Caries

Consumers will find a huge variety of toothpastes in drugstores and pharmacies. What should they take note of? The most important criterion is the fluoride content. This should be as high as possible. According to the Cosmetics Regulation, toothpastes must have an allowable maximum concentration of 1500 ppm. The German Society for Tooth-, Mouth- and Jaw Medicine recommends using a toothpaste with a minimum of 1000 ppm fluoride from school age on. Children of preschool age should be using toothpaste with 500 ppm fluoride.

Although this point is disputed among dentists, there are numerous products on the market which contain too little or no fluoride at all. In toothpastes the substances natrium fluoride, aluminium fluoride, zinc fluoride or organic amino fluoride are used. Often the pastes contain one or two fluoride combinations as well as remineralising agents such as calcium- or alkali phosphates. Further typical ingredients are fine cleaning particles, tensides, moisturizers and binding agents as well as flavourings and colourings. The effect of toothpastes containing fluoride can be substantially enhanced by using in addition higher concentrated fluoride gels once a week. Also, the use of cooking salt containing fluoride can help the prophylaxis of caries. It is advisable not to use any toothpaste at least half an hour to an hour after meals. To clean dentures, no toothpaste is used and food remnants are removed using a mouth rinse.