My mom swears by using toothpaste to treat burns. I still use this home remedy to this day on small burns… Has anyone else heard of this? I don’t think it helps with the healing but the refreshing mint or what not in the toothpaste helps relieve the burning sensation. Was wondering how popular this was in the old wives tale medicine repository.
That sounds like a recipe (that I’ve never heard of) for infection. You shouldn’t put things like toothpaste or butter on a burn because the skin can be broken and it’ll cause other problems.
I’ve never heard of the toothpaste OWT. I have heard of the butter one but even back in the '60s it was widely known to be bunk. At least among people with a junior high school edumacation.
The short answer is, don’t do it.
Toothpaste is not sterile, and you don’t want to put anything that isn’t sterile on a burn. (Soap or detergent is a different matter. You do want to keep the burn clean.) It also has abrasives that keep your teeth shiny and white, but that can also tear the burn open, which can cause fluid to leak out and infection to enter.
It is true that the cooling sensation of mint or menthol will help a burn feel better. In the summer, when I’m liable to get a nasty sunburn, I use Noxzema or Dr. Bronner’s liquid peppermint soap to make it feel better. The mint extracts in these products trigger particular receptors in the skin to provide a cooling effect, and they help keep things clean. I suppose Dr. Bronner’s eucalyptus soap will help, too, but the peppermint smells nicer. (Say what you will about the man’s rantings on the bottle. The soap is damn good.)
The best remedy, however, is to run the burn under some cool water for about 20 minutes to stop the burning and reduce the damage to the skin. Damage can often be minimized or eliminated. Once you’ve done this, cover the burn with a Band-Aid or sterile gauze to keep it from being rubbed open.