Odd

[cjsmith]

Am I the only one who is slightly bothered by the fact that toothpaste is artificially sweetened?

edit: I mean, do we really honestly need our toothpaste sweetened at all?

Comments

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Well, most of it. I think there are some out there that are sweetened with stevia and the like.

But really--you think it should be sweetened with sugar?? If you're really masochistic enough to do unsweetened toothpaste, I suppose you could just brush with baking soda. :^P

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I was mainly thinking of the fact that it was sweetened at all (although, I admit, I won't EAT saccharin). Are we, as modern first-world humans, so addicted to sweet tastes that we need saccharin in our toothpaste? Or are we just plain spoiled? ...don't answer that. I'm not sure I want to know. :-)

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's why they have all those warnings on the toothpaste not to swallow it, not to let your kids eat it, etc. They don't want all that nasty saccharin in your body. :)

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

LOL. Answering anyway: We're spoiled. :^) As others have said, try Tom's of Maine. You have the option whether or not it's got fluoride, too (some of their flavors do not, so if you want that, read the ingredients before buying).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

If it comes in a "sensitive teeth" version I just might! :)

I'm reminded of a Japanese couple I brought from an airport to a dance, once. I bought them lunch on the way. Every single thing the wife tasted, from the salad to the sandwich, she'd put right back down and say to her husband "amai" (sweet). I didn't perceive the sweetness myself, but I now have no doubt she's absolutely right.

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Go for the fennel - it's a sensitive formation.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I want to say "Arm & Hammer" had an unsweetened toothpaste, called something like "Arm & Hammer Dental Care", but I haven't thought to look for it for years, and I'm not 100% sure on the name.

I suppose it wouldn't be difficult to find unsweetened toothpaste - or toothpaste sweetened with stevia - at Whole Foods.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I admit I haven't looked hard for unsweetened toothpaste. But the fact that we have to have our sweets that badly is a little unsettling.

I'm only noticing this lately because I'm eating a lot less in the way of sweets, and I can TASTE it in the toothpaste. It's kind of icky now that I'm aware of it. I looked at the ingredients because I couldn't believe any random tooth-cleaning compound would be that sweet naturally, and sure enough, the sweetness I am beginning to find cloying is deliberate.

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

I once used unsweetened toothpaste (it was in college: I forget the details). It tasted incredibly bitter and execrably foul. It certainly did not make me want to brush my teeth!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'm wondering what my basic Colgate would taste like with just that one ingredient removed. Usually, if I sweeten a bitter thing, I can still taste the bitter. Interesting question.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Try Tom's of Maine. It is much much much less sweet than ordinary toothpaste. It weirded me out till I got used to it. Now I find regular toothpaste icky.

[perfect-autumn.livejournal.com]

me too.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'll look. I already find regular toothpaste icky. Maybe the adjustment wouldn't be so bad. :-)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

In October, deyo and I were driving south through Maine, just meandering, staying off the freeway, and we passed a small sign on a tiny storefront. "Tom's of Maine Outlet Parking." I said, "Hey, Tom's of Maine outlet." deyo didn't even pause to process, he just swung a hard right into the lot behind the building, we parked, went in. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny tubes! Things I'd never seen in the store! Tiny soaps! Tiny toothpaste! Big, slightly dented toothpaste! Woohoo!

Turns out we were in Kennebunk, and had stumbled upon the world's only Tom's of Maine outlet accidentally. We are such nerds.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

I never knew that. That's bizarre. I need to go read a couple of lables. (We have Colgate whitening gel, mint flavored, and Colgate paste, regular flavor). Are the ingredients on the tubes?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

They are on mine, at least. (Colgate.)

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

I've checked, both the "whitening mint-flavored gel" and the regular-flavored paste have sacchrine. Interesting! Also interesting is that the regular paste had far fewer ingredients than the gel did.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

After some of this discussion I'd be pretty surprised if any mainstream toothpaste lacked sweetener. Most people probably wouldn't put it in their mouths a second time. Amazing.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Ours has tea tree oil and ginger as flavoring. Yum.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh wild. I rather like mint, but I'm getting tired of the sweet.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

My grandmother used to use an old fashioned tooth brushing powder. You wet your tooth brush, poured a little powder in your hand, then made a paste with the water on your brush, and then brushed your teeth with it.

No sweeteners. And man, oh man, was it foul tasting. I can still remember it. Blech!

So yes, I'd say some sweetening is needed. Most of that stuff is just nasty tasting.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Almost makes me want to try it, just to see what it's like! I wouldn't mind a pile of mint flavor to cover whatever the ick is, but the level of sweet in my normal Colgate is starting to get to me.

[drdaly.livejournal.com]

Oh, man! When I was a kid I'd use that powder at my uncle's place. It was indeed foul tasting, and gritty, too!

I haven't thought about that horrible taste in years...I need to go rinse my mouth right now...CJ, do yourself a favor and *don't* try this stuff at home!

[nosrednayduj]

Toothpaste is completely optional. Ken hates the stuff, and hasn't used it for years. Brushing with water is sufficient for good dental care (it's best if you brush more than once a day, though). Our kids have toothpaste because they asked for it once, but mostly they don't use it. I like the taste (sensodyne fresh mint), so I brush with paste once a day, but without at other times.

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. I used only water for years.

Then I had braces in my late 20's, and I had to brush my teeth a *lot* and found that I was really irritating my gums. That's when I discovered that toothpaste has some lubricating qualities as well as being foamy & minty & having fluoride.

I use Tom's and have for years. I also barely squeeze any toothpaste into my brush and I get plenty of foaminess to spit out. Those commercials are evil (but then, aren't they all?).

[kennita.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "Parents have a hard *enough* time getting their kids to brush their teeth!". Probably many adults use sweet toothpaste because that's what they learned to like as kids. It's also easier to make commercials for tasty minty-fresh toothpaste. Note that gums and mints and such also have sweeteners in them; it's what we've learned to associate with the whole fresh-breath phenomenon.

I use toothpaste (a lot less than they show in the commercials and ads) because I feel like the lather helps scrub the grime off my teeth, kind of like how even a little soap added to water helps break up the oil on dishes or hands or what-not. Fluoride is also good for teeth; if you don't use toothpaste, I think a fluoride rinse is a good idea (however, ianad).

On thing I don't get is mint-flavored dental floss. I never taste my dental floss; it doesn't have a flavor to cover up. And it doesn't hang out on my tongue enough for it to matter.

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

try cinnamon-flavored dental floss - you'll discover that you are tasting it!

(I've been very appreciative of the mint stuff when I didn't have a toothbrush handy, but I had some floss.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I too have appreciated the mint stuff when I didn't have a toothbrush handy!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

that doesn't bother me, but i must admit the chocolate toothpaste gave me pause.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Chocolate toothpaste. Chocolate... toothpaste. Y'know, some words don't go together in my brain, even when they are adjacent to each other on the screen.

(Other examples: ground failure, clam pancakes.)

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Have you tried any of the Crest Whitening Expressions (http://www.crest.com/products/wtExp.jsp) toothpastes? (I hate these ridiculous names, I feel silly even writing that!) They come in Lemon Ice, Vanilla Mint, "Cinnamon Rush" and something called "Extreme Herbal Mint." I'm not crazy about mint, so I tried them when they first came out and there were sample sizes available. I really like the Vanilla -- it barely has any mint flavor at all. It's fairly sweet, but the other three sound like they'd be less sweet. (I remember that the lemon was pretty good, but I don't remember how sweet it was.)

They're not for sensitive teeth, but maybe you could alternate? Then you'd still get the sensitivity treatment at night but you'd have a better taste in the morning (or vice versa).