How Is Toothpaste Manufactured?
Toothpaste is the latest and certainly most pleasant substance that humans have used to remove the food and acids that begin the process of decay and tooth loss. That white or striped stuff in the crumpled tube sitting on your bathroom counter is the result of centuries of experimentation with twigs, chemicals and various abrasives. Modern toothpaste is advertised to remove plaque, whiten teeth, refresh breath and forestall periodontal disease---it does just about everything except remind you to use it.
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Identification
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Toothpaste is a combination of a soaping agent, abrasive and flavorings that, when rubbed on teeth, scrubs the surface to remove substances left by the digestive process that starts in the mouth. It is sold in various types of packaging, the most common being the century-old "tube" and the most recent development, the "pump," a standing container that dispenses toothpaste in much the same way as a coffee shop vacuum server.
Function
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Acids and sugars, food particles and dirt and dust from the air combine in the mouth to coat teeth with substances that can dissolve the enamel coating teeth, leaving the underlying structure vulnerable. Although teeth do produce enamel, the rate can't match the rate at which we wear our teeth. Cleaning the mouth removes this "detritus," which helps conserve tooth enamel. Using toothpaste (and a toothbrush) makes the job of cleaning teeth more convenient and pleasant, making regular mouth-cleaning more likely.
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History
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Early humans weren't too concerned about the cosmetic values of bright white teeth but they knew that a human without teeth couldn't eat much: records of tooth-cleaning recipes include salt, wood ash and burnt or crushed bones and seashells. The Arabs used sand and pumice as abrasives, the Romans added charcoal and the Persians used honey to make the substance palatable. By the 18th century, bicarbonate of soda served as a base for tooth powders, some of which included crushed bricks or crockery. Borax was added to make suds. Tooth powder was applied with a cloth (you used your fingers if you were poor) and was sold in paper packets or jars. A Connecticut dentist, Washington Wentworth Sheffield, created the first modern toothpaste, Creme Dentifrice, in 1850. His son Lucius suggested adopting tubes like Parisian artists used but Sheffield decided to market his creme in jars. Colgate Ribbon Dental Creme was the first paste packaged in collapsible metal tubes in 1896. By the middle of the 20th century, organizations like the American Dental Association's Council on Dental Therapeutics had developed standards for toothpaste and many American companies were adding sodium fluoride to toothpaste as a decay preventative.
Features
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Each toothpaste contains the same classes of ingredients: abrasives,"sudsers," humectants, flavorings, preservatives and water. Glycerin or sorbitol (also used as humectants) and saccharine or aspartame are used as sweeteners. All ingredients are weighed and slowly mixed in huge vats, many of which hold over a ton of product. Temperature and humidity are controlled carefully to keep ingredients from separating. Tubes (or stand-up "pump" containers) are vacuum cleaned, filled and capped by suspending them in racks and filling through the base. Bottoms are them crimped (or capped) and manufacturing codes that identify place and date of manufacture and batch number are printed on the container.
Considerations
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Additives like stannous or calcium fluoride, solvents or enzymes, peroxide and bicarbonate of soda claim specific benefits like decay prevention, breath freshening, tartar removal and whitening. The debate over fluoride's value is ongoing and the effectiveness of the others has not been conclusively proven.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Wikimedia Commons
