Weleda's salt toothpaste: an alkaline paste built on sea salt and sodium bicarbonate, with no fluoride, no SLS and no synthetic sweeteners. It tastes of salt and peppermint, and it surprises almost everyone the first time.
How it works. Most toothpastes are neutral or mildly acidic; this one is deliberately alkaline. Tooth decay begins when bacteria ferment sugars and produce acid that dissolves mineral out of enamel, so an alkaline paste is working with the mouth's own defence, which is saliva — the body's buffer. Salt also stimulates saliva flow, and saliva is genuinely the most important thing protecting your teeth between meals: it neutralises acid, washes away debris and carries the calcium and phosphate that repair early damage. Sodium bicarbonate adds mild abrasion and further buffering.
Now the honest part, which matters. This toothpaste contains no fluoride. Fluoride is one of the best-evidenced interventions in preventive medicine — the trial data on fluoride toothpaste reducing tooth decay in children and adults is extensive and consistent, and it works by incorporating into the enamel surface as fluorapatite, which is markedly more resistant to acid than natural enamel. Choosing a fluoride-free toothpaste means giving that up. That is a legitimate personal choice, and plenty of people make it deliberately; but you should make it knowing what you are trading, not because a label implied there was no trade. If you or your children are prone to cavities, talk to your dentist before switching.
No SLS. Sodium lauryl sulfate is the foaming agent in most toothpaste, and it is also strongly associated with recurrent aphthous ulcers — mouth ulcers — in people prone to them. If you get ulcers often, switching to an SLS-free paste is one of the few changes with real evidence behind it, and this is one.
Expect little foam and a salty taste. Both are consequences of the formulation, not faults. Give it a week; most people stop noticing.
Weleda has been making certified natural products in Arlesheim, Switzerland, since 1921. Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.