Unbiased Reviews by Real People
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Unbiased Reviews by Real People
Selecting a Toothpaste for Electric BrushingFeb 21, 2003 (Updated Dec 6, 2005) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Electric toothbrush users should know their toothpaste's abrasivity index. Using a less-abrasive toothpaste will avoid long-term tooth damage.
[does this review seem off topic? I agree it is, but for lack of a better category, a couple of epinion advisors suggested placing it here...] When using an electric toothbrush, it becomes extra-important to pay attention to the abrasivity of your toothpaste. Electric toothbrushes are not harsh by themselves, but the fact is that 2-minutes of electric brushing results in many more brush strokes than 2-minutes of manual brushing. The combination of high-abrasiveness and extra brush strokes can excessively wear down your teeth. Therefore, powered toothbrush users should be careful to identify and choose a less-abrasive toothpaste than they would ordinarily use with a manual toothbrush. About Abrasivity: All toothpastes do some mechanical (in contrast to chemical biological) cleaning, making them inherently abrasive. They get this abrasivity from grit. Toothpaste manufacturers have total freedom to raise/lower their abrasivity. They can change the amount of grit. They can change the size of the grit. They can change the hardness of the grit. And the most significantly they can change the nature of the grit. For example, Amway patented a round grit, while Colgate recently patented a highly-jagged grit. Which makes better toothpaste I do not know. The bottom line is selectivity -- some grit may be relatively abrasive to plaque, while being relatively non-abrasive to enamel. The two don't always correlate. Toothpaste researchers are looking for the perfect grit that can remove lots of plaque while hardly removing enamel. But overall, toothpaste makers will play with all factors (grit shape, hardness, concentration, size, type) to make their toothpaste as abrasive as they like. Measuring abrasivity: Instead of taking a manufacturer's word that their toothpaste "gently polishes your teeth," go by the abrasivity index. Toothpaste abrasivity is measured using an ADA-standardized test. A laboratory takes a sample tooth, strips the enamel, irradiates it, brushes it, and measures the radiation in the rinsewater. The result is a number known as RDA which stands for radioactive dentin abrasion or relative dentin abrasivity. In general, the lower the number, the less enamel/dentin gets worn away. The higher the number, the more enamel/dentin gets worn away. The higher the number, the better the stain-removal too (usually). Unfortunately for consumers, RDA values are not widely known. Toothpaste manufacturers (with the exception of Colgate-Palmolive and some obscure brands) do not advertise them. So, I did some hunting for RDA values and my findings are here: Abrasivity of common toothpastes: RDA - Dentifrice brand and variety 04 ADA reference toothbrush and plain water 07 plain baking soda 08 Arm & Hammer Tooth Powder 30 Elmex Sensitive Plus 35 Arm & Hammer Dental Care 42 Arm & Hammer Advance White Baking Soda Peroxide 44 Squigle Enamel Saver 48 Arm & Hammer Dental Care Sensitive 49 Arm & Hammer Peroxicare Tartar Control 49 Tom's of Maine Sensitive (given as 40's) 52 Arm & Hammer Peroxicare Regular 53 Rembrandt Original ("RDA") 54 Arm & Hammer Dental Care PM Bold Mint 57 Tom's of Maine Children's, Wintermint (given as mid-50's) 62 Supersmile 63 Rembrandt Mint ("Hefferren RDA") 68 Colgate Regular 70 Colgate Total 70 Arm & Hammer Advance White Sensitive 70 Colgate 2-in-1 Fresh Mint (given as 50-70) 79 Sensodyne 80 AIM 80 Close-Up 83 Colgate Sensitive Maximum Strength 91 Aquafresh Sensitive 93 Tom's of Maine Regular (given as high 80's low 90's) 94 Rembrandt Plus 94 Plus White 95 Crest Regular (possibly 99) 101 Natural White 103 Mentadent 103 Arm & Hammer Sensation 104 Sensodyne Extra Whitening 106 Colgate Platinum 106 Arm & Hammer Advance White Paste 107 Crest Sensitivity Protection 110 Colgate Herbal 110 Amway Glister (given as upper bound) 113 Aquafresh Whitening 117 Arm & Hammer Advance White Gel 117 Arm & Hammer Sensation Tartar Control 120 Close-Up with Baking Soda (canadian) 124 Colgate Whitening 130 Crest Extra Whitening 133 Ultra brite 144 Crest MultiCare Whitening 145 Ultra brite Advanced Whitening Formula 150 Pepsodent (given as upper bound) 165 Colgate Tartar Control (given as 155-165) 168 Arm & Hammer Dental Care PM Fresh Mint 175 Colgate Luminous (given as 150-200) 200 Colgate 2-in-1 Tartar Control/Whitening or Icy Blast/Whitening (given as 190-200) 200 FDA recommended limit 250 ADA recommended limit Recommendations: Powered toothbrush users should avoid toothpastes from near the bottom of the list. Long term use of such toothpastes might wear down your enamel. Consumer Reports has evaluated toothpastes (Aug 1998), but they made the error of considering only stain removal, not abrasion. Thus, high-abrasivity toothpastes such as Ultra brite received the highest ratings. Consumer Reports' test essentially measured abrasivity, and their conclusions ignored the problem of too much abrasivity. Be wary of Consumer Reports' toothpaste recommendations. Pay attention to pressure. Dentists recommend brushing with no more than 150-grams of force (mass). Look at your old toothbrush. If the bristles look mashed down, you are brushing way too hard. The bristles on your old toothbrush should look just as parallel as on your new toothbrush. Don't brush so hard. I personally recommend Colgate Total. Its RDA is 70. Colgate Total has a combination of antimicrobial agent (Triclosan) and dental glue (Gantrez S-97). The glue makes the antimicrobial to stick to teeth for several hours, instead of immediately rinsing away. It seems to work. Compared to other toothpastes, I find Colgate Total keeps my teeth cleaner longer. Try it. The patent on Colgate Total lasts until 2008. Errata: -updated Tom's of Maine with estimates provided from the mfr -added newer Rembrandt Mint data provided by the mfr, though they gave confusing record of the kind of test they ran, so continue listing the old data too -Ultra brite not discontinued. corrected. -aim, close-up, pespsodent data provided by unilever -arm and hammer data provided by chrch&dwight -colgate ranges provided by colgate-palmolive -colgate luminous provided by truedis/colgate-palmolive  |
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