Toothpastes

Does the World Really Need Another Toothpaste?

Most of us grew up with our toothpaste brand. It was first given to us by our moms and our dentists. It has become a fixture in our oral care regimen.

So why on earth consider changing?

We, at The Natural Dentist, asked ourselves that question before we decided to create a new toothpaste brand. We are a small company and knew we’d be taking on the giants of our industry in what many will see as a quixotic effort to change habits that are too ingrained to ever change.

Our research led us to 2 conclusions:

1.   All the ingredients necessary to make a highly effective toothpaste can be found in nature (see the fluoride exception below)
2.   The most popular toothpastes contain chemical ingredients that can be harmful, and don’t enhance efficacy.

Point one is an easy one. Many of you have already “gone green” in many of your purchase decisions. Like us, you believe that nature provides effective cleaning agents and flavors and colors in abundance; and that carefully chosen natural ingredients will do less harm to you and to the environment.

But you still find the toothpaste habit that started with mom can be very hard to break. Well there’s a reason for that and it is at the root of point 2 above.

Most commercial toothpastes contain chemical ingredients that are there simply to enhance your perception of efficacy.  These ingredients don’t actually make the product more effective, instead they make the product seem more effective.

Chemicals, like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), are included to create lots of suds and to reinforce your perception that cleaning is taking place. (SLS can also be found in shampoos, body washes and most household cleaners). It doesn’t add cleaning power, just suds.

These chemicals also give you that “tingly” feeling when you finish brushing. Think about that feeling next time you brush.  It’s there to re-assure you that you just did a good thing and to make you want to re-create that feeling next time you brush. But it is also an unnecessary irritant to some of the most sensitive tissue on our bodies.

So we did the obvious – developed special purpose toothpastes that don’t try to fool you into thinking they work, but still do.

Here they are. The rest is in your hands.

*The ADA and our dentist friends are so adamant that fluoride helps prevent cavities that we felt we’d be remiss if we didn’t add it to most of our toothpastes.  If you are adamant that you don’t want it in your toothpaste, please try The Natural Dentist Fluoride-Free Toothpaste.