Did you know that there are many uses of toothpaste aside from helping clean your teeth? If not, you’re in for a treat! You’ll be surprised at how versatile toothpaste can be. It doesn’t just help clean teeth, but this dental hygiene product has many other useful applications.
Most of us know toothpaste as part of a morning and night routine for cleaning our teeth. But throughout history, this household item has helped many people beyond its dental application.
Why not learn and try out the other uses of toothpaste in your household? Here are some toothpaste applications you may find valuable.
What Is Toothpaste?
Toothpaste is designed to help clean your teeth and gums. It removes plaque, making it an essential part of your and your children’s dental health. It also helps keep your gums healthy by preventing gum disease.
Despite its name, toothpaste comes in different forms, including pastes, gel toothpaste, and even powders. Most also usually have fluoride, which helps strengthen the enamel of your teeth and prevent tooth decay.
Other than fluoride, the toothpaste you may come across at the store may also have other ingredients and benefits. However, it always includes three main components:
- Gentle abrasives: Many manufacturers include a mild abrasive in their toothpaste formula. The abrasive properties of toothpaste help gently scratch and scrub away the bacteria or plaque buildup on your teeth.
- Humectants: Toothpaste also has humectants in its formula, which prevents your toothpaste from drying out.
- Detergents: Detergents help toothpaste foam up when you use it for brushing your teeth.
21 Ways to Use Toothpaste
Medical and First Aid Uses of Toothpaste
1. Soothe Burns: This is one of the more commonly known uses for toothpaste outside of oral hygiene. If you accidentally burn your skin, one of the first aid items you can reach for is toothpaste. It both soothes and cools the affected area. Do remember to run the area in cool water first before applying toothpaste.
2. Helps With Pimples: You can put some toothpaste on pimples to help clear them up. What it does is that the toothpaste dries out the pimple and speeds up healing. You can leave some toothpaste on your pimple overnight and rinse it in the morning.
3. Soothes Poison Ivy Rashes: If you or your kids happen to come into contact with poison ivy, use toothpaste around the house to soothe the stings and rashes. Put some on the affected area and leave it on for 10 minutes before washing it off with cold water.
4. Helps Minimize Bruising: Did you know you can use toothpaste to reduce the appearance of your bruise? Mix your toothpaste with a skin lotion or skin cream, apply it to your bruise, and leave it overnight before washing it off in the morning.
5. Helps Minimize Skin Irritation: We are no strangers to kids getting insect bites and the skin irritation that comes with it. Well, you can use some toothpaste to help soothe this and even reduce the itching.
Cosmetic Uses of Toothpaste
6. Gets Rid of Gum Stuck on Hair: Getting rid of chewing gum can be quite tricky, but using toothpaste can make the ordeal easier and less messy. For this, you can use a cotton ball to dab toothpaste on the gum. Make sure to cover all of the gum and wait for around 5 minutes. You will notice that the gum will become harder, less sticky, and easier to remove.
7. Cleans Up Messy Hair Dye Patches: When you dye your hair at home, it seems inevitable to get color on your skin that stains, especially along the hairline. You can prevent this by using toothpaste to wash off the stain easier. Simply dab a bit of toothpaste over the stain and wait for 3-5 minutes before rinsing it off.
8. Removes Nail Polish: You can use toothpaste to remove old nail color when you’re in a pinch, thanks to the gentle abrasive formula. You can even add a bit of baking soda to it to make it more effective.
9. Helps Clean Nails: Removing nail polish isn’t the only helpful thing toothpaste has for nails. It also helps keep your nails clean and strong. Use an old toothbrush to apply and scrub your nails with toothpaste, removing any gunk you may have missed.
10. Cleans Hot Hair Styling Tools: Hot tools like a hair straightener, curling iron, and hot comb can get sticky from the buildup of hair products and natural oils. Luckily, using toothpaste helps remove all that gunk from the plates. Just get a cloth, put toothpaste on it, and wipe the plates.
11. Teeth Whitening: No need to go to a cosmetic dentist to get your teeth whitened. Simply make toothpaste out of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and flaunt your brand-new smile!
Kitchen Uses of Toothpaste
12. Gets Rid of Nasty Odors: I love cooking food with lots of aromatics, but the smell of garlic, onions, and other strong-smelling ingredients tends to stick to your fingers. For this, I found that toothpaste can help eliminate these smells. Before you wash your hands with soap and water, rub some toothpaste on your fingers and let it lather for a couple of minutes before rinsing it off.
13. Cleans Refrigerator Seals: Over time, you may find your fridge seal dirty, making it less effective to keep the door shut. One way to fix this is by cleaning it, and toothpaste seems to be an excellent product to use for it! Using an old toothbrush, scrub the seals with toothpaste to clean out all the gunk and debris.
14. Deodorize Bottles and Containers: The smells of food in plastic containers and milk left in baby bottles tend to stick around for a while. For this, you can use a little bit of toothpaste to scrub the inside of these containers and easily eliminate the smells.
Toothpaste as a Cleaner
15. Crayon Remover: For us parents, it’s not surprising to see small kids doodle on our walls with crayons. But did you know that you can use toothpaste to remove the marks easily? Simply cover the crayon marks on the wall with toothpaste, leave it on for a day, and then rinse it with cold water.
16. Stain Remover and Cleaner: Toothpaste can be used for removing stains on multiple types of household items. From coffee stains on mugs, to carpet stains and even piano keys, you can scrub on a dab of toothpaste and clean off the grime that may have been stuck for a long time.
17. Polish Jewelry and Gems: Thanks to its mild abrasives, you can use a small amount of toothpaste to remove dirt and polish your pieces of jewelry. It not only polishes the metals; it also keeps your gems, including diamonds, sparkly and shiny.
18. Removes Scuff Marks on Leather, Linoleum, and More: You don’t have to drown your leather and linoleum items to get rid of scuff marks. Grab some toothpaste and use a toothbrush to clean off any scuff marks on your leather shoes, leather bags, linoleum floors, and more.
19. Cleans Dirt and Soap Scum from Shower Doors: Shower doors are prone to scum and dirt that build up over time. If left on for a long time, this gunk gets tougher to clean. Luckily, you can use toothpaste, a damp sponge, and a soft cloth to rub in circular motions and easily wipe away the dirt and scum.
Other General Household Uses of Toothpaste
20. Prevents Foggy Mirrors and Glass Surfaces: Did you know that you can prevent glass surfaces from fogging up? Coat them with non-gel toothpaste and then wipe them off with a cloth.
21. Disguise Small Wall Holes: Need to hide tiny holes in your walls and don’t have the right item to fill them with? You can use toothpaste to fill in and hide the holes left by nails and screws.
Toothpaste is primarily used for dental hygiene, and while I’ve listed some cosmetic uses for toothpaste, you can’t use it as a skincare product long-term. It contains several products that may irritate your skin and clog your pores.
Toothpaste can’t replace actual household cleaners. It’s best to only use toothpaste to clean specific household items in a pinch. That said, toothpaste performs well as a cleaner in two ways.
First, most toothpaste products contain a detergent that acts as a cleaning agent.
Second, the abrasives used in the toothpaste formula are mild yet effective enough to lift stains and polish surfaces.
Toothpaste is formulated as a suspension, as most of its ingredients don’t dissolve in the humectant. Once the humectant evaporates, these suspended ingredients in the mixture settle, dry up, and harden.
The Many Ways to Use Toothpaste Around the House
The tube of toothpaste you have in your house can go a long way. While you mainly use it to clean, or even whiten, your teeth, I think the many applications it has in the household make it a really handy product.
From first aid to cleaning many items around the house, a tiny amount of toothpaste can help you get yourself out of a pinch. So, in the right situation, don’t forget that you can grab a tube of this common household item to solve a lot of tiny issues around the house.