Toothpaste Thoughts

Had all three kids to the dentist this morning. I can never decide if it's better to get all appointments together and just make a morning of it or to schedule them one at a time and just keep going back. We were first on this list this morning and they got us through quickly. We had plenty of entertainment for the waiting room, as well. So this round I am glad that I just planned for them all at once. It doesn't always work quite this well. Sometimes you end up waiting for hours.

Anyway, I had a very interesting conversation with the dentist. I had asked the hygienist to exchange the kid toothpaste samples for regular minty flavored samples. My kids have never been big on tooty-fruity flavored toothpaste. The dentist walked in about that time and said, "What do you need toothpaste for anyway?"

At first I thought he was getting into the typical dentist talk with the kids, asking them about their brushing habits and so on. But he was dead serious, and he was looking at me.

He went on to tell me that nobody benefits from toothpaste. Then he corrected himself, "The guys who make it. That's who benefits," he said. Someone, in other words, in making money by making us believe we need toothpaste.

I've heard this before. Brushing is important, but the toothpaste actually isn't. In fact, there are those who would say that most toothpaste actually does more harm than good. The hygienist mentioned fluoride. The dentist scoffed, "Yeah, fluoride," he said. "Well we get that everywhere, don't we? It's in nearly everything we eat. They put it in our drinking water."

He went on to talk about healthy teeth. He explained that the mouth has everything it needs. The important thing is that you brush a couple of times a day to keep the plaque from setting on, and most people don't brush nearly long enough.

Toothpaste, I think, allows you to fudge on brushing a bit because it leaves a taste in your mouth that you learn to associate with clean teeth, but using toothpaste does not necessary mean you are brushing your teeth well. I had to admit that I was probably more than a little hooked on that minty-fresh feeling. I might miss that if I gave up toothpaste altogether.

On the other hand, it's got me thinking about all the stuff we buy because we think we need it. I've been experimenting with washing my hair with a baking soda paste and then rinsing it with vinegar, for instance. Honestly, I think my hair feels clean longer than if I use the smelly shampoos and conditioners.

Cleaners of all sorts seem to fall into this category. Consider that there are cleaners for windows and cleaners for toilets. Showers are washed by a different product than stove tops. You might have yet another product for your floors. I made a decision many months ago, that I was no longer going to buy specialty cleaners for my house. Vinegar works wonders for things you want to shine. Baking soda adds a little scrub where you need it. Both are cheap and, once again, it seems like many things stay clean longer than with gooey cleaning products.

I have friends that mix their own laundry detergent. That's next on my list. I've been collecting recipes for ages. It's just a matter of changing my habits now.

I think it's good to think about the things that we buy regularly, the things we have come to believe are "needs". How many of them are actually necessary, and how many are just items we've become convinced we need by marketers?