How to keep your mouth clean while camping

You are three days out with the water you carried in, and the routine that takes a running tap at home suddenly needs rethinking from scratch.

Brushing needs far less water than the bathroom habit suggests. The genuinely awkward parts are where the spit goes and what the cold dry air does to your mouth overnight.

Brushing needs about a mouthful of water

A full two-minute brushing uses one mouthful to wet the brush and rinse it afterwards. Everything beyond that is habit built around a tap that never runs out.

You can brush with a dry brush and paste and it still removes plaque, because the cleaning is mechanical. Water makes it feel normal rather than making it work.

Skipping the rinse at the end is the right move out here anyway. It saves water and leaves more of the mineral on the enamel, which is what the paste was for.

Hello campers, I am sorta new to this thing so forgive me if this is a dumb question. I went camping in the desert a couple weeks back and i had a blast. All went well except for one tiny detail. I didn’t know how to maintain oral hygeine/ brush my teeth while i was out there with a limited amount of drinking water. If anyone has tips for this i’m just wondering if this is a common issue. Thanks!

— r/camping

Where the spit goes under leave no trace

Toothpaste is food waste as far as wildlife is concerned, and a concentrated puddle of it draws animals to a camp. The accepted practice is to use a small amount of paste and then spray the spit in a wide arc rather than putting it in one spot.

Do that at least sixty metres from any water source, trail or tent, the same distance used for washing up. In bear country the spit goes in the same place as the food smells, well away from where you sleep.

If the ground is frozen or you are on rock, spit into a bag and pack it out. It weighs almost nothing.

• a pea of paste, not a strip
• spray the spit wide rather than in one puddle
• sixty metres from water, trail and tent
• frozen ground or rock means pack it out

Toothpaste that travels

Toothpaste tablets are the lightest option and they come out of the pack without a mess. Chew one, brush, spit; no tube to burst at altitude and no weight in liquid.

Powder works the same way and is usually cheaper. Both use less material per brushing than a tube does, which suits the leave no trace problem as well as the pack weight.

A travel brush with a cover keeps bristles out of the dirt at the bottom of a pack. Let it dry outside the case when there is sun.

Dry mouth is the bigger problem out here

Cold air holds almost no moisture, altitude makes you breathe harder, and most people sleep with their mouth open in a bag. Three nights of that leaves the mouth drier than anything at home.

A dry mouth means less saliva, and saliva is what clears acid and keeps the film thin between brushings. The taste on waking in a tent is that process running unopposed.

Drinking steadily through the day fixes more of this than anything done at night. Breathing through the nose where you can is the other half.

You need to keep a food and drink diary. This is from sugar /acid / carbohydrates. Your crohns or meds for it can cause dry mouth You will have system inflammation due to crohns. Inflammation is bad for your gums. Enamel is the hardest substance of our bodies. If that is crumbling it’s because of what you are taking in. And or oral hygiene needs to be ramped up.

— r/askdentists

What to carry

The whole kit fits in a sandwich bag: a brush, tablets or a small tube, floss picks, and something for the dry mouth. Nothing heavy and nothing that needs water.

CariSpray is an alcohol-free, fluoride-free nano-hydroxyapatite oral spray used without rinsing and without a sink, which is the shape of the problem out of a pack. It weighs very little, leaves nano-hydroxyapatite on the enamel, and works in a sleeping bag.

Floss picks are worth the space. Days of trail food and nothing to pick with is how people come home with sore gums.

The night brushing is the one that matters out here

Trail food is sugar and starch almost all day, and the last of it sits on the teeth overnight while saliva flow drops. That is the brushing worth getting out of the bag for.

There is also a side benefit that nobody mentions. Brushing before bed is the simplest way to stop grazing on the rest of tomorrow's snacks.

Morning brushing matters less and can be skipped on a hard day without anything being lost.

If you're like me you find it hard to resist snacking after dinner and before bed. So... Go brush your teeth! You don't want to eat after cleaning your teeth do you? Helps me resist the urge to eat knowing I just brushed. Also while were on topic, brushing before bed is just good oral hygiene 😃🦷

— r/LifeProTips

Common questions

How do you brush your teeth camping without running water?

One mouthful of water does it: a little to wet the brush, the rest to rinse it afterwards. You can brush dry with paste and still remove plaque, since the cleaning is mechanical rather than chemical.

Where should you spit toothpaste while camping?

At least sixty metres from water, trail and tent, sprayed in a wide arc rather than into one puddle. Concentrated toothpaste attracts animals, so it is treated the same way as washing-up water.

Is toothpaste bad for the environment in the backcountry?

In the amounts one person uses, the concern is wildlife attraction rather than contamination. Use a pea rather than a strip, broadcast the spit widely, and keep it away from water sources.

Are toothpaste tablets good for backpacking?

Yes, and they are the standard answer for weight. No tube to split at altitude, no liquid weight, a measured amount per brushing, and nothing to leak over the rest of the pack.

Why does my mouth feel so dry when camping?

Cold air carries little moisture, altitude increases breathing rate, and most people sleep with their mouth open in a bag. Less saliva means acid clears more slowly, which is why the taste on waking is worse than at home.

Pack toothpaste tablets, a brush and floss picks, and plan to brush once a day at night. That covers the part that does the work and takes almost no water.

Then drink more than you think you need during the day. Most of what feels wrong about your mouth on a long trip is dryness rather than dirt.