# How much toothpaste do you use?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 30, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147 "2012-01-30T03:02:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/1 "2012-01-30T03:02:12Z")
Just interested to see what reality is for a variety of people. Comments are welcome. If you really don’t use toothpaste, comments are especially welcome.
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### Author:  [@BowlOfDucks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BowlOfDucks)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/2 "2012-01-30T03:57:42Z")
A pea sized amount seems to work fine, and makes the toothpaste last much longer.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/3 "2012-01-30T04:13:14Z")
A little bit more than I should, I suppose.
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### Author:  [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/4 "2012-01-30T04:37:05Z")
I voted smear, assuming it isn’t the same smear used to measure cream cheese for my bagel.
-D/a
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/5 "2012-01-30T04:41:34Z")
I voted “a smear”. I use enough toothpaste to cover the bristles of the toothbrush.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/6 "2012-01-30T04:42:59Z")
I wish it was okay to swallow the stuff after brushing. I really hate to spit. Spit bothers me. It’s not quite a phobia, but close to one. (Guarantees I will never be a parent to a baby!)
Is there a “digestible” brand of toothpaste?
How toxic is the fluoride, anyway?
(And, yeah, I originally wrote flouride. Oops…)
And, like, stannous? The stuff is made with tin? Is the tin taken up into the enamel along with the fluoride?
And whose damn idea was it to put nerves in our teeth? Holy OW!
And…
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/7 "2012-01-30T04:52:03Z")
I really don’t use toothpaste. Yes, it has affected my teeth adversely. It’s too complicated in my head to write down a full explanation, but by now, it’s too late to do anything. No, really, it’s too late to save my teeth. I count… 27 teeth that don’t have actual, jagged, gaping holes. Bear in mind, some may have cavities - but all 27 are basically tooth-shaped.
Strangely, I do NOT have bad breath (I’ve asked impartial observers without mentioning the state of my teeth). I have very, very occasional toothaches.
I knew I’d be the only “none” vote - at least so far…
ETA : When I did, I used enough to cover the brush head - like a soda can pull-tab size. But I haven’t brushed ten times in the last 20 years.
Joe
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### Author:  [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/8 "2012-01-30T06:13:11Z")
Pea size.
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### Author:  [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/9 "2012-01-30T06:17:41Z")
Depends. Just my teeth, then a smear.
Whole body, about half a tube.
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### Author:  [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/10 "2012-01-30T14:46:17Z")
I’m not sure what you’d call this (a smear?), but enough to cover about 3/4 of the brush head.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/11 "2012-01-30T14:59:36Z")
Enough to do the job.
(You get to share at least the bronze medal for one of the oddest question/poll of the year, I think.)
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/12 "2012-01-30T15:22:19Z")
I cover the full length of the brush head with a roughly cylindrical shaped mass of paste whose diameter = the opening of the tube.
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### Author:  [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/13 "2012-01-30T15:55:22Z")
Smaller than a pea, it tastes better and seems more effective than slathering the whole brush head which I did for years.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/14 "2012-01-30T17:21:40Z")
A smeared pea’s worth.
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/15 "2012-01-30T17:26:06Z")
It’s impossible to put more than a pea-sized blob on the small round head of my electric toothbrush.
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### Author:  [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-toothpaste-do-you-use/611147/16 "2012-01-30T17:27:03Z")
I voted for a smear, something like a couple peas worth.
> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> I wish it was okay to swallow the stuff after brushing. I really hate to spit. Spit bothers me. It’s not quite a phobia, but close to one. (Guarantees I will never be a parent to a baby!)
>
> Is there a “digestible” brand of toothpaste?
>
> How toxic is the fluoride, anyway?
>
> (And, yeah, I originally wrote flouride. Oops…)
>
> And, like, stannous? The stuff is made with tin? Is the tin taken up into the enamel along with the fluoride?
>
> And whose damn idea was it to put nerves in our teeth? Holy OW!
>
> And…
Unless you eat a whole lot at once, there aren’t going to be any side effects, but you shouldn’t swallow it every time you brush (why would you anyway, not wanting to spit sounds weird?) since that can lead to problems as well ([fluoride toxicity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity) from Wikipedia; be warned that if you Google this, you’ll find a whole bunch of sites claiming that we are being mass poisoned by fluoride).
[Stannous fluoride](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin%28II%29_fluoride) may be used instead of sodium fluoride but the tin isn’t active, just as the sodium doesn’t have any function (it is used because it stays effective after binding to calcium).
Also, many toothpastes use [sorbital](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbitol) as a sweetener, which acts as a laxative and can cause gastrointestinal problems if consumed to excess, hence the warnings on some products that use it (but otherwise harmless, it is naturally found in prunes, among other things).