Toothpaste in the 1840’s came in the form of powder. This powder, often purple coloured contained ground coral, cuttlefish bone, burnt eggshells or porcelain.
The colour purple was achieved using cochineal, from the bodies of tropical scale insects. (Preferred for being all natural.)
Today's toothpaste are opaque white or striped and contain at least 10 ingredients. These ingredients individually play a part in protecting and cleaning teeth. Some concoctions bind toothpaste together, others add flavour or proper consistency.
Main ingredients usually include powdered chalk (calcium carbonate) and aluminium oxide or some other mineral powder. These are mildly abrasive and help remove dulling film containing decay and causing plaque.
Clear gel toothpaste gets abrasiveness from transparent (sometimes coloured) compounds of silica. The compounds are sometimes red or blue spheres.
Cleaning and polishing ingredients are combined with water into a thick paste by the addition of a binding and thickening agents such as alginate derived from seaweed. The alginate (sodium alginate) is used to prevent separation of ingredients.
A touch of detergent is added to create foam and help the cleaning process. Peppermint oil or menthol is later added to sweeten the taste.
A moisturizer such as glycerin is added to prevent the paste from drying out. Fluoride helps strengthen tooth enamel and disinfectant such as formalin may be added to kill bacteria.
Toothpaste sometimes contain fluoride or mouthwash added in colourful stripes.
Cleaning mixture: Chalky White
Fluoride/Mouthwash: Red or Blue Striped Gel
Both mixtures are prepared separately, squeezed into a tube (wide end, first) and crimped for sale.
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Pop White Smile sells a purple toothpaste that uses colour correcting technology to whiten yellowed teeth. Used twice a day for fourteen days, this stuff apparently makes teeth 4 times whiter. It is also peroxide free and infused with xylitol, coconut and peppermint oil.
Additional Reading:
Toothpaste Formula Composition
