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What's Really In Your Toothpaste?
From the invasion of fancy toothpastes from Europe to fear about the safety of fluoride to Hydrated silica: Toothpastes use abrasives of some kind, and this one is often the first one on the ingredients list. It's benign, and is not associated with ill human health effects by major health organizations. You'll often see it in
Sodium fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate: These are there with the goal of preventing tooth decay and reducing cavities. Fluoride is classified as a drug by the FDA, and is considered unsafe to ingest in large amo
Sweetener: Sometimes it's sorbitol, a sugar alcohol, or something else, but toothpastes almost always contain a sweetener of some kind that helps make toothpaste tolerable-tasting, and to help mask the flavor of other chem
Sodium laureth sulphate: Sulfates like SLES and its cousins sodium lauryl sulfate and ammonium lauryl sulfate are almost always listed as non-active ingredients. These are detergents—basically the soapy part that washes your mouth when you b
Triclosan: Regular readers are probably sick of hearing us talk about triclosan, but for the uninitiated, here goes: Triclosan is an antibacterial and antimicrobial used in all kinds of personal-care products, from Some kind of whitening agent: Sometimes these are variations on hydrogen peroxide, which are toxic when ingested. People have gone hog wild for whitening pastes
Fragrance and flavorings: If you're opting for naturals, you'll likely find flavors from peppermint, or some other kind of oil. In drugstore brands, these flavors will be artificially formulated and the individual ingred
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