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Choose a Toothpaste as Individual as You Are
There’s one product we use twice a day, every day, and we’ll be doing it for our entire lives. Yet most of us are still reaching for a tube of toothpaste that’s the most familiar, the most brightly coloured, or for whatever our wives, mums, husbands, partners bought when it was on supermarket special offer. Don’t get us started on those hotel freebies!
It's an odd blind spot. We’re happy to go our separate ways with skin care, shampoo or multivitamins, but when it comes to toothpaste, we tend to make our choice based on autopilot or whatever’s to hand. But ...
EVERY SMILE’S DIFFERENT
Sharing might not be caring for your teeth and gums
The reality is, that our mouths might not have much in common with the rest of our kin. One of you snores all night (mentioning no names) and a dry mouth is at more risk of decay. One of you is aiming to maintain all the sterling work put in over the years and your naturally white ting. Another of you is undergoing orthodontic treatment and all the compromises that brings for tooth enamel. Plus, it’s not just teeth that differ – gums have a whole gamut of needs themselves.
Every toothpaste, high street or not, is designed to help reduce plaque bacteria alongside brushing; most are designed to support enamel with fluoride and most have a bit of antibacterial action. But that’s often where the support ends with high street brands. A single, generic, one-size-fits-all toothpaste isn’t going to fulfil all the needs of the household. Even if you're gloriously solo, your mouth probably has needs beyond fluoride and a bit of antibacterial action, particularly if those ingredients are included at strengths that mean they’re practically sleeping on the job. (Rest assured, that does not happen here at Healthy Smile Pharmacy!)
WHAT ARE YOU AIMING FOR?
Make your toothpaste work for your mouth (not your aunt’s cousin’s neighbour)
Roughly speaking, when it comes to looking after our oral health, most of us fall into one of four categories:
- Prevention mode: Oral health is optimum; you’re maintaining the good ‘ting!’ you have. For those predisposed to delicate gums, this might be a toothpaste clinically formulated for delicate gums or a toothpaste to keep your smile white and look after your enamel.
- One dominant need: You have a primary concern – sensitivity, staining, enamel compromise from orthodontics, dry mouth or decay risk, or gums that need a bit more daily attention, such as Gengigel Gum Protection Daily Use Toothpaste. Falling into this category means choosing a toothpaste to cater for that dominant concern.
- A dominant need plus something else: A dominant concern doesn’t necessarily mean that’s your only concern, aspiration or need. Many dentists recommend using one type of toothpaste before bed, and another in the morning, both chosen for their functionality and clinical grade ingredients. For example, try VITIS Whitening in the morning – its povidone and triple phosphate system lift and prevent surface stains before the day's coffee or curry can take hold – and VITIS Healthy Gums in the evening, where CPC targets bacterial plaque, panthenol calms inflammation and zinc lactate boosts CPC's effect and helps reduce bleeding. That way, you’ve got the day and nightshift sorted.
- Temporary treatment needs: A short-term issue might need a short-term toothpaste. Post-surgery for an implant or recovering from active gum disease treatment might call for a defined course of something stronger, like Perio-Aid's chlorhexidine gel toothpaste – used for a set period as directed by a dentist, rather than as an everyday, indefinite toothpaste.
BE OPEN TO SWITCHING LANES
But these categories aren't fixed – so don’t get stuck in a toothpaste rut
Improved gum health may mean you move back into prevention. A discussion with your dentist about your risk of enamel erosion or gum recession, and you could move the other way. A change in medication, for example to immunosuppressant drugs, a course of orthodontic treatment, even a new habit like a morning espresso (loving the caffeine, not loving the stains) – any of these can shift which category you're choosing your toothpaste from.
The point isn't to pick a lane and stay in it, it’s to keep checking which toothpaste fits the needs of your mouth in real time and choose accordingly.
THANKS TO TIME AND BIOLOGY, YOUR MOUTH DOESN'T STAY THE SAME
In general, oral care can follow a pattern over a lifetime
While we love the uniqueness of you, dentists do note typical patterns in oral health that coincide with life stages.
- Teens and orthodontic years
Braces and aligners create extra spots for plaque to hide, and enamel has to work to stay intact and avoid white spots. A toothpaste built for orthodontic wear such as VITIS Orthodontic Toothpaste is designed for exactly this stage in a mouth’s history.
- Twenties and thirties
Coffee, wine, and a diet with a high acidic content can start to thin enamel and invite staining and sensitivity. A toothpaste that repairs enamel as well as brightening it, such as VITIS Whitening Toothpaste earns its place here. VITIS Anti-Caries Nano Hydroxyapatite Toothpaste helps combat the threat of decay from compromised enamel by repairing it at the micro level and combatting the bacteria that causes decay with xylitol.
- Pregnancy and mid-life
The roller coaster of hormonal changes during pregnancy, stress, perimenopause and menopause, and simply the passage of time, can make gums more prone to inflammation or the early stages of recession. A toothpaste formulated for delicate gums like VITIS Healthy Gums is built for these stages.
- Later life
Gum recession can expose tooth roots, and a drop in saliva flow (a common side effect when several medications creep into your world) leaves teeth more vulnerable to decay than ever. A toothpaste that actively repairs and protects enamel becomes less of a nice-to-have and more of a daily essential.
- At any stage, if gum disease is diagnosed or under treatment
A dentist-guided course of something stronger may be needed for a defined period following treatment, such as PerioAid's chlorhexidine gel, or Gengigel Gum Protection for ongoing extra gum support.
- Life’s not-so-nice surprises
A sporting accident can happen to our mouths at any age. A sugar laden ‘60s or ‘70s upbringing might mean those all-too common fillings that became crowns and root canals can fail. Either scenario means we could end up needing an implant. Scenarios such as these may need a specialist toothpaste for a while such as PerioAid Intensive Care.
ACTIVE CLINICAL INGREDIENTS MATTER
You need clinically meaningful amounts of clinical grade ingredients
Unfortunately, when it comes to the high street and its bamboozling display of toothpastes, listed ingredients don’t always spell efficacy. A clinically meaningful concentration means enough of an active ingredient to do the job the label implies, not just enough to pop the wording on the tube.
Fortunately, at Healthy Smile Pharmacy, we’ve done your homework for you. All our toothpaste formulations have active ingredients at levels that enable them to play the role in your oral health that they are innovatively engineered to perform. It’s not guesswork, it’s science.
GIVE YOUR UNIQUE MOUTH THE UNIQUE CARE IT DESERVES
Now you know what clinical grade formula to choose, don’t forget ...
Brushing twice a day (three times if you’re undergoing orthodontic treatment) is de rigeur when it comes to oral health. Choosing the right clinical grade toothpaste for you is the gold standard in supporting brushing.
Add in the daily interdental sweep, and those dentist stickers are yours for sure. Heck, you’ll be collecting the full set!
