Modern toothpastes strengthen, beautify and heal teeth. The condition is to choose the right toothpaste for your teeth. Appropriate ingredients of the paste will heal hypersensitivity, protect against caries and restore the natural color of the teeth. Which toothpaste is best for you?

Toothpastesnot only whiten or eliminate discoloration, but also healhypersensitive teetheliminating the causes. More than a dozen brands, each offering at least a few different toothpastes - in stores and pharmacies, the range of these products is so wide that you can easily find one that contains ingredients suitable for your needs. You can also use two or three toothpastes simultaneously - depending on your problems with your teeth.

Teeth can be cleaned without toothpaste

A brush alone is enough to clean your teeth well, but you need to brush them for 6-8 minutes. However, if you use a paste, no matter what, you can cut the washing time by half, and the effect will be better for sure.

Most toothpastes contain an addition of foaming agents (e.g. cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium compounds) - the foam that forms softens the organic compounds in the plaque and reaches where the brush does not always reach, so it helps to clean hard-to-reach places.

However, the basic ingredients of all pastes are abrasives and polishing agents (e.g. silica, calcium carbonate, aluminum s alts) that mechanically remove the sediment. It is also worth looking for ingredients in toothpastes that additionally inhibit the mineralization of plaque (e.g. pyrophosphates), helping to keep the teeth clean.

Toothpaste to prevent caries - not necessarily with fluoride

Most toothpastes contain various fluorine compounds (e.g. amine fluorides, sodium fluoride, tin fluoride), which promote enamel remineralization. When brushing teeth, fluoride builds into the enamel, strengthening its resistance to acids and bacteria that cause caries, thus reducing its risk by nearly 30%.

In order to take advantage of this property of fluoride, it is important to have a sufficiently high concentration (approx. 1500 ppm in toothpastes for adults) and the duration of action on the teeth (2-3 minutes on average when brushing at least twiceper day).

Caries is also prevented byxylitol(polyhydroxy alcohol), but differently than fluoride. Despite its sweet taste, it is not a medium for cariogenic bacteria, on the contrary - it inhibits their growth and increases the pH in the mouth, which promotes the process of enamel remineralization. Therefore, when buying a toothpaste without fluoride, it is worth checking whether it contains xylitol.

Toothpaste for hypersensitive teeth

The dentin under the enamel has numerous tubules that conduct stimuli to the deeper, highly innervated pulp. When the enamel is thin (e.g. on exposed tooth necks) or porous (e.g. after whitening), acidic or cold foods can cause severe pain. With such hypersensitivity, you need to choose the so-called pastes. sensitive. They contain ingredients that create a protective layer and seal the mouths of the dentinal tubules (e.g. amine fluoride, hydroxyapatite) and thus eliminate the cause of ailments.

In toothpastes for hypersensitive teeth, there may also be substances that interfere with the conductivity of pain stimuli and have a temporary soothing effect (e.g. potassium nitrate).

A toothpaste that protects the gums

When the gums are red, they bleed while brushing your teeth, you need to look for toothpastes with ingredients that will help control inflammation. These are mainly herbal extracts and oils with antibacterial and disinfecting properties (e.g. chamomile, thyme, arnica). The addition of substances accelerating healing (e.g. allantoin) and limiting the deposition of dental plaque, which promotes periodontal diseases (e.g. triclosan, chlorhexidine), is also valuable.

Attention to whitening toothpastes!

The toothpastes, which are designed to remove discoloration from teeth and restore their natural color, contain two types of ingredients. Some remove the accumulated sediment mechanically, i.e. simply rub it off (e.g. silica, pyrophosphates), others lighten discoloration chemically (e.g. soda, hydrogen peroxide).

Whitening toothpastes are not always suitable for everyday use, they can damage the enamel and cause hypersensitivity - so read the information on the packaging carefully.

A good paste rubs off the plaque, not harmful to the enamel

The abrasives contained in the toothpastes are to effectively remove the bacterial plaque from the teeth, but at the same time be safe for the enamel. The degree of abrasion and safety at the same time is determined by the RDA (Radioactive Dentin Abrasion) index. When determining it, the size of the abrasive particles, their shape (angular or spherical) and hardness are taken into account. RDA indicator in toothpastes for adults intended for everyday useuse should not be higher than 80, and in hypersensitive toothpastes - within the range of 30-70. Only whitening toothpastes can have a high abrasion index, up to 194. Unfortunately, not all companies indicate the RDA information on the packaging.

Toothpaste refreshing breath

This is an important task of toothpastes, which is why they are supplemented with compounds (usually protected by patents) that inactivate bacteria on the back of the tongue and eliminate volatile sulfur compounds that are the source of unpleasant odors. The feeling of freshness in the mouth - and the pleasure of brushing teeth - is also ensured by the addition of aromatic mint or citrus oils.

Do you brush your teeth with a good toothpaste and still have problems with bad breath? CHECK>>which may cause bad breath monthly "Zdrowie"

Category:

Dentistry and Orthodontics