Parents must Know: Additives for Children’s Toothpaste
In the last article, we mentioned why 1000 ppm fluoride is recommended for children’s toothpaste. What else should we pay attention to when choosing toothpaste?
In fact, I think it’s OK. Basically, as long as I master the principle of “rice size toothpaste is used every time for children under 3 years old, and pea size toothpaste is used every time for children between 3 and 6 years old”. On the premise of micro use, the effect of toothpaste ingredients will not be too great, and the focus is on brushing teeth.
Do Abrasives cause excessive wear of primary teeth?
Some toothpastes are soft and gelatinous. Some toothpastes are gelatinous. Some even think they are one by one, which may be related to the abrasives of toothpastes. Abrasives are particles that help clean and rub the surface of your teeth while you brush them.
Some toothpastes, especially adult toothpastes, have the effect of “whitening”, which may have large abrasive particles. Please pay attention to whether they will hurt your teeth if you use them for a long time.
In clinic, it is true that some people brush their teeth too hard, which will cause dents on the surface of teeth. However, at present, we haven’t seen that children brush their teeth excessively due to any factors, which causes the teeth to have the trace of being brushed concave. On the contrary, it’s because it’s very common to bite a dent on the front teeth by biting nails and toys. The common problem of deciduous teeth is tooth erosion, and tooth abrasion is rare.
It is possible for permanent teeth to brush excessively, but it is rare for primary teeth to brush excessively. Whether there are abrasives is not important. In general, the abrasiveness of children’s toothpaste is not too high. Parents are advised not to be too nervous. If you really care, you can choose toothpastes without abrasives or avoid toothpastes with whitening effect.
Is there any problem with toothpaste foaming agent?
The other ingredient asked is the foaming agent, which is the ingredient that makes toothpaste brush the mouth full of bubbles. The most common one is sodium lauryl sulfonate (SLS), which has good foaming ability and interfacial activity, and is often found in dishwashing essence and bath milk.
Studies have shown that there is no significant difference inthe cleaning effect between toothpastes with SLS and toothpastes without SLS. However, SLS is controversial because some people think that high concentration of SLS may be related to malignant transformation, but there is no good evidence to support it.
So I think that the presence of SLS foaming agent does not affect the safety, and may even have positive help. In addition, it may be a more fun and pleasant experience for children to brush their teeth with bubbles, so that children like to brush their teeth a little bit.
“This product does not contain triclosan”
Triclosan is not a good thing, but what is it? Triclosan (TCS) has been said to have cancer risk for a long time. There were news reports that some toothpastes contained this ingredient for a while.
Interestingly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned triclosan in soap and hand washing milk, but allowed it in toothpaste. At least in a statement issued in December 2017, the FDA believed that triclosan is helpful for gingivitis.
The effect of triclosan on adults may be controversial, but it may have a greater impact on children. Some studies have shown that the use of triclosan may cause respiratory hypersensitivity and affect endocrine in children.
Although triclosan in toothpastes may really help reduce the small bonus points of inflammation and bacteria inhibition, the possible risk is relatively high. To put it another way, do toothpastes have many additives with better mothproofing effect and lower risk, such as fluorine and xylitol, and the mothproofing effect will be much worse without triclosan toothpaste? I think it’s OK. There are many substitutes. There are many toothpastes on the market without adding triclosan.
Therefore, it is not recommended for children to use toothpaste containing triclosan.
Other new patents and new ingredients can be considered by oneself
In fact, in addition to the basic fluorine and sugar substitutes, the ingredients of toothpaste have been innovating. Such as green tea, propolis, milk protein extract, which can better prevent tooth decay, or which new patent can not use fluorine, or what enzyme.
In addition to green tea and milk protein, there is no way to say whether they are effective or not.
Maybe some are effective, some are just gimmicks, parents should try it or not, but still remember that principle, toothpaste is only auxiliary, brushing is the real help!
Overview:
- Don’t use adult whitening toothpaste for children, because Abrasives may be large.
- It is difficult for the abrasives of children’s toothpaste to hurt children’s teeth.
- The presence or absence of foaming agent (SLS) does not affect children’s tooth health.
- Toothpaste containing triclosan is not recommended for children.
