Vegetarian Family

A Peek @ Food We Eat & Things We Do!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Toothpaste

We eat more than toothpaste. Well, most of us do, though Olivia might be happy enough to just eat the toothpaste off the brush and skip meals. Don't get me wrong, she does a good job brushing, but wants several rounds of toothpaste per toothbrushing session. We have 3 bathrooms, so I'm prepared with toothpaste/brushes in each, cuz ya never know when the urge will strike. Yesterday, she brushed her teeth about 8 times with at least 2 different kinds of paste each round, and would have more if I hadn't redirected her...

Here's our toothpaste line-up:

1) Top row: this is the grown-ups' all-time favorite: Nature's Gate Herbal Creme de Mint.
2) Second row: with 3 vertical tubes, and a 4th tube being swiped is: Logodent Kids Zahngel Erdbeere (which is German for strawberry....I think - it's an old, empty tube), Gerber Natural Mixed Berry, Tom's of Maine silly strawberry, Logodent Zahngel (with a different package and design, different paste?)
3) Nature's Plus Animal Parade very-cherry
4) Doctor Burt's Orange Cream

My mission was two-fold: 1.) Which was her favorite toothpaste? 2.) Exactly what was in the toothpaste? After several taste tests, we had a winner! *drum roll, please!* Hands down, she chose Doctor Burt's! I was surprised because the label is boring and it's orange flavored. (all the others are sweet strawberry or cherry jel) But mostly, I was pleased to read the label: (filtered water, vegetable glycerin, natural chalk, natural clay, orange oil, baking soda, yucca extract, vegetable oil & beta carotene, xanthan gum.) Other than the last thing, I know what it is, so I'm feeling much better about my daughter's toothpaste tendencies.

21 Comments:

Blogger Dori said...

Great entry, after eating all the great food we blog about, we definitely need to take care of our teeth! I like Doc Burts ginger toothpaste.

8:18 AM  
Blogger Tanya Kristine said...

i try to brush with toms' but my real favorite is the bubblegum flavored one for kids...

shhhhh....

9:29 AM  
Blogger Luna said...

here where i live i can't find toothpaste with different flavours than mint, so after tolerating it for a very long long time, i picked up a non-defined-sweet-flavoured one for kids (not vegan nor vegetarian nor natural nor anything else!) it is blue, and sparkling too and it makes me feel like i'm brushing my teeths with some hair gel :o) but i'd second your daughter's choice!

10:32 AM  
Blogger Eat Peace Please said...

This is too funny! Wow, I've never heard of a child liking to brush, and so much! Maybe I would have if I had all those good (natural) toothpaste options. This is a really great post Vicki!

11:02 AM  
Blogger KleoPatra said...

Hey! I recognize some of those toothpastes! Love the little hands in there, too. Cute!!! I am a fan of Cinnamon Tom's, but i think they just got bought out by some big conglomerate like Colgate-Palmolive so... i am going to look for the Doc Burt's! Great post, Vicki. I would love to know more about the ingredients in toothpastes like Crest, Aim, etc. Then again, maybe i *don't* want to know!!!

12:33 PM  
Blogger Eat Peace Please said...

The Organic Consumer Association website has a list of the use-to-be smaller (and good) companies who have been bought out by larger ones just like Kleopatra is talking about. It's worth taking a look.

4:10 PM  
Blogger Shananigans said...

That is too adorable! I used to love the sparkly blue toothpastes when I was a kid, but I didn’t care for actual brushing much. I do think you’re right about Tom’s being bought out, which is really too bad. Before long we will just have one big OmniCorp and it will ruin the world.

4:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Olivia must get glowing reports from her dentist! Good on ya!

7:48 PM  
Blogger funwithyourfood said...

hahaha

too cute

8:01 PM  
Blogger Luna said...

Thank you vicki :o) everything's ok, unfortunately my final's aren't over,i'll be done at the end of july...and starting again end aug. (we have finals in two sessions).I hope to finishing them all, since i'm really getting tired,plus it is extraordinary HOT with 90%humidity !!
ciao ciao!(did you abandon your other blog?no more art works?it's a shame, they were so cute!)

2:26 AM  
Blogger Dreena said...

I've never seen the Doctor Burt's brand. Maybe we don't have it here, I'll have to check again. The xanthan gum you can feel good about too. It's a stabilizer. I don't usually know a lot about these obscure ingredients, but this one I do!

I am always looking for toothpastes that are natural. I don't buy any with SLS in them, and many that claim to be "fluoride free" have sls - like Tom's. I don't understand that, when all of the other ingredients in their toothpastes are very natural. Anyhow, for how much toothpastes kids can "eat", the natural ones put my mind at ease (well, a little, there's always *something* to worry about as a mom, right?!!)

Thanks for the post, Vicki, I will have a lookout for that Doc Burt's one!!

6:00 AM  
Blogger Catherine Weber said...

I buy Tom's toothpaste, but the fluoridated ones. How do you keep your teeth from falling out of your head without fluoride? (Just curious . . . !!)

I think I have a mini-tube of Doctor Burt's cinna-mint toothpaste that was given to me as a gift . . . I'll have to investigate!

7:00 AM  
Blogger Eat Peace Please said...

Fluoride is in the water... naturally.

10:43 AM  
Blogger Everyday Superhero said...

Great post.
My lil' one loves to "brush" her teeth as well. She sucks all the toothpaste off of the toothbrush and I have to remind her to brush. She also asks me to kiss her boo-boos (usually on her feet) while she brushes. Not sure how we got on this weird habit but whatever gets her to brush her teeth. :-)
I love the Tom's mint as well.

10:49 AM  
Blogger Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

sweet pea, that is so funny/cute! there is a whole lot of boo-boo kissing going on here too, but I don't recall it happening at the same time as brushing. but it's bound to happen by vegas odds alone. big #s of toothbrushing + big #s of boo-boo kisses = happening at the same time!!

1:12 PM  
Blogger Catherine Weber said...

Vicki, want to hear something funny about boo-boo kissing? Little Girl likes to have her "ouches" as she calls them, kissed. Today while eating my dinner, I bit my lip and said, "ouch!" She said, "what?" I said, "I bit my lip and it hurt a little bit!" She gave me a kiss on the chin. :) It was cute.

8:16 PM  
Blogger turquoise cro said...

O! That Olivia! This is WAYYYYYYYYYYY tooo cute Vickster!Those sweet lil cherub hands grabbing the toothpaste all day long, that is something to chuckle about! xo

11:51 PM  
Blogger t. said...

I agree! Great entry!
Props to your kid to keep her theeth way cleaner than my own!
And it is wonderful that toothpaste is SLS free!

9:12 AM  
Blogger Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Thanks for your comments, everybody. I checked out the The Organic Consumer Association website, and that was a great find ~ thanks, Leslie. And, I didn't know about SLS until Dreena & t mentioned it, so I appreciate that information ~ something new to look for on the label.

6:56 PM  
Anonymous Jenna Schrock said...

Woah, she brushed her teeth 8 times? That's promising! Oh well, kids actually like orange-flavored toothpastes! Bubblegum's next... Hehe... Congratulations on accomplishing your mission! It didn't seem that hard for you anyway.

1:24 PM  
Anonymous Jerome said...

J'aime le dentifrice sucré, c'est bon à manger

2:56 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home