Good toothpastes for children are rare, states the Association for Consumer Information (VKI) after testing twelve products. Only three of them are really recommendable. Together with the German consumer protection organization Stiftung Warentest, seven toothpastes failed because they did not offer any tooth decay prevention. “They either contain too little fluoride or no fluoride at all,” according to the testers.
Although five toothpastes protect against tooth decay very well, two of them contain titanium dioxide. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) no longer classifies the substance as safe, and from August E 171 will be banned as an additive in food. In cosmetics, however, it is still permitted as a coloring agent with the code CI 77891. “As a precaution, we advise against pastes with the pigment. We rate products for little ones more strictly than those for older children and adults because they are more likely to swallow toothpaste,” argue the consumer advocates.
Test winner Elmex
An essential prerequisite for caries prevention is that the toothpaste contains a sufficient amount of fluoride. While the recommendation of professional societies for products advertised for children from zero to six years was previously 500 ppm (English for parts per million, parts per million) fluoride, it is now a uniform 1,000 ppm. Word doesn’t seem to have gotten around to the manufacturers.
In addition to the winner from Elmex, the toothpastes from Mentadent and Oral-B can be recommended without reservation from the products in the test. (The latter is no longer produced, but is still commercially available in some cases.) Two products with very good caries prevention received only an average overall rating due to the addition of titanium dioxide. Another three pastes contain too little fluoride, namely only half the recommended amount. But there was just as “unsatisfactory” as if no fluoride was included. This was the case with four providers. This also includes a product with hydroxyapatite, according to the label on the tube an “ingredient copied from nature”, but the effectiveness of which has not yet been sufficiently scientifically proven, according to the testers.
These toothpastes were tested:
- Blend-a-med Blendi Gel
- Dentalux Tooth gel for kids
- Dentinox Not with fluoride
- Elmex Children’s Toothpaste
- Karex kids toothpaste
- Lavera natural cosmetics Kids toothpaste
- Logodent natural cosmetics Kids toothpaste
- Mentadent Kids toothpaste
- Odol-med3 milk tooth
- Oral B Kids Toothpaste Frozen
- SensiDent Kids toothpaste
- Weleda Children’s Tooth Gel
Source: Nachrichten
