In addition to the toothbrush, toothpaste or toothpaste, or dentifrice, is an important part of oral hygiene. Contrary to the common opinion that toothpaste consists only of whiting, water and flavoring, the composition of a toothpaste is much more extensive and places high demands on the developers with regard to its formulation. Especially for the remineralization of tooth enamel after exposure to acids, the toothpaste plays an important role.
Even in ancient times, people tried to use toothpaste-like substances for dental care. The main reason was to avoid bad breath. Of course, there have always been carious teeth, but nothing was known about the causes.
That is why essential oils such as mint were used at that time in combination with other sometimes adventurous, but mostly plant-based additives. One of these substances was wood ash. The Egyptians produced a mixture of wine vinegar and pumice powder.
The Romans even used urine. In the Middle Ages, a mixture of camomile flowers and cloves was used. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that a pharmacist in Dresden invented the first toothpaste in its current form. However, he also used pumice powder as a cleaning agent. As a result, the paste was too abrasive.
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Regular tooth brushing with toothpaste removes bacterial plaque and thus reduces the risk of caries development. It is impossible to bleach (i.e. whiten) teeth with simple toothpaste. To whiten the teeth you need hydrogen peroxide in a concentration of at least six percent.
Even then the effect is very small. It is not for nothing that dentists use up to forty percent hydrogen peroxide solutions for bleaching. The effect that whitening toothpastes have is that the toothpastes are blue or even black and the teeth appear lighter in the mirror after spitting them out.
This is only due to the difference between the dark color and the lighter teeth. Other toothpastes contain abrasive pellets that rub off plaque from tea or coffee. The advantage is that the darker plaque is removed.
The teeth are therefore cleaner and whiter. However, they will never become brighter than their natural color. The disadvantage of these toothpastes is that the teeth become more yellow and therefore darker over time.
Due to the abrasives, the enamel particles are minimally rubbed off. At the beginning the teeth still look white, but with time the underlying yellow dentin comes to the fore. Therefore, whitening toothpastes or blue and black colored tooth gels, which are advertised as miracle products, should be used with caution.
There is no toothpaste that works as a remedy against tartar. Tartar develops because plaque hardens and mineralizes. This plaque can only be removed by mechanical cleaning.
Brushing your teeth and the right technique are therefore a prerequisite. Whether the plaque then turns into tartar depends a lot on the patient. Some have a very calcareous saliva.
That is why it happens that some patients develop a lot of tartar, others none at all. Some ingredients can help the cleaning technique to remove the plaque. For example zinc.
It has an antibacterial effect and to a certain extent prevents these bacteria from forming a biofilm on the teeth. However, zinc only works as long as the plaque has not calcified or become tartar, because tartar does not contain living bacteria that can be killed by zinc. Tartar can only be removed correctly by a dentist or with a stable instrument.
It is important to pay attention to the fluoride content when choosing toothpaste: some toothpastes promise to fight tartar but do not contain fluoride, which strengthens and smoothes the enamel. With a smooth surface, there is less plaque and less tartar. The recipe for success is therefore “regular tooth brushing”.
The primary goal is to find out what is the cause of bad breath. Odours from the mouth are not only caused by problems in the mouth area. Rather, bad breath comes from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
The toothpaste would drown out the bad breath for a moment, but the fresh breath would not last long. Candida albicans, a yeast fungus that sits on the mucous membrane, cannot be treated by toothpaste.If the cause of bad breath is found in the tooth or gums, it is advisable to use a special toothpaste that directly addresses the cause. Salviagalen F is a toothpaste that contains, among other things, sage, chamomile and clove.
These substances fight bacteria and thus reduce gum inflammation and caries. These two diseases are a common cause of bad breath. Meridol toothpaste helps against sensitive and inflamed gums.
Especially “meridol halitosis” or “safe breath”. In addition, toothpastes containing chlorhexidine or tea tree oil help. It is also advisable to try a ginger toothpaste.
On the one hand, ginger is antibacterial, which fights the cause of gingivitis, and on the other hand, ginger has its own long-lasting scent that can drown out bad breath. The cause of gum bleeding is in most cases an inflammation of the gums. The best method is therefore to reduce the inflammation.
In the toothpaste “Salviagelen” there are many herbs such as chamomile, sage and clove, which stop the inflammation. There are also toothpastes that contain tea tree oil or chlorhexidine. The toothpaste “Dental med toothpaste myrrh” contains the household remedy myrrh, which is effective against bleeding gums.
However, the toothpaste has not performed well in several tests, because it is not used as a caries prophylaxis. A helpful hint is also that the RDA value should not be too high. This value indicates the number of abrasive globules. The higher this value is, the more likely the gums will be roughened and start bleeding.
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