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Most of us can go through our morning routines without thinking. (I guess that's the point of having a routine). But as you brush away your morning breath, have you ever stopped to think about what toothpaste actually is or why we use it?
Toothpaste has a technical term - dentifrice. And modern toothpaste ingredients sound like they should be boiling in a beaker somewhere, but it shows the long way that humans have come in dental hygiene. The first toothpastes were also used to clean the teeth and gums while freshening breath and preventing decay. The ingredients consisted of powdered ashes of ox's hoof with carbonized eggshells and pumice (ew!). Combined, it created a potent abrasive capable of scrubbing teeth without the need for a toothbrush. Many counties added their own "special ingredient" too. Greeks and Romans added crushed bone and seashells, and the Chinese added ginseng, herbs, and salt.
The tooth powder wasn't developed until the 19th century by a British inventor. It started out of homemade poultices contrived out of chalk, charcoal, brink, dust, salt, burnt bread, and cinnamon (just for good measure). Many of the early mixtures ended up being too abrasive and taking out bits of enamel in addition to plaque, but they stayed popular until WWI.
By the turn of the 20th Century, a paste-like mixture became available made with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Dr. Washington Sheffield invented the collapsible toothpaste tube (made out of lead) and tubed toothpaste quickly usurped tooth powders. Crest was the first American toothpaste to include fluoride after more than a decade of privately-funded research. The ADA endorses the use of fluoride saying, "Crest has been shown to be an effective anti-cavity (decay preventative) dentifrice that can be of significant value when used in a conscientiously applied program of oral hygiene and regular professional care."
While the toothpaste tube may have a laundry list of strange ingredients, all toothpastes have a common set of active ingredient classes - abrasives, fluorides, and surfactants.
· Abrasives can make up as much as half of a tube of toothpaste and they serve to scrub the enamel of plaque. This minimizes the formation of cavities and other forms of tooth decay. Aluminum hydroxide, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, silicas-even household baking soda-can be employed for this role.
· Fluorides act to strengthen tooth enamel and counter the formation of cavities and gingivitis. Sodium fluoride is the most commonly used and it makes up about 1000 ppm a tube.
· Surfactants are a class of detergents employed as foaming agents. The foam makes sure the toothpaste gets all over the sink and mirror - OK, it actually makes sure the other two components are evenly distributed across the entire tooth.
The rest of the stuff includes stabilizers to keep the toothpaste from drying out, antibacterial agents to kill germs that cause gingivitis, and flavorants for the minty-freshness.
Toothpaste isn't going to be going anywhere anytime soon since a 2013 study by the University of Leeds found that people with white, evenly-spaced teeth are consistently viewed as more attractive than their snaggle-toothed peers. So brush up! It will keep you healthy and may help you get a date.
Adapted from What the Heck Is Toothpaste Anyway?
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