liza sabater

On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at 03:36 PM, Rebecca DeLong wrote:

> SandraDodd@... wrote:
>
>
> <<<It's technically "antiseptic" by one meaning of the word, but it's
> not "an
> antiseptic" by which people usually mean it will kill the germs on a
> person, on
> a wound or whatever.>>>
>
>
> You are right, it's not an antiseptic.
>
> But it is antiseptic.
> I did a little googling, didn't find much, but from what I understand
> salt does help kill off germs in the mouth, adds abrasive qualitys to
> the baking soda, aids in whitening, and helps heal damaged gums and
> other mouth sores.

When you are sick or have any skin ailment in the Caribbean the first
thing you do is to go to the beach. Salt water cures everything. The
salt + baking soda has something to do with the chemical reaction that
happens. I have to look in a cooking book but I seem to remember that
salt neutralizes the metallic taste of baking soda. Natrium Muriatricum
(salt) is used in homeopathy for allergies, eczema, asthma, contact
dermatitis, etc.


> Everything said not to apply salt directly to your mouth, to mix it
> with baking soda or use a damp cloth to rub it gently ito your teeth
> and gums

A lot of it is due to taste issues (at first). The second issue that
does not become apparent at first is that you can wear off tooth enamel
in a short period of time with these abrasives.

That's why whitening toothpaste is evil.

When I worked at Colgate-Palmolive, a lot of people would call about
sensitivity with those toothpastes. People would go to town believing
that indeed their teeth would look Vanna white when in fact it could
only remove enough build up to get them almost to their natural white
(not the unnatural bleached color that is so in vogue in Hollywood). So
we'd send off many people saying, "well, if you had read the box and
the instructions ..." meanwhile knowing all too well that people do not
go by the box but by the commercials. Then we would get once in a while
the letter from a lawyer or a saavy customer with lots of dental
records to prove that, in effect, our tp had worn down their teeth. Its
another case of cosmeceuticals. Toothpastes are considered drugs by the
FDA. So that makes Colgate Palmolive and Procter and Gamble
pharmaceutical companies. But their business model is that of a
household and cosmetics company. So you have different interests within
the same company battling over how products are marketed and packaged.
It made for an interesting 4 years.


>
> <<<If it were "an antiseptic," then pouring salt into one's wounds
> would be a
> kindness and not a horrible torture (even if only a proverbial
> torture).>>>
>
> Jasons dad used to put salt in the bottom of his lower lip, he had
> infected gums and the salt helped, it cleaned the wound and he said
> it got rid of the pain.
>
> He got addicted to the salt though and couldn't stop, it ended up
> eating away a bunch of his teeth and gums, but he said it didn't hurt.
> :-/
>


UGH! WOW! That sounds gross. I can't imagine how much he must have
brushed for that to happen ?!?!?


/ l i z a, nyc
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