Gear

Three of my front teeth are capped, and a cap is heavier than a real tooth. OMG, I'm going heavyweight, not lightweight!

Unless it's a fairly long trip a normal plastic toothbrush on its own should be fine -- toothpaste is of dubious virtue.

One problem with the pads is you'd have to carry the dead ones around with you until you got to a rubbish bin.

You'd probably save more grams trimming superfluous straps off your pack, or repacking food items in lighter packaging, or not taking spare undies, etc etc etc. I always thought cutting toothbrushes in half was getting a bit silly!

I get your point about the brush, they don't actually weigh that much anyway so I gone for a travel type in its own casing thing that only weighs 13g. But the paste is worth getting small I think as it weighs more or less the same as water so 100ml standard is 100g compared with 25ml at 25g.

As far as keeping rubbish I just keep a zip lock to put everything in and put it in the mesh or lid pocket usually.

Toothpaste is of dubious virtue?

I use a kids toothbrush sawn in half. Am thinking of drilling holes in remaining handle until I can afford titanium version ;-)

Jaimie- try the body shop for the wee tubes of toothpaste. They used to sell them separately and with a mini toothbrush. Superdrug and Body care sometimes sell travel sizes of toothpaste. Bit better for your teeth than a pad...

Why not just squeeze out the amount of toothpaste you need, at home, into a small nalgene type pot? Apply to your brush with your knife.

Why not just prise out your teeth with your knife before setting off? No need for toothbrush or paste, then, and it saves the weight of the teeth too!
:-)

But the weight of the painkillers you then have to carry might exceed that of the original toothbrush and paste!!!
(I should know - I had a back tooth out 3 days before a trip to Norway last February.)

Then again, wasn't it Cameron McNeish who suggested losing weight from the body as well as the pack?

does nobody here have an electric toothbrush like a braun thingy- just take the head of it and then you dont have to have one for home and a short one for the hill

lol steeveskeev!

Matt, Cameron was probably right but the old guys weight loss compared to my recent lack of exercise due to footy injuries would put me to shame so I have turned his idea around...

To make up for my weight gain and appearance of man breasts I will loose pack weight??? ;-)

Tesco do small travel size items, toothpaste etc. M&S do a small Total care dental kit, which contains tooth brush (with removable handle),2 x flossing sticks, 2 x tooth picks & 1 x tooth paste tube (small)

Checked earlier this evening: my normal toothbrush weighed 10g, the head of an electric one 5g, and an interdental one wouldn't register on the scales - so clearly the one to take to fly up those hills! ;-)


<Sometimes I think this lightweight thing can be taken a bit too far....>

Pee. No need to prise them out, just pick a fight at closing time and remember to collect them for the CICB review. Loadsa compo. Winners all round.

Any other Top Tips?

Dental chewing gum is the only way - at least if it's only a couple of days

Matt

OT:

"<Sometimes I think this lightweight thing can be taken a bit too far....>"

You could be right: > > Lightweight?

:-)

Hmmmm. Me thinks that at 16'000 he would have passed out and frozen. still, never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

The pads are handy but as already stated don't get between your teeth. Bicarbonate of soda on your finger also works ok but again does not get between those gaps. Gum has similar effect. Only really usefull for 1-2 day trip on your own or at least not with your partner!

T tree oil can also be used as a mouth freshner/ antiseptic so you could probably brush with it too. I carry a tiny bottle (7.5ml) for cuts, spots, disinfection etc on longer trips. Chewing on a liquorice twig also seems to help keep your mouth fresher. (not the kind found in sweet shops!)

Just drill your brush or chop in half if you want to save weight. Personaly I just take a brush - can't be bothered to mod it.