Your Toothpaste Could Be Turning Your Teeth Yellow!

Hey everyone! There’s a topic that’s always been on the forefront of my patients’ minds and that’s “toothpastes.”  Many of my patients always ask which ones are the best ones and my response is always: “The ones that are least abrasive.”

You can find out which toothpastes are the least abrasive by looking at their RDA value, or Relative Dentin Abrasivity.   It’s a scale from 0-250.  A mild abrasive would measure between 0-70.  Moderate measures between 70-100.  High measure between 100-150.  And anything above 150 is a very high abrasive.

Typically, the least abrasive toothpastes are the ones that mark themselves as “sensitive toothpastes.”  Essentially, they don’t want to incorporate hard particles in their toothpaste which could end up abrading and inducing more sensitivity in teeth.  So, they make them with a smooth-like consistency.  The most abrasive toothpastes are the ones that advertise themselves as whitening.  As I like to say, these have more “crunchies” to abrade and remove surface staining.  Eventually, there does come a point where you’ve removed all the surface stains from your teeth and now all you’re doing is abrading your teeth.  My favorite saying about whitening toothpastes is that, “you may be thinking you’re brushing your teeth to whiteness, but when in fact you’re brushing your teeth to yellowness.”  You’re potentially removing the white shell of enamel off your teeth and revealing what really exists underneath which is a yellow tooth.

Check out the chart below and see where your toothpaste falls.  It may surprise you!

Until next time!  Have a nice day!

Dr. Anthony Do

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