When you find out that you have a problem with gluten, whether it is celiac disease or gluten intolerance, you immediately start reading labels on every food you want to eat. You quickly learn that you also have to look at products that go in your mouth like toothpaste, mouthwash, and even lip gloss! Ingesting even a small amount of gluten from dental or lip products can make a celiac or gluten intolerant person very ill.
The good news is that nearly every toothpaste manufacturer gives gluten information on their website. I’ve checked many of them, and have yet to find a toothpaste brand that includes gluten. Most manufacturers will say that they don’t officially test for gluten, but that their products do not have any gluten added. Best advice? Check the website of your favorite toothpaste brand to verify that their product is indeed free of gluten ingredients.
You might also worry about gluten in the products your dentist uses on you. In an article written for Gluten-free Living magazine, author Amy Ratner went through the process of contacting the companies that supply paste & fluoride treatments to dentists.1 Every supplier that she contacted confirmed that their polishing paste and fluoride treatments, as well as their other products, were all gluten-free.
I recommend checking with your dentist at least a week before your scheduled cleaning to ask if they have verified that the products they will use are free of gluten. Or you can ask for the product information so that you can do the research yourself. My local dentist’s office was able to check on the products and verify everything they were using on me was free of gluten. Now when I’m at the dentist, I can sit back and relax – well, as much as one can relax in the dentist’s chair!
1. Ratner, Amy. “Should I Worry About Toothpaste: Gluten in Dental Products.” Gluten-Free Living. Number 2/2011: 40.
Michelle Palin is a wife, mother of two boys, and a Celiac. Her website www.mygluten-freekitchen.com helps people learn how easy it is to cook & bake delicious gluten-free food.
