Has toothpaste improved ?

The stuff we clean our teeth with seems pretty much the same as I can ever remember . Rates of tooth decay don’t seem to have reduced . Do any of the claims actually stand up to scrutiny , can toothpaste help to repair some damage in teeth , reduce sensitivity or anything else . From my , admittedly uninformed position , it seems the same as it was 50 years ago . Discuss today’s random topic .

coincidentally I went to the dentist this evening for a 6m check up. The hygienist was very complimentary about my brushing (and shes a brute inside your mouth normally). Most of the problems with my teeth these days are things like cracks and grinding wear – a result of age and use, rather than fizzy drink corrosion. But the gold star from the hygienist I reckon is down to having switched to an electric toothbrush a few years ago. And I dont doubt that there’s some goodies in toothpaste these days that help.

I stopped using fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash.

well when they put it in the water, and what with chem trails and all….

Yep but currently looking at a water filter that removes it.

Move to the isle of man , we don’t have fluoride in our water .

I stopped using fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash. Why are you doing this? I don’t understand.

Why are you doing this? I don’t understand.

Until I read this thread I hadn’t realised that anti-fluoride was a thing, but it seems it’s right up there with anti-vaccine and homeopathy. Every day’s a school day.

In answer to the OP, most of the claims are more to do with marketing than science but are of course beyond challenge. Take for example “Clinically proven to improve gum health” – which is undoubtedly true compared to for example eating a bowl of sugar. On the other hand the addition of fluoride and reduction of abrasives is definitely an improvement since I was little.

Disclaimer- I used to work for a toothpaste manufacturer but know nothing about it apart from what’s on the tube.

It’s not good for those with autoimmune conditions:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11430087/Fluoride-in-drinking-water-may-trigger-depression-and-weight-gain-warn-scientists.html

My dentist told me not to rinse after brushing teeth at night, so I have been trying to do it and it is really weird.

Was she a mom with one weird tip?

The not rinsing thing is odd, the idea being they put fluoride in toothpaste to strengthen your teeth and you go and wash it off, so don’t rinse and let your teeth marinate in the toothpaste. That and flossing has hugely improved my tooth and gum health over the past few years.

I’m sure that dental hygiene had improved massively in recent decades. 20y ago I was quite a rarity having no fillings. Now I still have no fillings and the dentists don’t bother commenting. It wasn’t so long ago people had all their teeth taken out preemptively.

It’s probably the same as it was 50-ish years ago, because that’s around when fluoride toothpaste was introduced. That made a huge difference to dental health, and cut the rate of decay tremendously. Anyone who is under 50-ish who brished their teeth as a child is likely to have good teeth compared with the over-55s. Water fluoridation made a big difference, too.
Up to around 15 years ago that difference was visible because the pre-F generation had loads of amalgam fillings which gave them mouths full of flashing pewter-coloured metal, but now that’s been replaced by synthetics which are tooth coloured and don’t show.
Both are real advances in science and public health.

Parents were dentists. General opinion (now probably outdated) was that toothpaste was an irrelevance with good brushing technique and merely there as a breath freshener.

Single biggest improvement you can make is to brush your teeth before eating rather than after, especially if the food you are going to eat is acidic.

Do some water companies still put fluoride in the water, in the NW they dont?

Yes, some areas still have artificially fluoridated water.

The authors have not established a clear prior hypothesis for the association, have misrepresented the conclusions of the existing literature, seem not to have taken adequate account of the potential for confounding, have categorised variables with arbitrary cut-offs that deviate from normal practice, and seem to have made a basic error in reporting the results of their own model. Most important is that they have drawn conclusions which greatly exceed the evidence available from this study, even if the methods used had been reliable.

Hypothyroidism in this country is largely an autoimmune disease, the aetiology of which is well described.7 The evidence provided in support of the authors’ prior hypothesis of an association with water fluoridation is, therefore, likely to be irrelevant to patients listed on Quality and Outcomes Framework registers in England in 2012, who are not generally at risk of iodine deficiency. In addition, some 20–30% of these patients will be receiving levothyroxine because of previous thyroid ablation by surgery or radiation therapy to treat hyperthyroidism,7 which is even less likely to be in any way related to fluoride ingestion.

Follow up commentary in the BMJ to the hypothyroidism/fluoridation thing is pretty scathing of the quality of the analysis.

http://jech.bmj.com/content/69/7/617.full

I dont want to turn this thread into another hypothyroidism voodoo dirge but quackery is quackery, even if not quite on JHJ levels.

The biggest problem with this paper, however, is in the interpretation which puts far too much weight on such weak evidence. The approach used is notoriously unreliable as a way of identifying independent associations and the lack of a clearly established prior hypothesis make it very unconvincing as evidence of a causal relationship. Given the other problems we have identified, this loose interpretation is a very serious concern. Such speculation is likely to result in unfounded public anxiety about a public health intervention which currently protects the health of children’s teeth in many parts of the world.

Quite. Chem trails.

I work for one of the pharma company’s that make the stuff. I spent over a year working onsite in the plant/ labs where it’s created and can say that some of the toothpaste is very technically advanced and you’d be surprised where some of the technology comes from. Others toothpastes are basically the same as they were years ago.

Silica is more commonly used now that it was a few years back.

No.
Its still tastes of either mint or chemicals.
Why not nice things like chocolate or kebab?

Why not nice things like chocolate or kebab?

have you never caught mattsccm Jr nibbling strawberry flavour toothpaste from the tube? They should make it broccoli flavoured.

No, wait, that wont work….

sensodyne sensitive tooth paste works for me. Its is just a marketing bandwagon as to what the latest additive they want to push. It used to be radiant white, baking soda, sensitive, enamel repair, some fizzy stuff etc. Considering most are owned by the same company it doesnt come as a surprise.

My dentist moved from 1 area that had fluoride added to water to another that didn’t. He reckoned there was a marked difference between the 2, his former stomping ground having generally better teeth. Similar demographic in the areas too.

There’s a lot of technology in toothpaste. The gum health bit referred to above, you probably mean Colgate Total which contains an antibacterial additive plus a polymer; together they preferentially stick to the gum line and kill the bacteria that cause gum disease. The science is good, clinical trials vs the same toothpaste without the antibac would be necessary before you could make that claim, the authorities are pretty solid on that sort of thing.

The next big thing in dental care will be denture adhesives – as we get older gums recede and teeth will get lost and more and more people will need full or partials, and hence adhesives to hold them in place. Add to that the developing nations and their increasing demand for better toothpastes and the future looks very bright for the toothpaste companies.

Long term investment tip there, if you want it. GSK, Colgate, P&G, C&D, etc.,