The 12 year old column on toothpastes hit the front page again.
One thing that seems out of date is the issue of triclosan, the antibiotic thrown in to “help protect” against gum disease. If you start with the Wikipedia article on it and follow some links you will see that many people have a problem with the widespread use of an iffy antibiotic. Most noticeably the FDA recently banned it from antiseptic mouthwashes.
As far as I understand, triclosan is being phased out of everything. (IIRC, it was pretty much THE antibacterial agent in everything claiming to be antibacterial.)
What amazes me is all the different stuff that has been thrown into toothpaste that would supposedly make it more effective. Antibacterial? Sure! Microbeads? Why not?
Do any of these companies have any R & D that looks for likely problems, or just benefits and worst case scenarios?
Oops, just noticed that I forgot the link to the Wikipedia article for Tricolsan.
For something like toothpaste, additives are part of the ad mentality. What new, improved, obscure, made-up* thing can we say our toothpaste has? Woo is not just allowed but practically a requirement. The last thing you want to do is test woo.
I just had a look at my tube of Colgate Total. Virtually the whole of the tube is devoted to extravagant claims of what it does: Whitens! Brightens! Prevents cavities! Cures gingivitis! Fixes cavities!! Grows new teeth!!! 
But the actual list of active ingredients is very short: sodium fluoride and triclosan. Plus, presumably, some kind of non-medicinal basic tooth-cleansing goop.
The good news is, the article claims most toothpastes are in fact pretty good. With regard to triclosan, I remember that the use of it in liquid hand soaps came under attack as being both ineffective and, for environmental and bacterial-resistance reasons, undesirable. I don’t know if those soaps are still being marketed as general consumer items, but I stopped using them years ago. But for toothpastes, according to the article the American Dental Association endorses triclosan as effective against gingivitis, and it looks like it’s still being used.
Corinth is famous for its leather!
Sorry, couldn’t resist.