The main trio of ingredients in today’s toothpaste are abrasives, fluoride and detergent.
Making up between 8 and 20% of standard toothpastes, abrasives polish your teeth to help remove plaque. If your teeth have ever felt “fuzzy”, that was plaque, the film of bacteria caused by sugars and starches in your food. It is this that the abrasives work to remove.
Fluoride prevents cavities, and is also thought to help with the formation of dental enamel.
As for detergents or “surfactants”, that’s the stuff that makes toothpaste foam in your mouth.
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