natural beauty | activated charcoal

As a regular coffee or tea drinker, you are probably familiar with the problem of stained teeth. And if you’re one who steers clear of bleaches and whitening chemicals then you might wonder how to bring your smile back to bright and shiny white.

Last year I discovered a simple way to naturally whiten my teeth. I’m pretty enthusiastic about it, and have been compelled to tell most everyone I know about it. It’s super easy, using a simple natural ingredient, and it only takes a few minutes per treatment.

Activated charcoal is most commonly used to filter drinking water and to treat poisonings (including food poisoning, accidental ingestion of gluten for one who is intolerant, venomous bites..), as well as for digestive disturbance, migraines, for treating or preventing hangover and more. The unique and particular porous nature of charcoal makes it readily bond to toxins and gases, and allows them to be safely passed out of the body. We have used activated charcoal to treat what seemed to have been an overdose of antibiotics (super scary, but safely and effectively treated), for migraines (I have a fond love for charcoal due to a notable experience with migraine relief), for stomach upsets and for general queasy unwellness that came from who knows what odd thing I ate/drank/breathed. It’s something worth having in your first aid kit. In a pinch though, even burnt toast can do the trick.

It’s important that you use charcoal obtained from plants (as opposed to your bbq for example, which is NOT meant for ingestion).

But anyway! Back to teeth… It turns out that the adsorptive nature of charcoal also works great for pulling stains and cleaning plaque from your teeth!

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How to use activated charcoal to whiten your teeth (or, at least this is how I do it):

You can find activated charcoal in capsule form in most any natural foods store, grocery stores that have a natural supplements section, or online. We happen to have Nature’s Way on hand.

You will need your toothbrush, some activated charcoal, and a small dish. I brush my teeth as usual first.

Tip the charcoal to the larger side of the capsule and carefully wriggle the capsule open. You might want to do this over your little dish.

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Pour a bit of charcoal onto your dish, wet your toothbrush and dab/scoop the charcoal onto the surface of the bristles. Get them well covered.

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Then brush it around on your teeth – focusing on the front where stains are most likely to be showing. Let it sit in there for 5 minutes or so (I usually do other things to get ready for bed at this point). After a few minutes have passed, give your teeth a brief brushing (mind the charcoal splatter), rinse well and you’re all done.

After your first treatment, your teeth won’t necessarily be perfectly shining white, but you should notice they are brighter and feel remarkably cleaner. After 2 or 4 treatments they should become notably whiter. I try to do this a few times every couple weeks at least. It always gives me that feeling like I just came home from a dental cleaning, where your teeth are extra slick and smooth.

Have you tried it? If not, and you decide to give it a try, I’d love to know what you think!