I remember my granfather telling me how, when he was a lad, he used tooth powder to brush his teeth, not tooth paste. I hadn't thought about it for years, until the recent events. A google search shows that tooth powder is still made.

Since it's a powder, not a verbotten gel or liquid, you can take it in your carry-on. Here's to oral hygene and better breath!

Should I buy stock in a tooth powder company?

http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?item...mp;itemID=6158

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tooth+powder

Oh man, there was an Arm and Hammer tooth powder but it's discontinued according to one site. The nice thing about these tooth powders is that they are SLS free. (It's poison, trust me.)

I'd say a better bet is (slightly) increased sales of regular toothpaste. People will just buy a tube of toothpaste at the place they land. Look for airports to stock it in the stores so you can buy it on the way out.

Oh yeah, and there are also those Oral-B Brush Strips. Little packets of things that look like finger puppets, you put one on your finger and use them in a pinch when you don't have a toothbrush and toothpaste. I thought it was a stupid idea but now maybe they will take off (as it were).

I too have had a problem finding tooth powder. Baking soda should work just fine. Most hotels that I say give mouthwash, so I am set.

Prior to my trip last week, I went in search of tooth powder. Obviously, my results are geographic specific, but for what is worth:

-- Found "Eco-Dent" tooth powder at Whole Foods and a health food store (County Sun, Palo Alto, CA)

-- Asked at each of the following and was told they do not carry tooth powder: Long's Drugs, Walgreen's Drugs, Safeway.

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Addendum:

The Eco-Dent (Lemon-Lime flavor [!]) came in a dark blue, nearly opaque plastic bottle with a top on it that looks like what might be found on a sqeeze bottle of lotion. So on my first trip through Security with it, I had it in a Ziplock bag along with a solid stick deodorant and ChapStick (since at the time it was still not clear if these non-liquids/non-gels were acceptable). Anyway, the TSAer at the conveyer belt looked at all the items (the tooth powder in particular), said "no problem", and told the person watching the x-ray it was OK.

On the return flight, put everything inside my carry-on, and no questions raised.

My wife told me about Smallflower.com. They have lots of different natural toothpowders, like a scary red Ayurvedic one from India, Mitokou Dentie Toothpowder from Japan (Charred Eggplant and seasalt), Monkey brand toothpowder (also from India, with charcoal in it), Xtra which Oprah supposedly uses, Kukident from Germany made for dentures.

Supposedly they are a bit slow in processing orders though.

I am familiar with the red tooth powder , if I remember right, it makes your mouth burn like crazy

thank u for the info

There are a couple of threads on this (one on TravelBuzz, another in the Women's Travel section), but I was tickled by the OP's name and wanted to reply to this one.

I found mine at Wild Oats market in Kansas (similar to Whole Foods)- my choice of 4 flavors, too. So, your best bet for finding it near home is a health food or organic food store. I'm taking it in my carry-on on my trip to Toronto tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

That's great you found the powders ... but how do they taste? how well do they work? I use the "sensitive" version of the regular toothpaste now and am not sure my gums can take the powders.

Unfortunately a lot of these "green" and "eco" products do not have fluoride. This is a damn important ingredient, but I suppose you can live without it for a day trip.

The Arm & Hammer tooth powder appears to have fluoride. It appears that this company might be pulling out of the dental care business. I noticed that some of their products at CVS were under "closeout".

I use the Eco-Dent mint toothpowder all the time and think it tastes great. It is less abrasive than toothpaste so good for sensitive teeth. health food stores tend to carry this brand in 3-4 flavors and they now have a travel pack available with "1-day" packets that are ultra convenient for air travel...
you can look up their info and ingredients at www.eco-dent.com

the Arm and Hammer toothpowder has been discontinued for some time from what I can tell.