Assignments

4/19/18 - Written Assignment #2

One product that I use everyday is my toothpaste for brushing my teeth. It is the one cosmetic I keep consistent with my daily routine. In particular, I use Crest Baking Soda and Peroxide Whitening with Tartar Protection. I've always been told that baking soda and peroxide are natural ways of keeping my teeth clean and white, and the added bonus of tartar protection seemed like an additional bonus.

My Toothpaste of Choice

When I look at the back of my toothpaste, the only active ingredient stated is sodium fluoride 0.243% (0.16% w/v fluoride ion). I found this odd, but then I remembered the box that my toothpaste came in probably had more ingredients. I looked it up and found on a Walmart page that is selling the same product and found the following inactive ingredients: sorbitol, water, hydrated silica, sodium lauryl sulfate, trisodium phosphate, cellulose gum, flavor, sodium saccharin, carbomer 956, titanium diozide, blue 1. This made more sense and was pretty surprising that there wasn't more inactive ingredients.

I researched this product on ewg.org and found some surprising information. In terms of ingredient concerns , overall hazard and use restrictions were close to moderate. Developmental and reproductive toxicity and allergies and immunotoxicity is relatively low. Thankfully cancer is no concern or has no information at all. Other high concerns include multiple additive exposure sources, contamination concerns, irritation, miscellaneous, ecoccupational hazards, persistence and bioaccumulation. Other moderate concerns include organ system toxicity (non-reproductive) while low concerns consist of enhanced skin absorption, data gaps, and ecotoxicology.

Out of all the ingredients, I was most interested in sodium fluoride as it is presented as the main ingredient. According to ewg.org the concerns attributed to this ingredient are irritation, additive exposure sources, occupational hazards, use restrictions, organ system toxicity (non reproductive), and developmental/reproductive toxicity. In other words the combination of other high and moderate concerns. I decided to do more research using the Center for Disease Control website and found a card about sodium fluoride by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). I found that this ingredient can be pretty toxic or harmful so it really needs to be dealt with safely and carefully. In particular, if in direct contact it can cause irritation or burning and if ingested it can cause abdominal pain, burning, convulsions, diarrhea, and more. This is concerning as this item is going into my mouth and I could by swallowing small amounts of this. In the Okala Practitioner, there was no mention of the specific ingredients from earlier although there were different forms of sodium.

I will continue this product until I find something better. In the scheme of things, I guess it could've been worst. But I know that I can find better quality toothpaste and do not have to use this specific one. I would need some sort of substitute as I need to use toothpaste everyday for hygenic purposes.

Websites:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crest-Baking-Soda-Peroxide-Whitening-Fresh-Mint-Toothpaste-Choose-Count-and-Size/10312049

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/676078/Crest_Baking_Soda_%26_Peroxide_Whitening_with_Tartar_Protection_Toothpaste%2C_Fresh_Mint/#.WthRAy7wbX4

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcsneng/neng0951.html