although we looked at it purely from a blood sugar point of view that is interesting..

And it was a long time ago :/ ...metabolised

But you are right a lot of things have room for improvement but those considerations are not considered priorities.

I am really sceptical of your claim though, billions of people use toothpaste daily! Generations upon generations?

I saw an article once that showed american pizza ingredients to contain a health warning long before they were made into pizza.. Actually on the ingredient bags.

Strange days.

May Allah swt protect us from the evil of our own selves and of the shaitan and his followers.


Brondo, its what plants crave?

Regarding the toothpaste, it's nothing but the power of aggressive advertising and our own lack of consciousness regarding health issues. Anything, good or bad, repeated many times, is taken as the truth and the same holds true with many modern western products like:

Soaps
Shampoos
Toothpastes
Deodorants
Dental fillings etc etc

We have come to blindly consume and accept anything the west offers us, provided it's neatly packaged and advertised frequently. We have come to trust the greedy corporations whose only concern is money ...... and people have been gullible enough to just follow.

Allah asks us to always ponder and investigate, and we no more do so.

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[kmjamal]

Regarding the toothpaste, it's nothing but the power of aggressive advertising and our own lack of consciousness regarding health issues. Anything, good or bad, repeated many times, is taken as the truth and the same holds true with many modern western products like:

Soaps
Shampoos
Toothpastes
Deodorants
Dental fillings etc etc

We have come to blindly consume and accept anything the west offers us, provided it's neatly packaged and advertised frequently. We have come to trust the greedy corporations whose only concern is money ...... and people have been gullible enough to just follow.

Allah asks us to always ponder and investigate, and we no more do so.

Very True. This is all because we do not have any halal products marketed so hugely. If you see any Muslim company they just say we do not want to run after the money and keep there production limited and so the product cannot reach the masses. Here in Hyderabad, India we have a Tooth powder which i use daily. But i think not each country can get thatbecause there production is limited or out of funds.