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What toothpaste do you use?
Heavily inspired by last week's thread as well as my recent dental health kick, I'm looking for some toothpaste recommendations.
Previously, I used an imported UK version of Sensodyne, because it was the only way to get the version with novomin. I've run out of that stuff and have started using an interesting toothpaste I picked up from a Japanese store called AcessL from Sato Pharmaceuticals. It's got a unique herbal flavor to it that I like in small bits, but it's not great for my tongue because it's actually pretty salty-flavored, which turns me off of it.
Sensodyne for me, but only because it doesn't have SLS. A few years ago I bit my lip really hard and I guess it scarred over a saliva duct. If I use an SLS toothpaste for about a week, I get this little, hard bubble of saliva under the skin.
We don't need our toothpaste to foam up. I also use arm and hammer every so often, but it has SLS.
Sensodyne is an excellent toothpaste.
Dumb question time: What's SLS?
Sodium laurel sulfate - a surfactant used in soaps and stuff. Lowers surface tension.
I don't know why I use Sensodyne but I ended up deciding I liked it better than other brands that are easier to find around here, like Colgate. I've been using Sensodyne for years now, no complaints. I wonder why it became unavailable to @Akir - was it Brexit?
Because toothpaste is regulated as a drug in the US and GSK does not want to pay to prove if their magic ingredient actually works or not.
I use Sensodyne Repair & Protect, which is the version that contains novamin (calcium phosphosilicate). It's a remineraizing agent that deposits calcium onto your teeth and can plug up porous enamel. Apparently it can even heal small cavities, but probably not in the amount contained in toothpaste.
I've found it's got a really wonky supply chain and for months on end it's unavailable here in western Canada. I wonder if it's a temporary thing. All the other versions are widely available but the supply of the novamin stuff dries up pretty often.
I love Sensodyne gentle whitening, but only one of the flavors (which I can't remember right now).
I've actually recently been using Hismile's peach iced tea or watermelon flavors alternately for a few months, and like them just as much, for when mint is too much stimulation in my mouth so early/late in the day. They still feel slightly minty on the back end, but the flavors are really nice, and they have good ingredients in them.
When I run out, if I have to reorder online only, I'm not going to do it, because I like being able to walk into the store and grab the necessities I need on sale.
For years, I was plagued by sores on the inside of my mouth. I eventually linked it to Sodium Laurel Sulphate and its various substitutes (credit where it's due: the tip came from my mom's homeopath).
The change in my quality of life is astonishing. I went from decades of near-constant searing pain to absolutely no issues in about a week. Honestly for a while I was angry that nobody had told me sooner.
The problem is that it's hard to find toothpaste with fluoride, but without soap, so I cycle some regular toothpaste in about every other week.
good lord. good you got it sorted out. Might as well use prevident or something crazy if your normal toothpaste doesnt have fluoride
Whatever's on sale, tastes minty, and contains fluoride. Canadian toothpastes no longer use antibacterials (or at least triclosan), but I like to doublecheck if I'm travelling. My teeth seem to do well. The one time I bought a tube of fluoride-free paste (and had nonfluoridated drinking water), I seemed to develop a few cavities.
My partner additionally uses a high flouride paste, Prevident, on the recco of his dentist. Not for every brush, and our water doesnt have fluoride. He seems to be getting fewer cavities since starting.
Edit - a little off topic, but dental hygenists have often been incredibly impressed with my teeth. Diet and probably genetics aside, I think my habit of very frequently using dental picks is a big part of that.
You know, I had a nervous habit when I was young where I would scrape my teeth with my fingernails, and my dentist was impressed at the time, too. But I stopped (it was a really gross looking habit), and I got a lot of cavities. To be fair, that might have also coincided with the loss of childhood medical invincibility.
I started using dental picks because food gets stuck between a couple of my teeth really easily. The picks feel more portable and socially acceptable than long strings of floss :)
Because I always have one on me, I also got in the habit of using the pick side (I do try to be mindful and avoid doing this publicly).
They are also more effective anyway, so it is a triple win for you ;)
My hygienist says that her patients who use dental picks have better teeth than even the twice-daily flossers.
I just the brush picks instead of floss, and, per the same hygienist, pick before brushing. She says that's the best way to get the cleanest teeth, and I haven't had any issues with cleanings in four years since my first and only cavity find when I started seeing her after being terrified of dentists.
i also went down the rabbit hole of cool toothpastes; i settled on Apagard Royal and its 10% rod-shaped nano hydroxyapatite content, along with a small dab of any stannous flouride toothpaste for its antimicrobial properties (i use colgate total because it is cheap).
i found it superior to novamin in regard to tooth sensitivity, and it also has the bonus side effect of leaving tooth surfaces almost teflon-slick, which i like. based on the papers i was able to find, research suggests that 10% rod-shaped NHA toothpaste is superior when combined with flouride, and stannous flouride is superior to the older sodium flouride in every regard.
I assume you use both because the Apagard doesn't contain fluorine and your water isn't fluoridated?
Also where do you get it? Are you in Japan, because Sangi's website says it's domestic only. That makes it about twice as expensive for me to buy compared to Premio from the same brand, also with hydroxyapatite (at lower concentrate, it seems).
yes Apagard is flouride-free, and while my tap water is fluorinated (i can't stand the taste) stannous flouride toothpaste is still superior since it is at a much higher concentration and in a more effective form (and it remains active at the gumline for hours if you brush properly).
i used Apagard Premio at first due to price, but the tube Royal comes in is bigger, and it lasts me months, so the cost isn't too bad even though i am low-income. i buy it on Amazon (ships from Japan) for about $37.
Since you've already done the research, do you know if Apagard is also better than novamin for enamel repair/maintenance? I don't have sensitivity issue and I've been happy with Novamin, but I'm willing to switch "up" if it's better for the enamel.
I had been using Parodontax for the past few years but recently, for reasons I do not understand, it started leaving a bad after taste in my mouth both after brushing it but more so in the morning. I switched it up with Marvis and couldn't be happier.
I use unpaste tablets. Stopped using tube toothpaste a few years ago because I'm trying to reduce my plastic consumption. My dentist hasn't complained!
If you do want to go back at all, Tom's brand toothpaste is recyclable after the tube is empty. I have considered tabs before though.
What is the experience like? I've been curious but I haven't seen tablet toothpaste sold anywhere local.
It's been perfectly fine :)
I take a tab, if my mouth is feeling a little dry I take the tiniest sip of water, chew the tab and brush like I have my whole life. I also like the fact that I'm using the exact same amount every time.
I use a couple different Arm & Hammer toothpastes. Kinda just whichever is available. Either their "Advance White" or "Peroxicare" ones. I've been using those for several years now. I have fluoridated water where I'm at in the US, so I don't worry about that.
I also use an electric toothbrush. Since picking that up 4-5yrs ago, seems like my dentist is a lot happier with my dental health. No cavities since (actually no cavities in 7yrs).
Though I can still do better with flossing and using mouthwash more regularly.
I use baking soda toothpaste at least once a day (I often alternate with a "repair and protect" toothpaste in the morning, but I always do baking soda before bed at the very least) because it is the only thing that I have found that keeps canker sores away. I'm talking nearly weekly canker sores versus virtually no canker sores (maybe once a year, if that).
I use it for that reason, but all the dentists I've been to since I started using baking soda toothpaste love it, too. I've had several dentists say things like, "Whatever you are doing, keep doing it," or ask me what I use so they can look into recommending it to their other patients.
Arm & Hammer is my toothpaste of choice because of its extra high baking soda content. I live overseas where it is not available, so I ship in a bulk order every few years.
The downside is that the taste is very strong and I don't find it pleasant. But it's so worth it.
I've been pivoting around the Colgate catalogue. They had a limited edition with ginger & lemon that was just amazing, but now it's gone and nothing can replace it. Now I have a random tub of Colgate Total and my life feels less fulfilled. Next time I'll probably pick a different tub of Colgate that tastes just as bland.
Sensodyne with Novamin is probably the best choice though. It's not always available over here so I've stopped using it a while back.
I have 3-4 toothpastes on my counter and randomly pick a different one each time I brush.
In the rotation I have:
-A regular generic Crest/Colgate/whatever fluoride toothpaste
-Sensodyne with novamin
-One with nano-hydroxyapatite
-Some other fluoride toothpaste supposedly good for gum health
The Sensodyne with novamin isn’t normally available in the US to my knowledge, so I bought it on Amazon, but I don’t know whether or not it’s counterfeit. I don’t really like the texture of it—it has a bit of a rubbery feel. But I’m lead to believe it’s worth it.
The only one I've found with NovaMin—Sensodyne Repair & Protect
I use Sensodyne Intensive Enamel Repair, it's what my hygienist recommended when I was last able to go a long ass time ago. Said it was basically the only one worth using. It's good stuff. Expensive though
I am all in on Arm and Hammer. I usually go with advanced white, but I don’t particularly care. I just absolutely hate the smooth silky texture of other toothpastes.
I've been using Bite's toothpaste bits for a few years now. I don't know if they're healthy per se. They have fluoride ones now but used to not. I was initially unsure about NHAP as a fluoride alternative, but my dentist has had only good things to say about my teeth since then. The foaming takes some getting used to. Though now when I use paste its coverage feels inadequate comparatively
I've been using Tom's brand toothpaste for a while. Minimal ingredients and you can recycle the tube in general recycling when you are done. Both are pretty big selling points for me. Also the flavors are basic and taste good.
Got a few sensitive front teeth, so Sensodyne Repair and Protect for me.
I've used Pepsodent forever, not just because it's cheap (99 cents a tube!) but because I've always liked its flavor better than the usual minty stuff (it's derived from sassafras, which gives it a mild, almost root beer-like vibe). Apparently they keep costs low by not paying for certification from the ADA, but from what I gather the seal is more of a marketing tactic and it's really just as safe and effective as any other brand. Recommended if you want to try something different.
Fluoridated Burt's Bees because it doesn't contain microplastics.
Any certified cruelty free and vegan one.
Mostly in the UK this tends to mean one of Superdrugs own brand tubes. Either gum care or sensitive as I can buy them locally.
I can't say that I've ever heard of a toothpaste made with animal products before. But It wouldn't surprise me terribly to hear of one that did.
It's the animal testing, more than the ingredients where toothpaste is concerned.
i use kids Crest Stages toothpaste. They keep changing what flavors are available, and sometimes it's Strawberry, sometimes it's Bubble Gum, sometimes it's like Berry Blast, etc. Every few years I buy 2-3 different flavors and then once I decide the one I dislike the least I buy 6-8 tubes' worth; it expires eventually or I'd buy a lot more way less frequently.
I hate hate hate hate hate mint and I will never use "adult" toothpaste.
I like mint, but I dislike that they ruin toothpaste with it. I wonder if that's the reason why people don't like mint chocolate chip ice cream the way I do? I know a lot of German people don't like root beer because they say that it tastes like the herbal flavors of toothpaste that are common there.
At one point I saw a chocolate flavored toothpaste and to this day I don't know why all toothpaste isn't chocolate.
Oof, I hate most toothpastes because of the unnecessarily powerful mint flavor that almost stings the mouth. Boka (nano hydroxyapatite) offers some interesting flavors, and Apagard's mint is much more gentle. Quite a few years ago I was prescribed 3M Clinpro which came in a very pleasant vanilla mint flavor, also gentle on the mintiness.
Not gonna lie...chocolate-flavored toothpaste sounds...🤮
Though if I was a chocolate fiend, maybe that'd be a good way to make me stop eating chocolate!
The toothpaste flavors in here Germany are more or less the same as those in the US, in my experience. Root beer just straight-up contains wintergreen, which is also part of a variety of mint flavorings (including toothpaste and mouthwash). I assume we Americans don't notice that portion of its flavor profile because we grow up drinking root beer and have become familiar with the combined flavor as a unit.
Damn, I miss root beer. I go out of my way to get it when I visit home.
I have used both citrus and cinnamon flavored toothpaste, and both were so many orders of magnitude better than mint gum, and also discontinued before I could buy a second tube. If I ever see either again I'll buy a whole pallet and, I dunno, freeze a bunch of it.
huh, freezing, now there's a though...
Whatever costco happens to be selling when I finally run out after the last stock up.
Like a few others here, I use nhap (nano hydroxyapatite). It's hard to find a good supplier in the USA which has flavors that aren't awful, but after years of having switched away from fluoride I've had no cavities or other dental issues. I use Boka, but I've tried Bite but they sell tablets which just aren't my thing texturally.
Interestingly, hydroxyapatite was invented by NASA scientists: https://www.nasa.gov/general/tech-today-semiconductor-research-leads-to-revolution-in-dental-care/
That particular article is more of a brief snippet, but I've heard from other sources (can't vouch for the accuracy of them) that the reason it didn't take off in the USA is because existing toothpaste companies had a "fluoride mafia" going on and alternatives to fluoride were prevented from reaching market. That's when they decided to sell the patent to a Japanese company.
Whether that bit is true, it's a fact that nhap is just as effective as fluoride but also carries less risk. For example, you should never swallow fluoride toothpaste, and even just using too much when brushing can cause cosmetic issues with your teeth, such as fluorosis. Those same risks don't exist with nhap toothpaste.
So especially for children I would highly recommend nhap toothpaste, but my personal opinion is that it's better than all fluoride toothpaste if you can find a brand and flavor that you don't dislike.
That sounds very much like an anti-fluoride crowd kind of thing. If I were to take a bet (having very little knowledge in this domain) I would bet it is very similar reasons to why we don’t have novamin in our Sensodyne.
Which is that they didn't want to pay for a study right?
That would be my wild conjecture, yes.
I in no way presume there's a "fluoride mafia", it's just what others had written, which is why I quote it. But it's also true that a lot of industries have a few large corporations that own most of the market and so they tend to push out competition that could harm their profit margins, so that's a more likely reasoning.
I use the Dr. Jen superpaste, it was one of the few I found that had both nano-hap and fluoride. It's pricey, but I like it a lot, it's an inoffensive flavor, the tube lasts me a while, and it has kept my teeth feeling better and cleaner than every other toothpaste I'd use, including novomin ones. My dentist has noticed and commented on how much better my gingivitis was, and to me my teeth look white than they ever did when in was using whitening toothpastes (which are generally bad for your teeth). I recommend to everyone I know, the downside is it is actually, actually paste, it's super thick and hard to squeeze out of the tube, it wouldn't be ideal if you have arthritis.
I just looked up the ingredients. Mint, cherry, licorice, and papaya? Those could be either terrible or amazing. I just picked out a new one but I'll bookmark this to try some other time.
It may have those, but the flavor is a pretty subtle mint, if I'd even say it has flavor at all. Yeah I'm curious what others think, I love it but obviously the cost puts a lot of my friends off lol
I usually have 2-3 different ones open at the same time.