While brushing my chompers this morning I wondered about toothpaste composition, specifically what kind of abrasives are in use and whether they break down as they‘re used. Certain modern car polishes use micro–abrasives that, as they‘re massaged, purposefully break down into smaller and smaller abrasives to create a finer polish the more the product is used. Basically, the “cut” of the product is strongest when it‘s first applied and weakest after being massaged for a period of time.
How much toothpaste is enough to use? Would teeth be better cleaned with a second application of toothpaste halfway through the process? Curious minds like mine like to know these things for some reason.
At any rate, I then moved on to considering whether the seal of ADA approval actually meant anything. The ADA (American Dental Association), established in 1859, is not regulated. Do they actually test products for approval? How do they do the testing? What‘s tested? Is this all just another marketing sham with large sums of money paid by manufacturers to get the ADA seal on their products? That‘s something I won‘t be able to determine without a lot of investigation, but they do apparently have a pretty substantial lab and testing facility. Here‘s the ADA Seal Program page. The lab is toured in a video link to the right on that page.
Before I leave this post, it‘s worth noting that the top corporate contributors to the ADA Foundation (a separate arm of the ADA) are GlaxoSmithKline, Colgate, and the suspiciously named “ADA Business Enterprises, Inc.”. Having said that, a pretty thorough examination of the ADA via its website indicates that it is either pretty straight–up or remarkably thorough in the construction of its public appearance.
I wish I had the time and money to go to Chicago to talk to them. I think it would be interesting.
