Yep, same here, and really, it has no real purpose in toothpaste. I look for no SLS and yes floride. Biotene toothpaste is good. Oddly one “natural” toothpaste- Toms- has SLS- why?
Everything is. You swallow a whole tube of regular toothpaste and it’s bad. The amount you put (about the size of a pea) on your brush has no danger to an adult- even if swallowed. But normally one doesnt swallow toothpaste-
The risk of getting too much fluoride from toothpaste is low and primarily a risk for children, who are more likely to swallow toothpaste.
The company is now concentrating on it’s other brand- Arm & Hammer.
Contains SLS. At least the varieties I have seen, and most do not contain fluoride.
Right, but now that is no longer a sure thing. Toms usually now contains SLS, and sometimes contains fluoride. It is just another brand now that it was sold.
For a while now, I’ve been buying Sensodyne from overseas. The non-US versions add an ingredient trademarked as NovaMin, a bioglass originally intended to aid in bone repair.
When exposed to water and saliva, NovaMin forms hydroxyapatite-like crystals that occlude exposed dentin tubules in teeth. Essentially, it compensates for damaged enamel by creating a temporary repair, both relieving tooth sensitivity and preventing new caries from forming in exposed tubules.
I found it genuinely worked better than regular US Sensodyne. And some of that is because fluoride seems to work less well to remineralize teeth as you age. Dunno if that was my issue, but my sensitivity problems would come back as soon as I stopped using the NovaMin-fortified product from overseas.
As it turns out, the reason you can’t get it here is simple economics…
In the USA, toothpaste is regulated as a drug, whereas in the EU it’s regulated as a cosmetic. Drug labeling and advertising is heavily restricted, and rightfully so.
If GSK were to make therapeutic claims about Novamin in their toothpaste, GSK would need FDA-approved evidence to back up those claims. Running the required studies is expensive. The projected increase in revenue could not justify the costs.
Ultimately, getting some wonky old fillings replaced with crowns eliminated my sensitivity problems, so I don’t have to smuggle toothpaste any longer, but yeah, to OP’s question, I definitely have experienced a difference between some brands of toothpaste.
As a kid about 1970, I read that NASA couldn’t figure out how astronauts could brush their teeth in space. After experimenting with suction and special bags, they decided that just swallowing the toothpaste is OK. From what I can see on the internets, they still just swallow the toothpaste.
I use Auromere brand…they have a few different flavors, but one of them is mint-free.They also have a foam-free one, but I don’t feel that any of them foam much. The mint-free one has licorice root in it, but I don’t find the flavor to be that strong (I like licorice though). I mostly switch between Classic (also has licorice, but is not mint-free…it’s pretty mild to me) or Fresh Mint (more minty but not too strong to me).
I get mine at Whole Foods, but it’s sold on Amazon too. It’s a bit pricey, but a little goes a long way and you don’t need that much. They offer samples on their website if you want to try a few of them out. They list all of the ingredients for each one on there too (good to check in case anyone has allergies to some plants and herbs).
I remember switching to Colgate Total a zillion years ago and being impressed at how much a difference it made. Not just hype. So one data point. Since then manufacturers seem to have decreed that there is to be no useful way of deciding what is a good product.
Fluoride seems to engender lots of controversy.
Overall it isn’t going to be an issue unless you manage acute poisoning or you exceed a daily maximum for an extended time. Precious bodily fluids not withstanding.
As noted above.
Acute poisoning mostly means eating a tube. That will make you properly sick.
The long term one is more interesting. Fluoride is taken up in the bones and teeth. As teeth grow there is little doubt that some fluoride increases their resistance to carries. Which is a generally good thing. It becomes ever more a good thing as we age. Dental problems in old age are expensive and miserable. Keeping your own teeth in good condition into old age is something worth investing in. But teeth don’t actively renew themselves. So dietary fluoride only helps until your adult teeth are fully grown. After that, topical fluoride is the only useful thing you can do. Hence toothpaste and periodically more concentrated applications.
Low level fluoride intake for bones is a different problem. Bones are always renewing themselves. Above a certain amount of fluoride intake bones can become brittle. That isn’t good.
Seems the recommended maximum is about 7mg a day. If you cleaned your teeth three times a day with about a 3cm length of toothpaste from the tube each cleaning, and you swallowed the lot afterwards, you might start to get close to this.
Curiously the dominant problem for fluoride intake for some people is drinking tea. The tea plant concentrates fluoride within itself. No apparent reason. But it does so so well that tea contains a significant amount of fluoride. So much so that the Irish, who are apparently the world’s champion tea drinkers, get close to the suggested daily limit.
I noticed that with the claims made by Sensodyne toothpaste. Not certain if they still make the claim their product rebuilds enamel but it’s clearly untrue because once enamel is gone, it never returns.
There are many things that are harmless or good for you in small doses, and bad for you in large doses. Vitamin A. Salt. Nutmeg. Ibuprofen.
The amount of fluoride you absorb when using toothpaste in a normal way is harmless. You use a small dab when brushing your teeth, and then you spit it out. Only a tiny amount stays in your body. That tiny bit helps prevent tooth decay, which is an important benefit with almost no risk.
I looked up the LD50 dose for sodium fluoride. It’s 52 mg per kg of body weight. That means about 3536 mg taken all at once would have a 50% chance of killing a 150 pound person. Crest toothpaste has a sodium fluoride content of 0.243%, so about 1455 grams of Crest would contain enough fluoride to have a 50% chance of killing a 150-pounder. A large tube of Crest has 232 grams of toothpaste in it. So the LD50 for Crest is over six tubes. If you swallowed that much Crest you’d be in real trouble. For a 25 pound child, the LD50 would be only one tube of Crest. Now, I’m sure that a smaller amount than that would make a person sick. But the chance of poisoning yourself with fluoridated toothpaste is essentially zero.
I don’t use that product, but I had the same reaction with Crest Pro-Health. I believe our common denominator is stannous fluoride instead of sodium fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate. I first tried it about a dozen years ago, and it has made a marked difference on my gum health.
The ones for sensitive teeth may really be different, or may not be. Years ago my dentist suggested Sensodyne brand toothpaste for my painful teeth, explaining that it contains potassium nitrate as an agent to lower tooth sensitivity. But the folks who own the “Sensodyne” brand have been putting it on all sorts of toothpaste, with or without potassium nitrate. Some of these list tin fluoride as the desensitizing active agent. Well, crap, now fluoride toothpastes are desensitizing? This is a good example of confusing brands with products.
Also, just wanted to point out that sodium laurel sulfate isn’t the only ingredient that can irritate the soft tissues of the mouth. Hydrogen peroxide, which is a typical whitening ingredient, can do so too. I seem to be fine with SLS but oversensitive to H2O2.
My dentist told me to use Tartar Control Crest. Guess what. It has the same level of the same active ingredient (stannous fluoride) as Colgate Total. That’s where I figured out there must be some difference between sodium fluoride and stannous fluoride. Plain old Colgate has sodium fluoride.
I thought sodium fluoride was better for you teeth. Huh. But i get Crest tartar control because i like the flavor, probably because it’s similar to the regular Crest with stannous fluoride i grew up with.
It’s also worth noting, according my my dental hygienist friend, that you shouldn’t rinse your mouth after brushing your teeth with some of these products. This came up in a discussion about sensitivity toothpaste in particular - the chemicals need time to do their thing, and if you rinse right away, you are preventing that from happening.
I swear I remember hearing about stannous vs sodium fluoride on NPR or something similar, and the person interviewed recommended stannous fluoride specifically for its positive effects on gum health, in addition to cavity prevention. Apparently sodium fluoride is not as good for protecting gum health. Stannous fluoride fell out of favor because it stains teeth over time, but the newer formulations are less prone to staining.
I’ve always been told not to rinse with water after brushing. Just spit it out and whatever is left on your teeth or in your mouth you can leave be.