posted
A year or two ago I came across a couple of articles in various science magazines about a new type of toothpaste that was being developed. It was an extract of some sort from crab shells, and it adhered to enamel for several hours, allowing to to continue fighting bacteria much longer than normal toothpaste. The researchers who'd developed it were working to find a way to get it to stick to teeth longer.
I noticed a commerical the other day for a new type of toothpaste from Colgate, one that supposedly lasted for 12 hours. I assume that this is probably the paste whose development I read about awhile ago, but I'm not absolutely sure; I can't remember the name of the compound, and I haven't had time to do more than a cursory search for the original articles online (and I may very well have read about them in the print edition of New Scientist, or possibly Scientific American).
Anyway, I tried the toothpaste. It works really well at keeping plaque from building up on teeth overnight. It doesn't do much in terms of keeping one's breath fresh overnight. I wouldn't expect it to, from what I'd remember from the articles, but this seems to be the primary angle they're pushing in the marketing campaign for the stuff.
Anyone with superior googling skills (ie Kayla) interested in doing a little digging and seeing if the substance in question is the crabshell extract that I think it is?
If it is, shouldn't they be labeling it as such for vegetarians and the like?
posted
Triclosan can't be the brand-new crab-extracted ingredient -- it's been used in all sorts of things since 1998. Many "antibacterial" products use it, and they sell like hotcakes.
And we wonder why antibiotic resistance keeps going up.
Perhaps the Gantrez copolymer? Seems like a likely suspect. It is apparently "a copolymer of methoxyethylene and maleic acid." Hmm, that doesn't sound like crabs need be involved. Linky. Although I suppose crab shells have to be made of something.
Here's a synopsis of the research you mentioned, Noemon, yes? It talks about chitosan, synthesized from chitin (a polysaccharide, similar to fiber and starch, but stronger because of its structure). Chitin is found in insect and arthropod shells.
(This is the same stuff that is supposed to absorb fat if you swallow pills full of it. And interestingly, the methods used to get chitosan and glucosamine from chitin are very similar.)
*searches, searches, and finds*
Well, this toothpaste has chitosan. As far as Colgate Total, it definitely contains something identified as "PVM/MA Copolymer" which is not in their other toothpastes. Does it come from crab shells? They don't seem to be 'fessing up, if so. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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