Toothpaste with synthetic tooth minerals can prevent cavities as effectively as fluoride

Fluoride in toothpaste can pose health problems in some cases, especially for children who consume too much fluoride by swallowing most of their toothpaste: children normally use only a tiny dose of toothpaste to avoid these problems, but that reduces toothbrushing efficacy. In the search for alternatives, a team of international scientists and Polish clinicians have identified a hydroxyapatite toothpaste that works just as well as fluoride toothpaste to protect against cavities.

Hydroxyapatite is a calcium phosphate mineral found in the skeleton. It’s known to be very safe for human consumption and has previously been shown to help with oral conditions like periodontitis. It can both inhibit the demineralization of teeth, a key step towards a cavity, and contribute to remineralization, which reinforces damaged tooth surfaces.

To see if it would help patients without specific dental conditions, the clinicians recruited 189 adults aged 18-45 to take part in an 18-month-long double-blind randomized clinical trial. They aimed to see all patients through to the end of the study without an increase in cavities.