When we go to market to buy a toothpaste, we hardly care to flip the tube over and check its contents. This could be a serious mistake! I don’t wish to threaten you but I feel that all our members of mouthshut.com should be aware of some facts about the toothpaste they use.
Source: WHO and IDA sites.
A typical toothpaste contains (and must contain) an abrasive, humectant, binder, detergent, flavour, preservative and therapeutic agent. Lets go one by one.
Abrasive are coarse particles in the toothpaste that scrub away the food debris on our teeth. The common abrasives used include calcium carbonate and silica compounds. Of these, calcium carbonate is safe but there’s lot of debate going on about how safe are silica compounds when taken in orally. Although the connection between silica and Crohn’s disease is not proven yet, to be on safer side you should avoid toothpaste containing silica.
Humectants and binders are used to prevent loss of water and subsequent hardening of the paste . Glycerol and sorbitol are common. Sorbitol may cause diarrhoea in large doses as it acts as an osmotic laxative and hence must be avoided.
Detergents help loosen plaque deposits and emulsify the debris removed from the tooth surface during cleaning. Their action is similar to the common detergent used for washing. The commonly used detergent in toothpaste is sodium lauryl sulphate. When used in moderate amounts this chemical should pose no risk. But if swallowed in large amounts, it can cause intra-oral ulceration. However, the chances are negligible (as detergent contents in toothpastes are quite low) and there’s no reason to avoid toothpastes with sodium lauryl sulphate.
The use of fluoride toothpastes is beneficial in the prevention of dental caries, but at the same time, excess fluoride leads to dental fluorosis. Most toothpastes today contain 0.1% (1000 ppm) fluoride, usually in the form of sodium monofluorophosphate or Sodium fluoride (MFP); 100 g of toothpaste containing 0.76 g MFP (equivalent to 0.1 g fluoride). The suggested toxic dose of fluoride ion is 5 mg fluoride per kg body weight. For a 10 kg child, this corresponds to approximately half the contents of a 100 g tube of toothpaste. Therefore, young children should not be allowed unsupervised access to fluoride toothpastes.
Triclosan, an anti-microbial agent used extensively in deodorants, soaps and other dermatological preparations, is the active agent in new toothpastes. It is a pesticide, and is dangerous to both human health and the environment. This chlorinated aromatic chemical is highly toxic compound. Avoid by all means, any toothpaste containing triclosan.
Conclusion: I checked the contents of commonly used toothpastes. Of these I found that Close-Up is the worst toothpaste containing triclosan, silica and sorbitol. Colgate wins. It has calcium carbonate instead of silica and doesn’t have any triclosan.
In general, when you buy a toothpaste avoid the ones containing silica compounds, triclosan, sorbitol and with more than 1000 ppm fluoride.