As the title really. Is there any good reason why I should buy spend nearly £10 on a tube of toothpaste when I can get a tube of Colgate for £1.50 ?
No?
I buy whichever pump dispenser is cheapest, because my other half is a middle squeezer of tubes. That's usually Colgate. Toothpaste is fluoride, mint and marketing.
IMHO, etc.
Pretty sure it’s brushing + fluoride that does most of the heavy lifting in dental hygiene. Expensive toothpaste is capitalism in action.
Ten ****ing quid! What's in it, crushed diamonds?
MrsP (thinks she) has a sensitivity to sodium lauryl sulfate which is in lots of toothpastes so she uses a slightly more expensive one that doesn't have that. I'm fine with whatever is on offer at the supermarket, though I expect there must be a proper dentist on here who can give us the facts (as soon as they've finished cleaning their Santa Cruz)
I'm in the "if it was it would have been tested and proven and we'd know about it"camp.
Disappointed that there's no "your teeth are important, why risk it?" answers 🤭
Short answer no
longer answer……
by far the biggest anti decay and anti gum disease action is in physically wiping the bugs off your teeth with a toothbrush and floss or interdental brushed to reach the areas between teeth that even an electric toothbrush won’t reach.
There is lots of evidence that using a Fluoride containing toothpaste massively reduces your risk of getting decay. Almost all toothpastes contain fluoride unless you actively try to avoid it ( there is no “proper scientific” reason to )
sensitive toothpastes definitely help reduce sensitive teeth. There isn’t a clear “best” one, just use what works for you.
All the other “active” ingredients in various pastes generally have a big enough effect to be measurable statistically but that effect is pretty small in comparison to the above.
right back to flossing the chain links on my Santa Cruz……
Depends on age, if over 60 we get this on a free perscription from our dentist. 3 tubes each time
Duraphat 5000 about £13 a tube.
Which is a high fluoride tooth paste ( 5000 parts per million - regular pate is around 1500) obviously this amplifies the anti decay effect but is not necessarily needed based on age unless you have other relevant factors increasing decay risk ( reduced saliva flow / manual dexterity issues that limit cleaning for example)
I'm in the "if it was it would have been tested and proven and we'd know about it"camp.
I'm convinced by this highly convincing sciency evidence:
Short answer no it depends
If your general dental health and brushing is good, as ceepers has said any other differences will be minor or inconsequential to good brushing with a fluoride toothpaste.
If you have specific conditions then a 'special' version may help. And they are tested although given the nature it is sometimes panel test and opinion rather than pure science. Some can be more scientific, I used to work in this area and some countries treat toothpaste as a personal care product, others as an OTC pharmaceutical.
Cruelty free for me. That does not necessarily mean more expensive - the Boots own brand ticks that box and is cheaper the Colgate etc which do test on animals.
I don't need some poor rabbit having toothpaste squeezed in their eyes for my toothpaste.
and to head off any stuff about 'yeah, in studies commissioned by toothpaste makers'
For sure and if you think that makes them unreliable then I guess you'll continue doing so. But any researcher asked to conduct an independent study on a product will give you the results. I can go with the argument that if the study is negative then it won't be used as advertising material, IMHE if a study shows a product doesn't work then it probably won't make it off the lab bench full stop, and if it does it won't have claims made about it.
What claims does the manufacturer make for £10 toothpaste? Do they sound plausible or seem to be snake oil? I have my suspicions.
Cruelty free for me. That does not necessarily mean more expensive - the Boots own brand ticks that box
It's not that simple but unless you want to go right down a rabbit hole, best stick with that principle
My gums are definitely better for using Corsodyl gum health toothpaste for a few years. I can’t recall the last time my gums bled.
it’s not £10 a tube though! 🤣
I can get a tube of Colgate for £1.50 ?
What's interesting is when you are looking at the supermarket shelves - you can buy a tube of Colgate for pretty much any price. Colgate's strategy seems to be to have so many versions of 'toothpaste' with various degrees of added premium something, yet all claiming to be somehow 'total' as well that you don't even notice that other people make toothpaste, some of the 'extras' don't seem to be anything more than added superlatives and shiny metallic foils on the packet. Expensive stuff at eye level, cheaper stuff at ankle level, differing pack sizes to try and obscure the comparative value for money. Basically their aim is to crowd out their competitors but to do that they have to create an extraordinary amount of variety of basically the same thing and all those variants need to somehow be 'reasoned' - but the real reason is to claim as much shelf space as possible.
Theres a few other companies making toothpaste as well, household names once, and they are on the same shelves, but well done done if you can actually manage spot them (well done if you can even remember who else makes toothpaste)
unless you want to go right down a rabbit hole
Is that how they test toothpaste? Ick!
double post
Real toothpaste is stripy. It's the best type.
Although we do have a tube of Sensodyne at home that is translucent blue with glittery sparkles in. That's kinda fun (but Sensodyne tastes horrid).
If you can find it, Colgate Herbal is nice and something different to plain old boring mint. Kind of eucalyptus flavour.
Kind of eucalyptus flavour.
It's not that simple but unless you want to go right down a rabbit hole, best stick with that principle
Indeed. My sister is involved in healthcare (running ogan transplant labs) and medical research. She's been veggie since 7 years old and vegan for the last decade. We talk about this a lot. Her life involves a lot of moral dilemma and conflict.
But as a starting point, prioritizing looking for the bunny logo (instead of choosing - because stripes) as a inevitably ignorant consumer feels like a good starting point and not an unreasonable adjustment.
Also with reference to another thread -Colgate-Palmolive =American based multinational if that's a thing for your personal purchasing motivators.
Once you've tried different flavours then you won't go back to 'minty-fresh' or whatever it's called. Currently using a neem and pomegranate toothpaste that didn't cost £10, prior to that was using calendula. So much nicer than getting your head blown off with 'minty-fresh'. In the cupboard is an orange-flavoured toothpaste, definitely curious about that one.
Embrace the change.
This fella says it doesn't matter. 
Also with reference to another thread -Colgate-Palmolive =American based multinational if that's a thing for your personal purchasing motivators
Hate to break it to you, but from Wikipedia:
The parent company, The Boots Company plc, merged with Alliance UniChem in 2006 to form Alliance Boots.[2] In 2007, Alliance Boots was bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Stefano Pessina, taking the company private, and moving its headquarters to Switzerland, making it the first-ever FTSE 100 company to be bought by a private equity firm.[3] In 2012, Walgreens bought a 45% stake in Alliance Boots, with the option to buy the rest within three years. It exercised this option in 2014, and as a result Boots became a subsidiary of the new company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, on 31 December 2014.
It's quite amazing how many 'european' companies are owned by US entities.
So that means you're gonna stop brushing?? Join that 'merican thread pronto.
Use Sensodyne. British owned.
So that means you're gonna stop brushing?? Join that 'merican thread pronto.
is that aimed at me? if so can you expand please? i'm not understanding your observation. sorry.
I have to use Sensodyne due to smashing my teeth up when I was younger, has left them in poor health. Have had two removed so far and another one is getting close to being forcefully ejected soon too. It's the only one that stops them becoming very sensitive and seems to keep the decay at bay. Usually £7-8 a tube at my local pharmacy (bigger than normal tube so works out about £5 for the regular size) but is occasionally in offer so I stock up when it is.
The cheapo Colgate stuff doesn't do anything at all for my knashers so for me the more expensive stuff is definitely worth it. Have tried some stuff that was £14 a tube but I didn't like the aftertaste despite it being better than the Sensodyne!
@Del sorry, it was a light-hearted comment due to Boots being owned by an American company and perhaps folk should stop buying toothpaste from them. See this thread:
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/off-topic/anyone-trying-to-boycott-us-products
Whoop - no worries! Think we're on the same page (-:
I use 2:
Arm & Hammer charcoal because it made a noticeable difference to whitening my teeth (not American white, just less tea stained).
Corsodyl for bleeding gums (plus flossing).
Think they're in the £3.50 - £5 bracket, but stock up when on offer.
Spoke to my Dentist about it, as long as it's got 1450ppm of fluoride then you might as well pick the cheapest you like the taste of. Tesco Pro is £1 a tube and is as good as any other for most people.
If you have gum disease Corsodyl mouthwash is the way to go. Corsodyl toothpaste contains sodium bicarbonate as an abrasive to help remove more plaque, but it's not unique in that, many of the 'whitening' toothpastes do too.
'Whitening' toothpastes, at best leave a layer of whiteness on the surface, they can't remove stains. But your dentist can, if you want to go brighter than a normal scale and polish, they can sell you a home use kit that you can't buy over the counter.
Fwiw even though it's American, registered political donations from Colgate are allegedly 91% for the Dems so they're not a total bunch of Trumpets. Admittedly it's not a huge sum though.
R&D costs money and mineralising toothpastes have some effect. Pronamel for me and not just because I used to get it cheap. I was however blessed with huge and strong teeth.
