Connect with us

Health

Dealing With A Dirty Mouth: How To Select The Right Toothpaste

When it comes to protecting the health of your teeth and gums, no habit plays a more important role than brushing. Of course brushing without toothpaste would be like trying to fly a kite without a string, so you need to carefully select the right brand that best meets your oral health needs.
With an overwhelming number of options out on the market, how do you select the brand for you? Do you select a brand that features tartar control or additional fluoride protection? Do brands that brighten the color of your teeth also protect from the development of gum disease and tooth decay, and when should you switch to a brand designed to help sensitive teeth? Here’s what you need to know the next time you decide which brand of toothpaste to place in your grocery cart.

The Basics
Your basic, run of the mill toothpaste comes in paste, gel, and powder forms. Regardless of how a toothpaste is packaged, there are a few common ingredients that just about every brand contains. These include:

  • Abrasive agents. To thoroughly clean your teeth, toothpaste needs to contain scratchy agents, such as silicates or calcium carbonate, that provide an abrasive edge to remove bacteria and foods particles. Without these types of abrasive agents, toothpaste wouldn’t be able to provide as deep a cleaning.
  • Flavoring. Because ingredients like fluoride and calcium carbonate don’t taste very good on their own, toothpaste manufacturers add artificial sweeteners to toothpaste to improve the flavor. While most people associate mint with the flavor of toothpaste, a variety of brands come in such flavors as lemon-lime, cinnamon, and even bubblegum.
  • Humectants. An anti-drying agent, humectants are used to keep toothpaste from drying out in the tube.
  • Thickeners. To provide toothpaste a firm enough texture to keep it from running off your brush, a thickening agent is added that usually includes gum and gooey molecules found in seaweed.
  • Detergents. You can’t kill bacteria without soap, so toothpaste contains some type of detergent, such as sodium lauryl sulfate, which helps clean your teeth, while causing suds to appear.

Fluoride Toothpaste
By far the most important ingredient in any toothpaste you purchase, fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that plays a vital role in protecting your teeth from tooth decay. Since fluoride was first added to the nation’s water supply and became a common ingredient in toothpaste, the number of cavities reported in the U.S. has dropped dramatically over the last 50 years.
Plaque, a sticky film of bacteria that lives in your mouth, feeds on the sugars you consume to produce acids that slowly eat away at tooth enamel. Fluoride provides your teeth with some protection from plaque acids by making tooth enamel stronger, and by helping to remineralize areas of your teeth that have begun to decay. Any brand of toothpaste you purchase should include fluoride. If suffer frequently from cavities, you might consider purchasing a brand that advertises as containing extra fluoride protection.
Tartar Control Toothpaste
The primary reason you brush is to remove plaque and lingering food particles from your teeth. By failing to brush, or by not brushing properly, you leave plaque on your teeth where it starts to harden into tartar. When tartar begins to accumulate along the gum line of your mouth, the bacteria makes cleaning your teeth more difficult and brushing less effective. Eventually, tartar will harden to the point that only your dentist can remove it from your teeth, which is why you should schedule regular cleanings every six months.
Tartar control toothpaste contains active ingredients that help to prevent plaque from hardening into tartar. These ingredients include such compounds as pyrophosphates and zinc citrate, and occasionally antibiotics like triclosan that kill mouth bacteria. Tartar control toothpastes are best suited for individuals who don’t receive regular dental cleanings or who suffer from gum disease.
Sensitive Teeth Toothpaste
If consuming hot or cold foods and drinks cause you to experience sharp pangs of pain, you probably suffer from sensitive teeth. This condition occurs when your gums begin to recede away from the base of your teeth, thereby exposing the sensitive tubules that run into the nerve center of a tooth. When hot or cold stimuli irritate these tubules, they cause you to experience pain.
Toothpaste for sensitive teeth contain ingredients like potassium nitrate and strontium chloride that block the pathways in tubules that travel to the nerve center of a tooth. While effective, these types of toothpaste generally take several weeks of use before they begin to offer relief. If you suffer from extreme tooth sensitivity, you may consider using this type of toothpaste, which is generally lighter and less abrasive than tartar control brands.
Whitening Toothpaste
Few aspects of a person’s appearance make as noticeable a difference as a mouthful of pearly white teeth. Because everyone wants a brilliantly white smile, a number of brands have hit the market that offer to clean and whiten teeth. These types of toothpastes generally contain some type of peroxide, and a variety of abrasive agents that work to polish teeth and remove stains. While studies have shown that the extra abrasive agents used in whitening toothpaste don’t damage tooth enamel, these brands are known to increase tooth sensitivity, and should be avoided by those who suffer from the condition.
A freelance writer, Timothy Lemke blogs about oral health for Dr. Derrik Stark, a dentist in Ridgefield, WA at Smiles Dental.

Continue Reading

Recent Posts

Law4 days ago

Understanding the Eligibility Criteria for Indefinite Leave to Remain

A migrant to the UK has the right to make a permanent move to the country without any immigration restrictions...

Home Improvement1 month ago

Mastering The Maintenance: Breaking Down The Basics Of Your Ducted Heating And Cooling System

Welcome, fellow home enthusiasts! Ever find yourself lost in the labyrinth of your ducted heating and cooling system? Have you...

Business2 months ago

The Invisible Hands: Unveiling How Food Distributors Influence the Quality of Our Foods

Ever found yourself wondering why the tomatoes in your salad taste particularly fresh or why your preferred brand of coffee...

Marketing2 months ago

Webflow CMS: A Comprehensive Guide

Webflow is a powerful tool that allows you to create and manage dynamic websites without needing to code. It’s a...

Business2 months ago

The Three Most Important Benefits You Should Offer To Your Employees

Offering your employees a range of benefits on top of regular salary increases will really help to show that you...

Business2 months ago

Business Tips For Protecting Your Finances During A Recession

In 2024, taking the necessary steps to protect your finances for your business is now more important than ever. The...

Green & Energy3 months ago

Air Conditioning Installation: What You Need to Know

When it comes to getting an air conditioning unit installed, can significantly improve your comfort and home environment, especially during...

Marketing3 months ago

Marketing Tips For A Gym Wear Brand

When starting a gym wear brand, there are a few things you need to do and one of them is...

General3 months ago

Social Media Marketing: What Are All The Types?

Social media marketing is a tool that is a must-have in today’s digital age. it’s very rare that businesses can...

Business4 months ago

How To Become A Property Developer

There are several reasons why an individual will want to become a property developer. One of the main reasons for...

Business4 months ago

Remote Delivery Innovations: Case Studies from Leading E-commerce Brands

People have gone through much change in the past few years when it comes to online shopping. Nowadays, when delivery...

Business4 months ago

Why are Brits turning to online-only banks?

For years, large, conventional banks held all the aces when it comes to citizens’ finances in the UK. HSBC, Lloyds...

5 Important Web Design Considerations to Make For Better SEO 5 Important Web Design Considerations to Make For Better SEO
Tech5 months ago

5 Important Web Design Considerations to Make For Better SEO

Ever since the birth of search engines, practices in optimising websites for better search rankings have changed considerably. Where it...

SEO5 months ago

The Importance of Local SEO for Small Businesses

There are many different types of businesses and all of them will require online marketing however, with a small business,...

General5 months ago

Understanding The Unsung Heroes: Cool Rooms And The Importance Of Regular Repairs

Everybody loves a breath of fresh air when entering a superstore! But have you ever wondered who’s working backstage to...

Categories

Archives

Trending