Toothpaste Advice

Toothsmith

No - the Sonicare is a nice brush.

Not 100% convinced that the sonic action is better than the oscillating/pulsating action of something like the slightly cheaper Braun Oral B brushes, but it's still an excellent brush.

Alison_B

Can I ask you Toothsmith if there is any difference in the firmness of toothbrushes. I have very sensitive teeth and unfortunately at 41, they are starting to crumble although the dentist says they are always nicely looked after and clean.

I always use a soft toothbrush but my teenagers use medium and my husband uses medium/hard.

newlywed

Does anyone know of any "whitening toothpaste" that doesn't have blue colouring added? I'm allergic to it and have only found McCleans. Anyone know of any others? Bought colgate but found it was blue too!!

Alison_B

What about Blanx? It is supposed to be totally natural and contain something called Icelandic moss!!! It is supposed to be brilliant at getting teeth whiter. I bought some from Ideal World a while ago at a cost of £8 plus postage per tube but didn't like the taste. You can get it from places like Boots now.

http://www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp?productid=1060858&classificationid=1011590

Toothsmith

Alison_B wrote:

What about Blanx? It is supposed to be totally natural and contain something called Icelandic moss!!! It is supposed to be brilliant at getting teeth whiter. I bought some from Ideal World a while ago at a cost of £8 plus postage per tube but didn't like the taste. You can get it from places like Boots now.

http://www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp?productid=1060858&classificationid=1011590

Sounds a bit 'alternative' to me!!! Not heard of it before.

bootman

I really rate the Sonicare tooth brush. My husband has always really suffered from a build of of plaque, he always brushes twice a day and has no fillings. Anyway last christmas we splashed out on a sonicare each. It really has stopped the build up on his teeth.

vk2003

As far as toothpastes go, as Toothsmith said, they are much of a muchness. The basic components are Fluoride, flavouring and an abrasive. Triclosan is an antibacterial, but the last course I went on where this was discussed suggested that actually the difference it made was negligible.

As far as whitening toothpastes go, I am unconvinced as to their effects. some of them can be more abrasive which is a definite no-no.

Electric toothbrushes: I am a big advocate of the Oral B/ Braun electric toothbrushes, and less of a sonic brush fan. The reasons for this are simple (and purely my opinion I might add...) The sonic brushes oscillate at a high frequency in order to establish ultrasonic waves in the saliva covering the teeth, thus dislodging the attached debris. However the fibres have to be softer so as not to damage the teeth with this sort of vibration. Thus, they are not as physically able to dislodge debris. If you push slightly too hard with the sonic brush head, you merely dampen the sonic vibrations, but don't see a concomitant rise in physical debris removal.

The Oral B Brauns however use a physical debris removal, and assuming you move it around the mouth to contact all surfaces all hould come clean.

As far as models go, I always recommend the Braun 7000 as a model which works well, ticks all the necessary boxes, and does not cost the earth (usually £42.50, but cheaper from the likes of Amazon)

HTH

StretchingThePoint

Thanks everyone - really great information and discussion.

A couple of further thoughts - Gaia mentioned Tesco Value toothpaste
1) It isn't any cheaper than Boots, as Boots is 100ml for Tescos 75ml - so Boots is cheaper if you get the 3 for 2 offer
2) Tesco's stuff has parabens in - chemicals which persist in the environment and you may wish to avoid.

tee_pee_2

i buy colgate in the pump action tube , mainly because OH gets it everywhere. It is cheap expensive in supermarkets but in home bargains/Quality save it is 99p. In fact I only ever buy toothpaste from there and it is all branded and 1/2 the price

jenna.nostyle

I always buy Sensodyne so I can eat ice cream and drink tea (not at the same time)

The rest of the family always get a decnt brand toothpaste and stock up during bogoffs and at Savers