A brief overview of some popular toothpastes

When you brushed your teeth this morning, why did you select the toothpaste you did? Many toothpastes make some pretty exciting claims. They also all seem to contain different ingredients, do different things and taste and smell different. How do you know which toothpaste is right for you?

Here are just a few of the hundreds of toothpastes available in the supermarkets at the moment:

Sensodyne

Sensodyne toothpaste focuses mostly on eliminating sensitivity while giving all-round oral protection.

Total Care F – This toothpaste aims to sooth the aggravated nerve inside the tooth, putting an end to sensitivity. The active ingredient is potassium nitrate; potassium ions in the toothpaste are able to travel from the outside of the tooth to the inside where they interact with the nerve.

Repair and Protect – This particular toothpaste utilises an advanced biological molecule known as NovaMin. The NovaMin covers the tooth and, when mixed with natural saliva, forms a layer over sensitive areas of teeth. This occludes the dental tubules (thereby restricting the transmission of cold sensation to the nerve of the tooth) and actively repairs the damaged tooth structure with calcium and phosphorous ions.

Rapid Relief – Sensodyne Rapid Relief is a tried and tested product with many fantastic reviews. The strontium acetate in Sensodyne Rapid Relief physically blocks the exposed dentine tubules in the teeth so that cold sensations cannot be transmitted to the nerve inside the tooth.

Colgate

Pro Relief – Colgate Pro Relief boasts the use of Pro-Argin technology. Containing an amino acid that naturally occurs in our saliva, arginine, and the molecule calcium carbonate, Colgate Pro Relief is able to the block the tubules connecting the outside environment to the sensitive nerve in the centre of the tooth.

Total – Colgate Total toothpaste is highly recommended. It contains a good level of fluoride to help protect teeth from demineralisation and also contains triclosan. Triclosan isn’t found in many toothpastes. It is particularly good at preventing gum disease due to its antibacterial nature. Once the plaque is disrupted through brushing, triclosan is retained on the teeth via another ingredient found in Colgate Total. This helps prevent the build-up of further plaque and fights gum disease.

Oral B

Pro-expert – Oral B pro-expect is a breakthrough toothpaste because it incorporates the chemical stannous fluoride, a molecule even better at protecting teeth than its more readily available counterpart, sodium fluoride. You may have heard that you shouldn’t rinse your mouth out after brushing because it washes away the fluoride; stannous fluoride is particularly long lasting and can withstand a post-brush rinse, meaning you can double up with mouthwash afterwards (this is normally recommended only for use at a separate time to brushing as not to wash away the fluoride in the toothpaste).

Oral B pro-expert also contains sodium hexametaphosphate crystals that are able to remove stains from the superficial layers of teeth.