I have here a small tube of Crest toothpaste. It’s a dentist’s sample tube with the specific brand name “Crest Pro-Health Advanced”. The only active ingredient listed is stannous fluoride.
However, in the fine print, it claims all kinds of benefits: cavities, gingivitis, acid erosion, sensitivty, plaque, tartar, and whitening. OK, cavities, yes, fluoride helps with those. But I’m wondering how they can get away with the rest. Sensitivity-reducing toothpaste should have potassium nitrate in it. Stannous fluoride doesn’t do a bit about sensitivity. In a recent dentist visit, I was given another one of these samples and I asked the dentist about it. He had no good answer, but they gave me a different tube that did have KNO[sub]3[/sub] in it (not Crest).
The same for the other benefits. I think there’s something that significantly reduces plaque and tartar, but it’s not fluoride.
So any ideas where these claims come from? Was there some study where there was a minuscule decrease in sensitivity with just fluoride?
I don’t know, but have similar questions because of Sensodyne brand toothpastes. Years ago my dentist recommended the product to reduce my own sensitivity, and I understood potassium nitrate was the active that did this. Since then, Sensodyne has been putting their brand on at least a dozen different formulations, some of which don’t have potassium nitrate. At least one of these listed stannous fluoride as the only active. My conversations with the dentist about this seem to go in circles, as she treats “Sensodyne” as though it implies specific ingredients, whereas I think it’s simply a brand they’re trying to make money with. They may have found that leaving out the potassium nitrate doesn’t hurt sales, which I suspect is because consumers make the same mistake.
According to Wiki "SnF2 is a colorless solid used as an ingredient in toothpastes that are typically more expensive than those that use sodium fluoride. Stannous fluoride converts the calcium mineral apatite into fluorapatite, which makes tooth enamel more resistant to bacteria-generated acid attacks. In toothpastes containing calcium minerals, sodium fluoride becomes ineffective over time, while stannous fluoride remains effective in strengthening tooth enamel. Stannous fluoride has been shown to be more effective than sodium fluoride in reducing the incidence of dental caries and controlling gingivitis."
There is other stuff in there:
Active ingredient: Stannous fluoride 0.454% (0.16% w/v fluoride ion)
In the US, fluoride toothpaste is regulated as both a drug and a cosmetic.
Tartar that forms above the gumline is a cosmetic issue. It does not contribute to gingivitis and decay. Tartar control toothpaste only removes tartar above the gumline. Cosmetic ingredients are not listed as “active ingredients” on drug labels. TSP is a cleaning agent, not a drug and, so, will not be listed in the active ingredients.
I’ve actually been doing casual research on this over the past few weeks and have switched to stannous fluoride toothpaste. The research does seem to suggest that stannous fluoride has anti-microbial properties that MFP doesn’t have that does help with gingivitis, periodontal disease, etc. more than MFP. Stannous fluoride used to be more popular, but MFP tasted better, was cheaper, and didn’t stain your teeth (although they apparently have figured out how not to make it stain your teeth.)
As for sensitivity, that’s not an issue I have, so I didn’t research it at the time, but here’s a paper that concludes stannous fluoride provides sensitivity relief vs MFP. Here’s another one with similar results. Supposedly, there’s also this very recent trial, but no results are posted to that website, despite a completion date of Feb 2018 of the trial (I suppose maybe these things take awhile to write up?)
I’ve always used the original Colgate toothpaste, not even the mint-flavored one or the gel but just the original unflavored white paste. But the last time I was shopping for a new tube, I looked at the many varieties of toothpaste offered by Colgate (and similarly by Crest). One claims to improve gum health. Another one claims to make your teeth whiter. A third one claims to restore enamel. Some claim to do multiple things.
So I looked at the backs of the boxes. For virtually all of them, there was only one active ingredient; sodium fluoride. So I just bought the original product again.
There are only a few brands of toothpaste that use stannous fluoride instead of sodium fluoride. Those include Crest Pro-Health and Parodontax. I started using Crest Pro-Health because it’s much cheaper than Parodontax and has the same active ingredient.
I have terrible sensitivity that wasn’t being helped by Sensodyne. It is virtually cured by Prevident Booster Plus, which is 1.1% sodium fluoride.
Oddly enough, I got a generic prescription once called SF 5000 which is also 1.1% sodium fluoride but it didn’t work and my sensitivity was back within a week. A return to Prevident fixed it. I assume it was an inactive ingredient that was fixing the issue.
TSP … Yup, that’ll clean the gunk out of your mouth… :eek:
I guess the sodium hexametaphosphate (AKA “Calgon”) neutralizes any mineral problems with the water you’re brushing with? Or is it really there for some other purpose?
From the American Dental Association Mouth Healthy web site.
The following is my theory based on the above. Crest Pro-Health is not a desensitizing toothpaste. However, the stannous fluoride in Crest Pro-Health helps rebuild tooth enamel. This treats the cause of sensitivity (lost tooth enamel) rather than just desensitizing the tooth.
I don’t know anything about that, but let’s say “sure.” I don’t see them claiming that it aids dental sensitivity in all cases or anything like that. Plenty of drugs out there are effective for a certain population, but not the whole population.
Are you in the USA? My understanding is that toothpastes containing Novamin aren’t available here, and must be ordered from the UK via Amazon (or some other online vendor). I’m thinking of ordering some; I’ve heard claims that Novamin can actually re-mineralize teeth.
Tom’s of Maine makes an anti-sensitivity toothpaste that also purports to plug up tiny holes in the teeth, but it uses a different formula (“arginine and calcium chloride,” according to the label). I tried it a couple of years ago, but didn’t have much success with it.