Why You Should Add Activated Charcoal to Your Oral Hygiene Routine

You’ve probably seen it: happy people all over the internet brushing their teeth with what looks like dirt. Okay, it’s not technically dirt, but it’s the next closest thing—charcoal. Has the world gone mad? Brushing your teeth with charcoal literally makes them dirtier, not cleaner. Right?

As it turns out, scrubbing your pearly whites with some activated charcoal once in a while can be great for your teeth.

So what is activated charcoal anyway? To make activated charcoal, a material (often bamboo or coconut husk) must be charred at extremely high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, creating a highly porous carbon structure. Charcoal and activated charcoal have been used for centuries to make our lives cleaner and healthier—it can do anything from absorbing serious poisons in the body to reducing odors and bacteria to cleaning and filtering polluted water, and more. And yes, you can even brush your teeth with it.

When it coms to teeth, activated charcoal absorbs anything and everything, meaning it can reduce bad breath bacteria, food stains and anything else lurking around. Its texture is also highly effective at brushing away plaque buildup and keeping teeth squeaky clean.

My first experience with activated charcoal began when I saw a jar of tooth powder discounted at a store and decided to indulge my curiosity. I brought it home, dipped my toothbrush in, and brushed as I did normally. I’m not going to lie, it was weird. I smiled at myself in the mirror and was greeted by a toothless zombie of a reflection. My inner 5 year-old could not have been more pleased to be making such a mess.

After rinsing and spitting, I inspected my teeth. Yep, they were noticeably whiter and felt great. It is pretty incredible. I now use activated charcoal around twice a week to keep my teeth clean and happy. Yes, I still use a fluoride-free toothpaste, mainly because charcoal is a little bit more abrasive and I don’t love the idea of cleaning charcoal-spit out of the sink every night. Of course, there are plenty of natural toothpaste companies who are incorporating small amounts of activated charcoal into their formulations to make a more gentle, less dirty whitening formula.

Now for the cons. There are some people who have concerns about the abrasiveness of charcoal powder on tooth enamel. If this is a concern for you, try using charcoal just as a gentle biweekly treatment (rather than bidaily) to keep surface stains at bay without battering your enamel. If your goal is to get bright white teeth, know that charcoal is not quite as effective as in-office whitening treatments. But you’re also not chemically bleaching your teeth.

If you swallow activated charcoal (which you generally shouldn’t swallow your toothpaste anyways), know that it can interfere with medications, as it is highly absorbent. Consult your doctor if you are concerned about any potential interactions.

Important to note, activated charcoal is not the same charcoal you use to light your grill. Do not use that charcoal on your body. It is loaded with chemical toxins and is not safe for hygienic use.

Natural supplements to oral hygiene like oil pulling and brushing with activated charcoal are cheap and highly effective. When used in conjunction with your regular oral hygiene routine, they can enhance your oral health in an easy, natural way.

Would you ever try brushing with activated charcoal powder? Have you used it before? Share your experiences with the community below.

Wooow!!! Charcoal Can Whiten Teeth!

Had a hype in the past year, charcoal or charcoal is often used as the main ingredient for a famous face mask to lift all blackheads. But know does not, if charcoal turns out to be useful also to whiten teeth, you know!

Actived charcoal or charcoal that is odorless and tasteless can now be found in health or pharmacy stores. Now it is also not uncommon to find a toothpaste product with active charcoal content.

Charcoal is not charcoal to make embers when cooking, or something like that, yes! Charcoal in question is charcoal from coal, wood, coconut shell, or petroleum is heated with gas to form pores that contain minerals.

According to drg. Mark Wolf, a dental expert from New York University College of Dentistry, USA, active charcoal can absorb dirt or toxins.

Well, the pores of minerals formed in active charcoal this can bind dirt-grime on the teeth, such as plaque or food scraps. Active charcoal black will not make your teeth the same color, really. Active charcoal is actually making your teeth so white.

But keep in mind, all that is excessive is not good! Actually, activated charcoal can damage the tooth enamel layer and cause erosion of your teeth. Hence, it is not recommended to use active charcoal in excess.

Better, you consult a dentist to use active charcoal on your teeth, yes.

Making Coconut Shell Charcoal Briquettes

Coconut shell charcoal briquettes will always be needed, as it is one of the environmentally friendly alternative energy producers. Consumers are very fond of briquetted briquettes.

To make coconut shell briquettes there are several things that need to be prepared, among others raw materials, tools and process machines and science or techniques to make coconut shell briquettes.

1. RAW Material

• Coconut Charcoal
• Starch
• Water
  
  To make charcoal, there are several processes, among others, by pyrolysis or also by burning through a closed drum. The difference is the pyrolysis process will produce liquid smoke, while the burning drum is closed, the smoke is thrown out.

2. Tools and Machines
To make briquettes, can be done manually or automatically, to help facilitate the production process, automatic machine is the biasaya selected. Tools and machinery among others.

• Charcoal / Scrubbing Machine
• Mixing machine
• The briquette and printing machine
• Briquette oven

3. Making Technique

• Banning
  The coconut shell is made of charcoal by means of manual banding through the barrel then (burned) and closed until there is only a small amount of ventilation on the barrel. or by means of a pyrolysis process, where the shell is inserted into a pyrolysis tank in a closed state, then the smoke is condensed to liquid smoke.
• Siege
  Charcoal produced by manual combustion or pyrolysis is then encircled using a disk mill machine.
• Mixing media
  The filtered coconut shell flour is then mixed with kanji glue. At the time of mixing added with starch glue as much as 2.5% of the coconut shell flour.
• Charcoal Briquette Printing
  After the ingredients are evenly mixed, they are subsequently put into briquette molds and then curing and drying.