Charcoal toothpaste is a fantastic way to brighten your smile and clean your mouth. it helps brush away surface stains without peroxide as well as ushering unwanted particles out of your mouth with every brush-and-swish. But is charcoal toothpaste also a great thing for kids to use, or does it fall into the adults-only category along with motorcycles, fireworks and Game of Thrones? Well, the answer is … it depends.
You know your kids best, so we always recommend that you rock your common sense on this one. Here are some of the factors you may want to consider when deciding whether your offspring are ready to join the dark brush club.
don’t be afraid of the dark
If your child is over two years of age and able to spit out their regular toothpaste, then technically it should be safe for them to use charcoal toothpaste. That said, while charcoal toothpaste is safe for their teeth, it may not necessarily be all that safe for the aesthetics of your bathroom. Put another way, little kids are messy, and when black toothpaste meets haphazard spitting, you might be looking at a Toothpaste Jackson Pollock, or a major bathroom cleaning effort.
However, if they’ve got a steady hand and good swishing aim, it might just be time to introduce them to charcoal toothpaste.
extra precautions
At hello, we’ve taken the added step of making charcoal toothpastes in both fluoride and fluoride-free varieties. So, if your kid has generally gotten this whole brushing thing down but swallows some paste on rare occasions, it’s best to use the fluoride-free variety in order to avoid ingestion of fluoride.
In some cases, charcoal toothpaste can be a particularly good choice for kids. hello’s formulas do away with the harsh chemicals and additives that you may find in other pastes. Plus, we know that pint-sized humans find a way of discoloring far more than just the knees of their jeans. Since kids eat so many foods that tend to stain their teeth (because life comes at you fast and blueberries are delicious), charcoal toothpaste can be a nice and gentle whitener for their little chompers.
So there you have it – with proper supervision and responsible spitting, charcoal toothpaste can be a great (and super fun) addition to your youngster’s oral hygiene protocol. They’ll probably be delighted by the odd and cool experience of seeing their blackened smile in the mirror. And if it helps them brush more frequently and with greater enthusiasm, they might even cost you a little less money in dental visits down the line. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to dream, right? And if it helps them brush with greater enthusiasm, that’s certainly a good thing.
