Crest tartar control paste. I’ve been using Crest in paste form for over 60 years. Tried the gel but didn’t like it. And at 65, I still have my own teeth, so it seems to be working. 
Nope. I tried the cheapest store brand one and the material it’s made of shreds really easily and is too wide. It also has a slippery feel to it making it very hard to actually get a good grasp on.
The Oral B tiny circle shaped one is way better quality.
5 Things In Toothpaste.
[ol]
[li]Fluoride-- This mineral is key to fighting tooth decay. Fluoride makes the enamel of your teeth harder and more resistant to acid wear.[/li][li]Glycerol-- This ingredient keeps toothpaste from drying out, gives it a consistent texture and helps it glide smoothly from the tube[/li][li]Sorbitol-- plays two parts: Along with glycerol, it helps hold the toothpaste together, and it’s also a sweetening agent.[/li][li]Calcium carbonate – This common abrasive helps remove plaque, debris and surface stains[/li][li]Sodium lauryl sulfate --This ingredient is a detergent, creating a bubbly foam like in soap and shampoo. Sodium lauryl sulfate can cause mouth irritation and canker sores.[/li][/ol]
Oops. :o
I guess I was thinking of that story, “Christmas Caries,” where the ghosts of toothpast, toothpresent, and toothfuture visit Scrooge.
Dentist here, I use Colgate on the authority of my mom 61 yrs ago. Now because I like the taste.
As a general rule any toothpaste with the ADA seal is fine. Except in rare cases most people should use one with fluoride. Tarter control, remineralizing and sensitivity protection generally work as advertised. Bleaching/peroxide doesn’t really work. If you have problems with mouth ulcers, and in some people there is a correlation with them and sodium laurel sulfate, try to find one without it. Gel or paste makes no difference. Charcoal is a fad and along with “smokers” toothpaste is a bit abrasive for most people.
Plain old baking soda works great and is cheap but for me the taste sucks.
Really the scrubbing action is what is important to remove the plaque. Toothpastes usually have surfactants to help with the plaque removal.
Colors and flavors are personal preference.
I tell parents that if their kid wants the pump action, glow in the dark, stripe or sparkle toothpaste that comes in a cartoon figure container and cost $2.00 more then regular toothpaste, buy it, it may make them want to brush a bit better.
Children under the age of two or three that can’t spit should be using an infant toothpaste without fluoride. Any supplemental fluoride they need should be in conjunction with their DDS or Pediatrician recommendation.
Use a pea size dab not the huge strip as in the commercials and spit and rinse the excess when done.
I don’t care for mint, so I usually get Close Up. Right now Crest cinnamon flavor because that’s the only cinnamon that was available the day I remembered to buy it. Crest is not any better, just more expensive. My dentist recommends Sensodyne, and I used it for awhile, but the mint is gross so I go back to other brands in cinnamon.
Whatever is a decent price at the dollar store: same with shampoo, body wash and deodorant. They’re all name brands and much cheaper than any grocery store.
I actually…like the taste of baking soda. It’s sorta like if spearmint and salt had a baby.
I went with Arm & Hammer Toothpaste for awhile. Then I went back to Colgate. The paste, not the hideous gel.
Crest (or at least some of their stuff) has a weird ingredient that make me find stringy threads of what had been my cheek’s inside layer all around my mouth. I do not use Crest.
The [del]dentist[/del] dentist’s mom has spoken! 
novamin for the win
I use Verve SLS Free toothpaste. I got bad canker sores my whole life and then I was researching one day and found suggestions to try an SLS free toothpaste. With nothing to lose I tried it and what do you know, the frequency of canker sores diminished almost entirely. So I’ve been a user ever since. It’s not cheap and I don’t care.
All I care about is that it is white, minty, has fluoride, is not gel, and comes in a regular tube. Store brand, whatever is on sale, I don’t care which one I get.
My SO does the shopping for that kind of stuff. I was asked once if I liked the toothpaste I was currently using and I replied in the affirmative(it’s just toothpaste!). I have been brushing with the exact same variety of Arm & Hammer (something-something control) toothpaste for twenty years now.
Colgate Total. I like the taste.
I used Crest most of my life. My dentist switched me to a prescription, high fluoride toothpaste a few years ago. I get it at his office.
High fluoride can reverse minor decay. I have a couple spots they’re watching. It’s not deep enough yet to justify a filling.
https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/childrens-oral-health/tooth-decay-process
Yep, this. Probably because when I was young we used Arm & Hammer baking soda on our toothbrush. I always liked the saltiness.
I’ve been lucky to find good deals on Tom’s Of Maine in either of their mint flavors. They have fluoride, I think. I also use the ACT fluoride mouthwash and Plackers floss picks - I cannot floss to save my life so the picks are a godsend and recyclable.
I prefer cinnamon to mint, and gel to paste. And I must have flouride. Anyone who doesn’t put flouride in their toothpaste is just woo.
Whatever I find that can get closest to that I buy.
Beware toothpaste containing sodium saccharin. Unless you like the way it tastes… but who wants to brush their teeth with sweet-tasting paste? Ugh.
I like the taste of AquaFresh. But I’m a cheap bastard, and also saw the same Consumer Reports results, so UltraBrite it is!
Oh, my good dear lord. falls over I love this place.
The exact same thing used to happen to me, years ago! It was … incomprehensibly bizarre, and I never told anyone or asked a soul* because it seemed so disgusting and strange, and I’d never heard of a thing like that in my life.
I originally chalked it up to using Listerine too much, but come to think of it, I was using some weirdo toothpaste around then, in an effort to find one that didn’t leave my mouth minty-coated for an hour afterwards.
What the HELL is that effect, anyways?
- it only now occurred to me that, uh, I could have asked a dentist. or a doctor. what the hell does it say about me, that my instinctive reaction is the opposite?