First and foremost, a good toothpaste should contain fluoride.
As Ökotest has now found out, however, many toothpastes also contain undesirable problematic substances.
Munich - The main ingredient for a good toothpaste is: fluoride.
But in addition to this there are often many other undesirable ingredients that can irritate mucous membranes or damage the environment.
Ökotest examined 60 toothpastes in more detail.
13 of the toothpastes tested received the grade “unsatisfactory” or “unsatisfactory”.
Ökotest: Many toothpastes contain problematic ingredients
A toothpaste should primarily help to clean the teeth properly and to protect the consumer from tooth decay.
Solid caries protection stands and falls with the ingredient fluoride.
Most toothpastes contain sodium fluoride to prevent tooth decay.
Amine fluoride or a combination of both is less common.
“Sodium fluoride is the most tried and tested form of the fluoride compound,” says dentist Dietmar Oesterreich to the health
magazine Evivas
.
When we eat, various acids contained in our food remove calcium and phosphate from the enamel of our teeth.
This is softened by this.
Fluoride counteracts this and improves the remineralization of the teeth.
So it makes the teeth harder and more resistant to acids.
The German Dental Association expressly recommends using fluoride-containing creams.
Stiftung Warentest basically rates all toothpastes without fluoride as "poor".
Ökotest: These toothpastes performed poorly or poorly
13 of the universal toothpastes tested by Ökotest received the grade bad or inadequate.
One problematic substance was previously problematic: sodium lauryl sulphate.
With this surfactant there is a risk that it can irritate the mucous membranes.
The substance was found in 18 toothpastes.
In addition, Ökotest rated the use of polyethylene glycol as unsatisfactory.
This polymer is found in many cosmetics and can make the skin more permeable to foreign substances.
In addition, Ökotest was able to determine a number of synthetic polymers in the toothpastes.
More precisely, it is liquid plastic that can get into the environment via wastewater.
In addition, an increased aluminum content was found in some toothpastes.
The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) warned in a statement in 2019: In particular, so-called whitening toothpastes can contain a lot of aluminum.
toothpaste |
rating |
Problematic |
Dentagard Original with natural herb extracts |
Inadequate |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Odol-Med 3 Original |
Inadequate |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Odol-Med 3 Senses Eucalyptus, Lime & Mint |
Inadequate |
Not known |
Signal toothpaste caries protection |
Inadequate |
Not known |
Colgate Complete 8 Extra Fresh |
Inadequate |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Aronal gum protection with zinc |
Insufficient |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Blend-A-Med Classic Toothpaste |
Unsuccessful |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Blend-A-Med Complete Protect Expert Deep Cleansing |
Insufficient |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Blend-A-Med all-round protection Extra Fresh Clean |
Insufficient |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Colgate Total Plus Healthy Freshness |
Insufficient |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives |
Lacalut Aktiv medical toothpaste |
Insufficient |
Sodium lauryl sulfate, PEG / PEG derivatives, organohalogen compound |
Odol-Med 3 Extreme Clean long-term freshness |
Insufficient |
Not known |
Ökotest particularly recommends toothpaste with fluoride.
However, products containing sodium lauryl sulfate should not be used.
If the toothpaste does not contain zinc, children and young people can also use their parents' toothpaste.
(
phf
)
Recently, Ökotest also examined various brands of spaghetti.
The comparison produced a terrifying result in some cases.