Tooth brushes and toothpastes

[iBelieve]

I'm new here, 

many one know of any safe toothbrushes to use? Manufacturing wise, how do we know what they use to make them? We are putting them in our mouth after all. I'm having a hell of s time trying to contact companies and nobody provides a straight answer  they just say go talk to your doctor?!! What is my doctor going to do? 

Just got diagnosed celiac. I'm also in the process of having s denture and a mouth guard made and of course  my dentist assured me those are fine without even checking. Well when I googled it, it appears most of those appliances are made with gluten. 

[squirmingitch]

Toothbrushes are fine. They don't make toothbrushes with gluten. If they did this site would not exist as we would all be dead from getting continued gluten exposure from our toothbrushes. I use Colgate toothpaste and my husband uses Crest (& he has celiac too). I haven't found a toothpaste yet that contains gluten. I don't have dentures or a mouthguard but I seriously doubt ANY of them are made with gluten. Truthfully I don't think any of them are & would not even question whether they are or not.

There are a lot of incorrect information out there on the internet about gluten & where it's hidden. It scares newbies half to death! Such as the one that says the glue on envelopes contain gluten or that paper plates are made from gluten or that all vinegar has gluten. Those are all false. The only vinegar that is made with gluten would be malt vinegar. Malt is barley.

[iBelieve]

Oh thank you SO much for the reply. You make being celiac sound not so scary. 

Ive been googling frantically all weekend about everything I put in my mouth ( non food wise as I know how to eat gluten free) I have also read white vinegar contains gluten and anything pickled and that orthodontic appliances are manufactured with gluten products and that people keep reacting to them and have high positive blood test results until they remove the appliance from their mouth. I just don't know what to believe anymore and companies all say the same thing. They can't promise or don't know. Makes one heck of a scary transition. 

[cyclinglady]

To put your mind at ease, ask your dentist to provide written information about ingrediants, material safety data sheets, contact information from the manufacturer so that you can call.  When I was getting my teeth cleaned and I was a newbie, my dentist showed me the carton of the cleaning paste they used.  I was able to confirm for myself.  Made me feel better and I always ask at each visit and each time they check.  If they did not, I would find another dentist!  

I use Tom's of Maine only because my family likes it!  We each have our own tube and our brushes are stored separately as we have one gluten eater in the family.  

[cyclinglady]

I use white vinegar.  It is distilled and is safe! 

[squirmingitch]

You're welcome! Even though you know how to eat gluten free please read the Newbie 101 in the Coping section. It will also answer some of your other questions.

You're perfectly safe eating pickled beets, sauerkraut, pickles and pickled things. Your new motto is READ EVERY LABEL EVERY TIME. Wheat is required to be listed in the ingredients of food as part of the FDA labeling law on allergens. I'm assuming you are in the US.  Rye is really only going to be found in rye bread or rye crackers -- again, READ THE LABEL & you'll know where rye is. Barley is barley or malt. No more malted milk balls for you.

Newbie celiacs don't know or understand that gluten reactions may or may NOT be immediate so tend to blame whatever they last ate or put in their mouth. Reactions may not present for 3 days and reaction presentations can change over time.  We can also develop sensitivities to other foods & they can simulate a gluten reaction. This is why it's good especially for newbies to keep a food & symptoms log so they can track down what is causing them problems.

You wouldn't believe (or maybe you would) the people who come on here saying they got glutened by smelling vinegar or by eating certain brands of bananas or something equally ridiculous. They may have gotten sick form smelling vinegar but they certainly didn't get glutened from smelling vinegar. And the whole banana thing is absurd. Wash your fruits & veggies before eating them. it's simple hygiene if nothing else but you will also be washing away any gluten hands that handled that fruit or veggie before you ate it. 

Now do you really think they would make dental appliances out of wheat or containing wheat? Then there would be people dying from anaphylaxis because there are people with anaphylactic reactions to wheat and I'm sure they get dentures just like the rest of us do. 

There are also "trolls" who prey on internet forums. Trolls like to stir up trouble. They are demented people who get their  ya-ya's from scaring people by stating ridiculously untrue things or causing forum members to fight either with them or each other. 

To make a turn on the old phrase - if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is - let's change that to:

If it sounds too ridiculous to be true; it probably is.

[iBelieve]

Thank you all for the replies. 

The dentist gave me a list of materials used for the appliances and of course I don't understand them. I called the lab as they provided me with their number and the lab said they don't know and need to know the msds info. They kindly offered to just call my dentist and talk to them. My problem is there isn't anything j can do with s list of long un pronounceable dental terms. I don't know how to properly Google these materials according to gluten and end up getting horror stories off the internet ( which is why I usually don't dr Google anything). 

Thats great to know about the white vinegar.

Perhaps I am being paranoid about the toothbrushes and materials. I just know that 4 years ago I was diagnosed celiac through a blood test and then had s biopsy which came back showing no damage internally ( I also never react to gluten). The specialist said to stay gluten-free for 7 months and retest. I was VERY strict being gluten-free right down to my my own pits and pans and toasters etc. When I was tested again my numbers were still high and they couldn't understand as they should have been non existent. He just gave up and said I'm not celiac and go back to eating gluten. So I did but have really minimalzed my gluten intake since then. I was tested again last month because I said I want to know once and for all and my numbers read so high they were off the charts. They labelled me a functional celiac because I don't get gastro issues at all from eating gluten. Mainly just feeling tired and brain foggy. So this whole thing confuses me and I wonder if before I still had high numbers because of things like toothbrush, my old night guard etc. 

I will still have s look st the new diagnosis area. Thanks for the info :) 

[bartfull]

You might be getting glutened through your meds or supplements. You could be getting cross-contamination. If there are gluten eaters in your house that is very possible.

For example, someone spreads butter or mayo or peanut butter on their bread, then dips the knife back in for another load. That butter or jar is now contaminated and if you use it you WILL be getting gluten. Toaster? You need a separate one for yourself. There could be crumbs in the silverware drawer. Use cast iron or scratched telfon? If that pan ever held gluten you will be glutening whatever you cook in it.

Does someone in your house bake gluten foods? Flour dust stays in the air for hours and settles on everything, including the back of your throat when you breathe it in. Then you swallow it.

In the coping section here there is a thread pinned at the top called "Newbie 101". That will give you more clues about avoiding contamination.

[iBelieve]

The only gluten in our home is my husbands bread and granola bars ( the bars never get unwrapped at home). We have separate toasters. Everything else in the house is gluten-free. I don't take any meds and when I take supplements I only buy them from the natural health stores and are gluten free. There is never any flour in my house unless it's gluten-free flour and I don't bake much so even that is very scarse. 

I find it more daunting because I don't even know if I'm being glutened as I don't really react to gluten. Very odd!! 

[avlgrl]

Toothbrushes are fine. They don't make toothbrushes with gluten. If they did this site would not exist as we would all be dead from getting continued gluten exposure from our toothbrushes. I use Colgate toothpaste and my husband uses Crest (& he has celiac too). I haven't found a toothpaste yet that contains gluten. I don't have dentures or a mouthguard but I seriously doubt ANY of them are made with gluten. Truthfully I don't think any of them are & would not even question whether they are or not.

There are a lot of incorrect information out there on the internet about gluten & where it's hidden. It scares newbies half to death! Such as the one that says the glue on envelopes contain gluten or that paper plates are made from gluten or that all vinegar has gluten. Those are all false. The only vinegar that is made with gluten would be malt vinegar. Malt is barley.

Not true. Distilled vinegar can be fermented in a wheat base. Most companies are unaware and FDS does not require products fermented in wheat base such as distilled vinegar to be labeled.

Take Mount Olive pickles and relish. Email them and they will clearly tell you that the disitlled vinegar that they use is corn based.Very few other companies even know this important info. Many companies will tell you they use different sources so cannot be sure.

Also, some toothpaste companies actually dust the inside of the tube with flour before filling with toothpaste (that is, itself gluten-free).

If sensitive celiac such as I am, this is information to be further researched and aware of.

Take care out there....

[cyclinglady]

Not true. Distilled vinegar can be fermented in a wheat base. Most companies are unaware and FDS does not require products fermented in wheat base such as distilled vinegar to be labeled.
Take Mount Olive pickles and relish. Email them and they will clearly tell you that the disitlled vinegar that they use is corn based.Very few other companies even know this important info. Many companies will tell you they use different sources so cannot be sure.

Also, some toothpaste companies actually dust the inside of the tube with flour before filling with toothpaste (that is, itself gluten-free).

If sensitive celiac such as I am, this is information to be further researched and aware of.

Take care out there....

If the vinegar is distilled it is safe.  Malt vinegar is not safe.  Read this by a reputable source:

Open Original Shared Link

if a company dusts the inside of a toothpaste tube (for what benefit I can not imagine) it would have to be disclosed as an ingrediant. Why did you ever hear of that?  

[kareng]

I have to say the " dusting the toothpaste tube" is a new one!   Lol.

 

 Where do these ideas come from? 

 

And I can understand the confusion on vinegar or alcohol.  Many people don't understand distillation and fermentation.  

[gilligan]

I have a mouth guard to wear at night for tmj.  I've had it for two years.  If it was made from gluten, I would've been sick by now.

[manasota]

I have a mouthguard for night use.  Purchased in last few years.  It is totally gluten free.  I checked with the manufacturer about all the ingredients and processes in manufacturing.  No gluten.

As for "dusting the inside of toothpaste tubes", I find that highly doubtful.  In pharmacy school, I made all sorts of pharmaceutical items including those packaged in tubes (creams and ointments).  No "dusting", no powder involved.  I cannot think of any reason why it would be used.  It would inhibit the "squirting out".