About a year ago it was mentioned to me that the purpose of toothpaste is NOT to clean your teeth but to actually making brushing palatable. Brushing without toothpaste would taste gross - enter the toothpaste, a minty thing which tastes nices and fresh and, as every other commercial puts it “makes your mouth feel clean”. Notice that no one actually claims toothpaste actually makes your mouth clean, it just makes your mouth feel clean. The benefits of cleaning is solely the result of the brush.
I asked my dentist about this, and she basically confirmed it, with the caveat that toothpastes actually provide flouride. However, with flouridated water so common, this is not such a big issue.
So I feel a bit cheated, with all those commercials saying how great their toothpaste is, while in fact it’s almost completely unimportant. But most of all I feel it’s bizarre because this is such a simple fact, if it’s true why is it not more widely known?
So I ask you, am I overlooking some great benefit of toothpaste, or what?
Interestingly, if you look at the history of advertising, many products for which there was no need at all (but provided a benefit) were pushed upon the public by advertising slogans that basically said, “You NEED this…”
Soap is one of those products. After the Civil War, there was a surplus (War is the MOTHER of surplus) of soap. Before then, people bathed once a week, at best. Peeyew.
Enter the machine of advertising (and advancements in the tools that create advertising, like movable type) and the general idea that you should be clean EVERY day quickly spread and caught on. Well, they had to get rid of that surplus somehow.
I personally believe you are correct, that Colgate and Crest created the need to use their products. Of course, it’s benefit is obvious (it makes you brushing tolerable, if not enjoyable), but, in my opinion, plain old baking powder is just as good.
I’m not sure where, I think it was in The Secret House by David Bodanis, but I’ve read that the effect of the abrasives in toothpaste is such that brushing with water alone is 85% as effective. Many contain bleaches (also there’s the other whitening agents) that make your teeth whiter as well.
And Wrath, I wouldn’t say there was ‘no need at all’ for soap, considering what it did for the spread of disease, but but perhaps ‘not as great a need as advertised’.
I can vouch for the mint flavor making you feel cleaner. I’ve been having problems with my teeth and had a prescription for a special paste. The flavor they gave me was lemon-lime. I didn’t think anything of it until I brushed my teeth with it.
My teeth just didn’t feel clean. I brushed a lot more than usual. I put more toothpaste on. I must have brushed and re-brushed for a good half hour, adding more toothpaste. Obviously my teeth were clean but it didn’t feel that way to me. I called my dentist and asked him if he’d write another prescription so I can get mint flavored. He laughed at me but I want my mint flavor! The stronger the better.
First off, the point of toothpaste is to get some grit on the bristles. The studies of Crest and more recently Colgate confirm this. For stain removal, there has to be grit, usually talc, which is harder than food and softer than enamel.
Second, fluoride is only available in 50% of water supplies, and is less effective that way than applied directly.
Well, it seems that the majority is that toothpaste, while being only slighly more effective than water alone, adds good things like flouride, minty-freeshness, and what-not.
Of course, these things were all added AFTER (notice the al caps, cool, huh? No, well, I knew that, but it does make you notice the word more (because you would have skipped it otherwise, right?)) where was I, oh no, I was mid-sentence!
Well, they were added after toothpaste was first invented. So really, the invention of toothpaste was not a need. But now, it is closer to a need, but still a fancy luxery.
As AiAe said, SLS is there only as a foaming agent. However, it has an undesireable side effect. It also can cause 'canker" sores on the inside of your mouth- you know those little white circles that hurt and take a LOOONG time to heal. There are some (few) toothpastes that do not have SLS, so if you get these sores, try switching.
::Pokes head out from under the rock::
::Dumps the extra baking powder on the sand::
::Drops 2 cents::
Brush away from the gums… away from the gums… It’s gingivitis we all need to fight. Fighting bad breath, having a sweet tasting mouth (for our significant others), abrading the teeth… are inci(no pun)dental. Dental picks & floss are the proper thing, with Scope right behind.
I’ve tried baking soda. Its yucky tasting.
I use the brand that does taste best myself.
Maybe they should try coffee flavored toothpaste!
Or bacon! ha ha