This homemade toothpaste recipe is natural, frugal, and easy to make! Why buy clay toothpaste when you can make some at home in 5 minutes?! For a different flavor, try my Cinnamon Flavored Remineralizing Toothpaste Recipe.
Confession: I make homemade toothpaste because I’m a toothpaste snob.
I fell in love with Earthpaste after using it only once, and the whole family has been happily brushing their teeth with dirt ever since. In fact, we credit my husband’s beating gum disease to the clay.
I was so in love with all-natural Earthpaste and so against conventional toothpaste (because of the glycerin and fluoride), that I never wanted to go back and use the old stuff again. That was the moment when I decided to make homemade toothpaste that’s just like Earthpaste.
And if I’m going to make something myself, you know I’m going to find a way to do it quickly and frugally.
WHY MAKE HOMEMADE TOOTHPASTE?
Oral health improves your overall wellness, yet many mainstream oral care products have synthetic additives and harmful ingredients, like sodium lauryl sulfate, which we try to avoid. Artificial sweeteners and flavors, artificial colorings, and synthetic vitamins? No, thank you!
It saves money! The ingredients you purchase will last through several batches of toothpaste, and overall, you’ll be paying less per ounce than store-bought toothpaste, especially if you prefer natural toothpaste.
Reduce waste by using less packaging – see below for my tips on how to store your homemade toothpaste.
If you have kids, having them help mix up a batch might encourage them to brush their teeth more. I don’t know about your kids, but mine are more likely to use something they’ve helped make.
You get to choose the flavor. If you’re not a fan of peppermint, choose a different essential oil to flavor your toothpaste.
HOMEMADE CLAY TOOTHPASTE INGREDIENTS
So, what do you need to make homemade clay toothpaste? Luckily, this ingredient list is pretty short.
- Bentonite clay. You might be asking, why bentonite clay for teeth? Bentonite clay has so many amazing health benefits (you can read more about that HERE and ways to use it!). One of the benefits is the remineralizing effect clay has on your body (and teeth!).
- Distilled or boiled water that has cooled.
- Liquid stevia OR xylitol. Optional, to taste.
- Essential oils. Peppermint oil, lemon oil, or orange oil are good toothpaste flavors. Tea Tree Oil is okay, but I distinctly use Plant Therapy, which you can find on Amazon.
- Tiny pinch of salt.
Psst! If you’re going to add salt, I highly recommend Ava Jane’s Kitchen. You may think all salt is created equal, but unfortunately, 90% of the salt produced around the world contains microplastics (gross, right?). Ava Jane’s Kitchen is an exception. Their salt is 100% microplastic-free, and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a bag for just 1¢!! (Get your penny bag of salt on this page.)
HOW TO MAKE TOOTHPASTE INSTRUCTIONS
This homemade toothpaste comes together super fast! Here’s how to make toothpaste in 5 minutes.
Step 1: Combine 3 Tbsp of water with clay in a non-metal bowl and mix well using a non-metal spoon (the clay should never come in contact with any metals).
Step 2: Add stevia and 10 drops of desired essential vitality oil (peppermint, lemon, or orange). Mix well.
Step 3: Add a pinch of salt, mix well, and taste.
Step 4: Add additional stevia and/or essential oils and/or water to taste and texture, adding oils one drop at a time and water ½ Tbsp at a time.
Note: Wait 48 hours before making significant adjustments to the flavor. The flavors will meld together over time.
DIY TOOTHPASTE
The total cost of all-natural, homemade toothpaste (that’s just like Earthpaste) is $0.95 per ounce!
So far, the only downside I can see from making your own DIY toothpaste is the up-front cost of ingredients.
However, one 10 oz tub of bentonite clay can make over 34 batches of the recipe above and each 5 ml bottle of essential oil will make over 8 batches.
You will have enough ingredients on hand to make toothpaste for a while!
For a whitening formula, try this Activated Charcoal Tooth Powder Recipe!
Not a DIY Toothpaste kinda person?
That’s ok! Here are some natural toothpaste options that give you healthy, clean teeth and gums.
Earthpaste – this natural toothpaste is based on bentonite clay and contains no fluoride, glycerin, artificial colors, or foaming agents.
Primal Life Organics Toothpowder – formulated with cleansing, mineral-rich bentonite, kaolin, french green clays, and hydroxyapatite to clean, whiten, and remineralize your teeth!
STORING HOMEMADE BENTONITE CLAY TOOTHPASTE
We use this bentonite clay based toothpaste by simply dipping our brushes in one jar. However, if you’d prefer everyone to have their own containers, here are a few options:
- Mini Plastic Pots: These are about the size of a single eyeshadow container and take the issue out of sharing one bigger jar. One batch will fill 2-3 pots, depending on how well you pack it in.
- Reusable Plastic Tubes: These allow you to squeeze the toothpaste out, instead of dipping it into a jar. Each holds 3 oz, so roughly one batch of toothpaste per tube.
- Small Glass Jars: Each jar is 4 oz, so one batch of toothpaste fills each about halfway. This is what I use personally since each jar can serve many functions beyond the bathroom.
- Mini Glass Jars: Similar to what we use, except that each jar is only 2 oz and comes with a plastic lid. Perfect for those concerned about the clay touching metal, and traveling!
HOMEMADE TOOTHPASTE RECIPE FAQS
What is the best homemade toothpaste?
Give my homemade toothpaste recipe a try! You won’t regret it. This recipe is natural and simple and will clean your teeth without all those unnecessary ingredients.
What can I use if I don’t have toothpaste?
If you run into a situation where you don’t have any toothpaste, don’t worry! You can use just baking soda: just dip your toothbrush into the baking soda and brush as usual with a simple baking soda toothpaste.
Can I use salt to brush my teeth?
Table salt shouldn’t be used for brushing teeth since it would be too harsh and can damage your enamel. However, sea salt works well! You can dip your toothbrush into the salt, or you can dilute the sea salt with water (If you are concerned with the abrasiveness.)
Can I use coconut oil in my own homemade toothpaste?
I thought it would be super cool to make homemade toothpaste with coconut oil, so my first batch included it plus clay, peppermint essential oil, and salt. The flavor wasn’t bad, but it made for a really weird brushing experience, because coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so you can’t just dip your toothbrush into the jar and go. It also made for a weird texture in my mouth during brushing. Instead of worrying about the temperature of our toothpaste, we stuck with our own toothpaste in this post.
MORE HOMEMADE TOOTHPASTE RECIPES
- Homemade Cinnamon Flavored Remineralizing Toothpaste
- Whitening Charcoal Toothpaste
- How We Healed Gum Disease
Meagan
I love Earthpaste! iHerb usually has it for a decent price but I quit using it to save money also. Right now we are using homemade tooth powder sort of similar to what you made. When I’m traveling I just use coconut oil by itself to simplify things since I use it for other things anyway while traveling.
Tiffany
Pretty smart to simplify while traveling Meagan. Thanks for sharing where you get good deals!
Therese
Liquid Stevia has Glycerine. If you do a google search on Zylitol there are some that are not so good it explains why. I bought the right one, its good for teeth, also grind it a bit in a coffee grinder. I just made your recepie added 2tbsp unrefined organic coconut oil and a couple tsp baking soda. I have been using the baking soda coconut oil method but wanted to try the earthpaste. Also added tyme oil as a freshener as ive heard it is what is in listerine. For storing I have the perfect solution, go to your local drug store and pick up Goo Tubes. They are plastic squeeze tubes no metals, works perfect, cant wait to see how this recepie works! Thanks
Therese
Also dont ever use zylitol on pets, zylitol can kill cats and dogs though you can dip a toothbrush in the bentonite clay, my cats didnt seem to mind that, youll notice they use the clay in soft cat foods and coconut oil is used for pets more and more.
Tiffany
I saw this Therese, and I need to do more research on the different types of glycerin – apparently there’s vegetable based and animal based, but I’m not sure the difference in terms of dental health. Goo Tubes are great for this – thank you for sharing!
jessica
My son is developmentally delayed and is not able to spit out toothpaste. would this be ok if swallowed? or do you have other suggestions for him? currently we use a drop or so of mouthwash or a teensy smear of toothpaste, i’d feel better about using natural ingredients!
jessica
also, can you substitute kaolin clay? thanks
Jen H.
So, I’m super excited to try this! However, I only have the solid Stevie (not the liquid). Can I use that instead? I have everything else and would love to have my kiddos using something that I don’t worry about them swallowing.
Megan
I tried this recipe; but I cannot STAND the taste of teetree oil. I tried lessening it, but even using peppermint and wintergreen flavourings I couldn’t get over the awful taste – which is weird because I don’t taste it in Earthpaste. I finally used half coconut oil, half distilled water. Much more mellow flavour, much creamier texture. It DOES harden a little overnight, but then I just add a little more distilled water and Presto! perfect texture. I put mine in a silicone Gotoob.
Tiffany
Hi Megan! The tea tree oil is used as a natural preservative to prolong the shelf life, so you can reduce it to just one drop and stir very well. I’m glad you found an alternate solution though!
reba anderson
I feel the same way about tea tree oil that you do. I made this toothpaste about a month ago and at first, I really could taste the tea tree oil but after a couple of days the flavors kind of settled in with each other and I didn’t notice the tea tree oil at all…
It is really a great recipe and I have enjoyed it immensely…
Laura
I can’t wait to try this recipe. I love earthpaste, but it’s spendy so I don’t purchase it all the time. I have all the ingredients except Real Salt, but I’m ordering that right now. Just a tip for everyone – order your ingredients on Vitacost, the prices there are really good.
Tiffany
Thanks for the tip Laura!
Virginia
This toothpaste recipe is awesome as a base to add more to or use as it is!!Tastes great, and I am so thankful for this! I tweaked it a bit to my own liking like adding extra minerals, healthy gum drops oil essential oil,baking soda and a few other things, and it is wonderful! teeth are very clean and no weird residue that sometimes is left when coconut is added. Plus my brush turns out white when I rinse it too, which was a problem with some of the natural toothpastes. Awesome work!!!!!
Tiffany
Thank you for your high praises Virginia! So glad you liked it! 🙂
Rebecca
I’d love to give this a try, but is there something I can replace the stevia with? I’m trying to use a sweetener that is less processed and doesn’t have the same effects on the female body that stevia can have.
Tiffany
Hi Rebecca – other readers have tried xylitol with success!
Joyce @ It's Your Life
I just found this on Pintrest. I make a tooth scrub which my teens will not use I’ll have to try this.
Tiffany
My kids love this – I hope yours do Joyce! 🙂
Jennifer
I just made a batch of your homemade Earthpast this morning. Thank you for the recipe, it’s amazing!
Tiffany
So glad you enjoy it Jennifer!
Elayna
Have you ever added neem to this? I have everything to make this (and I’m in the middle of making it now) and I was just thinking about a neem toothepaste I used to use I really liked. I have neem oil, but I don’t know how strong it would be in the toothepaste. Has anyone tried it? Neem is supposed to be really good for your mouth, but if it tastes too bad my husband won’t want to use it, and I probably won’t either.
Elayna
Okay, so for everyone’s information I went ahead and put 3 drops of neem in. It takes great! I don’t know how more mild flavors would do hiding the neem flavor, but peppermint did really well. I also don’t know how effective 3 drops of neem is, but I figured 3 is better than none. And that stuff is yucky so I didn’t want to push it! But now you know. 🙂
Thank you for the awesome toothpaste recipe!
Victoria
I tried making this and it tasted like the nastiest dirt. I have the Aztec clay; do I need to buy Redmond?
Tiffany
Hi Victoria! When I make this without flavor, it’s doesn’t exactly taste “good.” I haven’t tried it with other clay’s, so I can’t say for sure. Did you add essential oils?
Victoria
I did! Both tea tree and peppermint, as well as the xylitol and salt. Letting it sit for a day or two did nothing to improve the taste. I tried to muscle through it for a while, but just couldn’t take it. Earthpaste isn’t available in my area, so I have no idea how it compares.
Tiffany
Hmmm… I would try adding more xylitol. When I tried powdered stevia, I found that I had to add at least 1/4 tsp, if not 1/2 tsp to one batch to equate the same sweetening power of the liquid. This is part of the beauty of DIY though – feel free to tinker until it works for you!
Derek
I’ve made this recipe a few times and played around with the ingredient amounts, generally I’m happy with it and do enjoy making my own toothpaste. One question, regardless of how I prepare this and whatever brand of clay I use I find that the homemade is grittier than Earth Paste. I make mine with a large mortal & pestle and spend a good long time working the paste until it is very smooth. Yet after brushing and rinsing repeatedly, there is still residual micro grit in my mouth that I find a little off putting. Crunch crunch! This is not the case with Earth Paste. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Tiffany
Hi Derek! Is your clay ground fine? I use Redmond Clay, and it’s already a fine, powdery texture. I mix using a spatula in a glass bowl, but I do mix for a few minutes really well (likely similar to you). None of the ingredients has anything that needs to be made smaller… so I’m wondering if it’s the clay you’re starting with?
Derek
I just switched from “Aztec” branded clay to Redmond. The Aztec was very fine – basically like Redmond. Only one brushing so far with the new batch so maybe too early to tell but it seemed to be an improvement.
Thanks Tiffany!
MY
Hi there
I am a dentist, and I do love my organic products, however how can you publish a toothpaste recipe that contains no fluoride?! Fluoride is a natural mineral found in many foods and in all drinking water and has proven benefit on reducing dental decay. In the UK the goverment’s policy is that all children should be using a fluoride toothpaste. Toothpaste is used to strengthen teeth, especially in those who have very high sugar diets, it’s not like moisturiser that we can put on and smell nice. It has a function!
Is it responsible for someone to promote toothpaste without any formal dental education? I wouldn’t get my hair cut by an electrician…… just a few thoughts on the matter.
sandy
I made it and like it… Thank you 🙂
Tiffany
You’re welcome!
Rendesia
Thank you for this tutorial. I’ve been using this recipe for about 4 months now (I added just s bit of melted coconut oil). My Mother commented on how white my teeth look and I told her about this toothpaste recipe and I offered to make her the orange oil recipe. I warned her about the texture and taste (I haven’t bought liquid stevia), but I also explained the benefits of remineralization. She is willing to give it a try.
Tiffany
That’s great news Rendesia, on both your own success and your mother willing to try. Keep spreading the news!!
Christine Kane
Has anyone tried this with extracts instead of essential oils? Will that work?
KK
Hi Christina,
Extracts would provide flavor but none of the health benefits that essential oils provide.
KK
Tiffany
Thanks KK!
Antonia
Thank you so much for this recipe!! earthpaste is the only non-glycerine/ flouride paste my kids will use; and i’ve tried the coconut oil homemade, but the texture is off-putting. i’m going to make this today!
Tiffany
Awesome! Let me know how you like it 🙂
Michelle
Tiffany-
I love Earthpaste and can’t wait to try your recipe. Any idea if you can substitute the Xylitol / Stevia for raw honey if you are trying to stay away from artificial sweeteners.
Thanks!
Tiffany
Hi Michelle! I wouldn’t add raw honey, for fear of the preservation issue (not sure if it’ll encourage foreign growth or not…). You can always omit the sweetener entirely. It’s not ESSENTIAL by any means, but it does help with flavor.
Jen
Do you know if it’s ok to use Vanilla flavored liquid stevia as the sweetener? No benefits from the EO’s if you leave them out, I understand, but I think the flavor would go over much better in my house… ???
Tiffany
You can try Jen! I don’t know if the vanilla flavor would really come through well, but it couldn’t hurt. If it doesn’t taste good, I’d add some lemon or orange to try to compensate.
Jen
Thanks, Tiffany. You were right! All I could smell was tea tree oil…. didn’t even want to taste it! I found some peppermint oil that I didn’t know I had & used that… Yum! Now to see if I can get my family to use it… 🙂 I’ll have to make another batch of lemon or orange when I get those EO’s because my husband has found that peppermint-flavored anything hurts his throat. Thanks again! You have been such a blessing to my family!
Ana
Hey Tiffany
I have no idea how different clays work, so I’m asking you.
I have some kaolin I bought for other stuff. Do you think that could work??
Thanks, big fan btw (:
Tiffany
Hi Ana! Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of kaolin before! Is it another name for bentonite? Maybe a trade name?
Thanks for being a big fan!! {{hugs}}
Rene Hart
Below is a link with some info on Kaolin Clay from Mt. Rose Herbs. I use it in my mineral makeup foundation and deodorant I make. It does not have the same properties as bentonite clay.
How did the Cinnamon toothpaste trial come out? Did the powered stevia work out ok? What powered stevia do you recommend if so. 🙂
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDQQFjAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mountainroseherbs.com%2Fproducts%2Fcosmetic-clay%2Fprofile&ei=Z_K1VNyPFdH5yQSu-oGABA&usg=AFQjCNHlhLaLraU4NJePQMU6We021bmfgw&sig2=pNXBJTwktDZl-KS9HOiOAg
Tiffany
Hi Rene! I didn’t have cinnamon oil as I thought I did, but the powdered stevia turned out fine. I started with 1/4 tsp, then increased to 1/2 tsp. I honestly don’t think the brand matters, just so long as there’s just “stevia” in the ingredients. 🙂
Ana
Tiffany, I did some reading, turns out they are sort of cousins, sort of, I found a recipe that looks a lot like yours but uses kaolin clay instead so I’ll give it a try.
I found this regarding the differences: http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc231.htm#2.2.1 it is way too long but if you go down to the bentonite and kaolin parts its less than 2 minutes of reading, hope it helps shed some light in my dilemma.
Cheers (:
Tiffany
Thanks Ana!