Just Gotta Have Toothpaste!
Tooth care products are ancient history
Brushing our teeth with a toothpaste that tastes good and feels good in the mouth is something we take for granted; but several thousand years ago, flavor was an afterthought. The Egyptians began brushing their teeth as long ago as 3000–5000 BC. Their toothpaste probably tasted fairly nasty. Imagine scrubbing your teeth with a cream made of oxen hooves ground up into ashes, myrrh (a dried tree sap that was used in perfumes and incense), burned egg shells, pumice (a lightweight, porous volcanic stone that was used as an abrasive), and water.
Many thousand years later, around 1780, one toothpaste was made from burnt bread; another was made from dragon’s blood (Someone had a good imagination.), cinnamon and burnt alum. In the 1800s ground charcoal was common in tooth powder. The tooth powder was to clean the teeth and to freshen the breath—just like today.
Contemporary tooth care
Nearly one hundred years later, in 1873, one of today’s most popular tooth care products, Colgate, sold its first toothpaste. In our lifetime, toothpastes have become very popular. Even though its ingredients have changed dramatically from what the Egyptians used, all of today’s toothpastes contain nearly the same ingredients.
What is this stuff I can’t pronounce?
You may be wondering if so many toothpastes contain much the same ingredients, how do you know you which one to buy? First, to help you decide, let’s take a look at a toothpaste package and understand what each ingredient is and why it is used in toothpaste. Different toothpastes use different combinations of ingredients; the list below was acquired from several brands of toothpaste to show you the range of ingredients that are currently used.
Baking soda: a mild abrasive that helps scrub the hard, crusty tartar off your teeth.
Carrageenan,
cellulose gum, xanthan gum: make toothpaste thick. Carrageenan is made from red seaweed. Cellulose gum is made from wood pulp or cotton linters. Xanthan gum is made from glucose or sucrose.
Coloring: adds a pleasing color to toothpaste. For example,
Chlorophyll adds a green color to toothpaste, and
Titanium oxide makes toothpaste white. Most coloring agents are artificial.
Flavoring: peppermint, spearmint, wintergreen, cinnamon, etc. make toothpaste taste good by masking the not-so-flavorful taste of the detergent, especially sodium laurel sulfate (see below).
Glycerin: gives toothpaste texture and keeps it from drying out.
Hydrated silica (or other forms of silica), calcium phosphate, alumina, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate dihydrate: abrasives that help to remove the soft, sticky plaque and food stains off your teeth.
Mica: a mild abrasive that helps to polish the tooth surface.
Peroxide: marketed as a “cleaning agent”; however, there is lack of evidence to support that claim.
Sodium benzoate, methyl or ethyl paraben: preservatives added to prevent bacteria from growing in toothpaste so you do not have to refrigerate your toothpaste.
Sodium laurel sulfate: a detergent that makes toothpaste foamy.
Sodium monofluorphosphate, stannous fluoride, sodium fluoride: types of fluoride that form a protective shield over the exposed portion of your teeth so that bacteria have a more difficult time causing tooth decay.
Sodium pyrophosphate: helps to prevent tartar from attaching to your teeth.
Sorbitol, saccharin, Xylitol: sugar substitutes. Xylitol also kills decay-causing bacteria.
Strontium chloride,potassium nitrate: prevent teeth from being sensitive to hot or cold foods or liquids by “numbing” the tooth nerve.
Triclosan, zinc fluoride: “germ fighters” that kill decay-causing bacteria that live in your mouth.
Calcium peroxide: a whitener that removes stains from teeth but does not change the color of the teeth, which is much like washing a dirty sink. The cleaning agent removes the soap scum from the sink so you can more clearly see the white color of the sink.
The “best” toothpaste for you
The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends that you buy toothpaste that contains fluoride and that is ADA approved because there is not much difference between toothpastes. The ADA thoroughly reviews laboratory studies and scientific data on toothpastes; so you can be sure that any toothpaste that has the ADA seal is safe to use and is effective.
If toothpastes use about the same ingredients, what does all this mean? Essentially, it means that if you like the taste of a specific toothpaste and the way it feels in your mouth, buy it and use it. If you like the toothpaste, chances are you will use it more often than a toothpaste that you do not like.
Most importantly, regular
brushing is a major tool in preventing tooth decay!
Hygienist tips of the month
If you have a canker sore, do not use toothpaste that contains sodium laurel sulfate. There are very few toothpastes on the market that do not contain this ingredient. Read labels carefully to find a toothpaste that won’t irritate a canker sore.
Toothpaste does not clean the teeth or remove plaque—the toothbrush does! Toothpaste effectively delivers fluoride to your teeth. Consider this: When you are sitting watching the evening news or your favorite program on television, use a toothbrush without toothpaste to gently massage your gums and brush over the surfaces of your teeth. Then, before you go to bed, add that favorite toothpaste and brush again.
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