What’s the Best Toothpaste for Healthy Teeth?

Everyone knows that brushing twice a day is the cornerstone of good dental health, so why exactly do you need toothpaste—and what’s the best one to use?

Most of us firmly believe that regular brushing with toothpaste is essential to prevent plaque buildup on our teeth and to keep tooth decay at bay. Dental experts have told us this for over a century, so there’s no reason to doubt it, right? Not so.

The truth is that neither toothpaste in itself nor the act of brushing are what primarily prevents tooth decay—it’s the magic ingredient, fluoride, that achieves this by soaking through the gums and strengthening tooth enamel.

The main driver for tooth decay is not plaque but what you eat. Long before toothpaste, and before humans started milling flour to make bread, cakes, and noodles, tooth decay was as rare as hen’s teeth. Today, a typical diet is high in refined carbohydrates and sugars, which supercharge microbes in your mouth to spew out acids that will erode enamel.

Fluoride definitely prevents decay, but so-called “whitening” toothpastes won’t make your teeth gleam—they may get rid of some yellowish staining, but just don’t expect a movie star sparkle. Some contain questionably effective abrasive ingredients that break down or soak up stains; others employ chemicals that provide only a temporary whitening effect. No matter how much you scrub, you’ll never restore your teeth to the color of a baby’s teeth, though; enamel slowly and inevitably thins as we get older, revealing more of the yellowish layer called dentin underneath.

Some toothpastes aimed at those with sensitive teeth do actually work—they temporarily clog up microscopic holes within dentin that cause pain when eating ice cream or drinking cold drinks.

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Fluoride is the most important ingredient in toothpastes because it prevents tooth decay. The fluoride content in a toothpaste is measured in PPM (parts per million).