2 Oral Care Ingredients To Avoid

If you are serious about your oral care, then you likely use toothpaste, mouthwash, and dental floss every day to remove the food and plaque from your teeth. These products are necessary to clean your mouth properly, but you may be doing more harm than good if you pick an oral care item with harmful ingredients. Choose your products wisely, ask dentists at places like http://www.familydentalcentertn.com, and consider the list of bad ingredients outlined below next time you go to the store to pick up some toothpaste or mouthwash.

Hydrated Silica

Toothpaste contains a variety of ingredients that are meant to work together to clean the teeth. One of these ingredients is called an abrasive agent that scrubs the plaque off the teeth while you brush. Toothpaste manufacturers use several different abrasives that include hydrated silica and alumina. Hydrated silica and other silica agents placed in your toothpaste are made from sand. Sand is extremely hard with sharp edges that can damage the dental enamel.  

Alumina is also a harmful abrasive agent placed in toothpaste. Aluminum oxide and alumina are metals known for their polishing abilities, and they will polish the teeth as they clean them. The polishing process can remove a small amount of the enamel from the teeth though. This can cause sensitivity issues over time.

What Should You Look For?

When you look for toothpaste to purchase, you should skip varieties that contain silica, alumina, and other harsh abrasive agents. If you are unsure about the types of abrasives in your toothpaste, then consider looking at the abrasive rating of your favorite brand. Toothpastes are rated on an abrasiveness scale from 0 to 250. Any toothpaste with an abrasive rating under 80 is considered safe for your teeth.

You can also look for toothpastes that contain sodium bicarbonate or baking soda. Baking soda is considered a soft substance with a rating of about 2.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. This scale rates the relative hardness of minerals and it indicates that baking soda is only slightly harder than talc powder. Salt is also a soft abrasive agent and safe for the teeth.

Alcohol

Alcohol is sometimes placed in oral care products, because the fluid kills the bacteria that thrive in the mouth. Alcohol is not good for the teeth and gums though, because it damages the cells of the mouth. This damage can lead to oral cancer down the road and it can exacerbate gum disease conditions. Also, the alcohol only kills some of the bacteria in the mouth. The bacteria that are not killed are the strongest strains that can multiply within the mouth. This can lead to serious infections.

Using alcohol to kill a good deal of the bacteria in the mouth is also bad for your oral health. Your mouth contains bacteria and fungal microorganisms. The bacteria keep the fungal spores in check and keep conditions like oral thrush at bay. When you kill the bacteria, you may see an overgrowth of yeast that causes sores and a white discharge.

What Should You Look For?

When you buy toothpaste and mouthwash, avoid products with either alcohol or triclosan. Triclosan is an antibiotic that can cause bacteria issues like alcohol. Your toothpaste does not need to contain a bacterial killing agent. You should find one with fluoride though, to help the teeth rebuild enamel that has been lost due to bacterial activity. Also, consider a toothpaste with sodium pyrophosphate. This substance prevents tartar from forming by allowing it to rinse away from the teeth before it can solidify on the dental enamel.

When buying mouthwash, purchase an antiseptic product. Antiseptic mouthwashes contain chlorhexidine gluconate​ instead of alcohol, and this substance keeps bacteria from multiplying within the mouth.  

If you want to keep your teeth healthy, then you need to make sure to buy the best oral care products. Some types of toothpastes and mouthwashes contain ingredients that can cause sores, enamel damage, and bacteria issues. Try to stay away from hard abrasive agents and alcohol to prevent oral health issues.