Holy $#!* what is in TOOTHPASTE?! Part 1.
Written by Helga
Thursday, 7 January 2010 01:39
I know we all think that toothpaste is a straightforward household item. We have adult toothpaste and kid toothpaste. Done.
Not so fast. You need to to re-think what you and your children are using to clean your teeth.
Do you know what is in toothpaste? I don’t want to go into all of the ingredients, but I want to highlight a few. Let me give you a quick rundown of the really upsetting bits:
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS): This is used in many brands of toothpaste, as well as other personal care products, like shampoo, hand soap, shower gel, and bubble bath, to name a few. It is very cheap to manufacture. It is used as a foaming agent to give you the idea that it is ‘working”. SLS is also used is large quantities to clean oil spillage. Car wash soaps. Engine degreasers. You get the point. You say, it’s such a small amount, what is the big deal? The big deal is that the mouth is the fastest way for an ingredient to enter your body. Think of nitroglycerin pills for heart patients, they are told to place them under their tongue. Kid toothpaste has all sorts of ‘yummy’ flavors, bubblegum, fruity-patootie, whatever – and kids have a tendency to swallow more toothpaste than they should.
More Wikipedia information on SLS:
- SLS may worsen skin problems in individuals with chronic skin hypersensitivity, with some people being affected more than others.[10][11][12]
- SLS in toothpaste may cause aphthous ulcers, commonly referred to in some countries as canker sores.[13][14][15] Using SLS free toothpaste may reduce the sores.[16]
- SLS has also been shown to irritate the skin of the face with prolonged and constant exposure (more than an hour) in young adults.[17] In animal studies SLS appears to cause skin and eye irritation.[9]
Ooooh. Nice.
Triclosan - The EPA has it listed as a pesticide, found in many toothpastes.( What?! That cannot be true!) Used for it’s anti-bacterial properties, the worry here is that we are creating more and more antibiotic resistant bacteria.
“Triclosan is used in many common household products, including Clearasil Daily Face Wash, Dentyl mouthwash, Dawn, the Colgate Total range, Crest Cavity Protection, Softsoap, Dial, Right Guard deodorant, Sensodyne Total Care, Old Spice, Mentadent, and Bath and Body works hand sanitizers.”. (Wikipedia – but you can find this info all over the place)
Fluoride/Sodium Fluoride: The ingredient that we parents believe is the magic bullet against cavities.
“Sodium fluoride is classed as toxic by both inhalation (of dusts or aerosols) and ingestion. In high enough doses, it has been shown to affect the heart and circulatory system, and the lethal dose for a 70 kg human is estimated at 5–10 g. : (Wikipedia – Aigueperse, Jean; Paul Mollard, Didier Devilliers, Marius Chemla, Robert Faron, Renée Romano, Jean Pierre Cuer (2005), “Fluorine Compounds, Inorganic”, in Ullmann, Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Weinheim: Wiley-VCH, doi:10.1002/14356007.a11_307 )
Ever heard of fluoride poisoning?
“Historically, most cases of fluoride poisoning have been caused by accidental ingestion of insecticides[5] or rodenticides (e.g. sodium fluoroacetate[6]) containing fluoride. Currently most cases are due to the ingestion of toothpaste” (Wikipedia,,Nochimson G. (2008). Toxicity, Fluoride. eMedicine. Retrieved 2008-12-28)
There is a reason why this warning is on all toothpastes containing fluoride:
“Keep out of the reach of children under 6 years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately.”
Here is what the EPA had to say about it:
“Fluoride. Many communities add fluoride to their drinking water to promote dental health. Each community makes its own decision about whether or not to add fluoride. EPA has set an enforceable drinking water standard for fluoride of 4 mg/L (some people who drink water containing fluoride in excess of this level over many years could get bone disease, including pain and tenderness of the bones). EPA has also set a secondary fluoride standard of 2 mg/L to protect against dental fluorosis. Dental fluorosis, in its moderate or severe forms, may result in a brown staining and/or pitting of the permanent teeth. This problem occurs only in developing teeth, before they erupt from the gums. Children under nine should not drink water that has more than 2 mg/L of fluoride.”
There is a reason why we need to teach our children to rinse and spit with water after they brush their teeth. To keep fluoride absorption to a minimum.
I have only listed a few ingredients here, but you can find more info all over the world wide web. Google “harmful toothpaste ingredients” and you will get more than enough opinion as well as scientific facts that are difficult to ignore.
Many, many of you are going to ‘pooh-pooh’ all of this. Ask yourself WHY. Is it because it is easier to continue on the path of least resistance? Easier to buy what you know your family will use without a fight? You may say, well, it is such a tiny amount! An example I will use many times in later posts: If one person gives you $1, it’s no big deal. If 10,000 people gave you $1, that’s a big deal! I’d love an extra $10,000! Add up how many times you have brushed your teeth, by the time you are 40 it can be almost 30,000 brushings. Almost 30,000 hits of these chemicals, that’s a big deal. It adds up over time, even the little bits.
I know that I am so…I don’t know…taken aback? Dumbfounded? By what I am learning. I am like all of you, using these products without much of a thought. We research cars and cool cell phones, read up on CNET about great cameras & laptops. But we rarely think to look into what we are putting into our bodies. Why?
No one can ignore that the USA is going through a health crisis. Unheard of rates of autism, diabetes, (you cannot call it adult onset anymore, since it is now inflicting children like never before) learning disabilities, ADD, allergies, reproduction issues, the list is endless. Why? Is it just happening?
Cause and effect. There is a cause. There is an effect.
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[...] that up. It is sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS from here on) free. I mentioned the horrors of SLS in my first post on the whole toothpaste thing. And it is fluoride free. I tried it first and found it to be a [...]