The gray spots on quail eggs turn white with just a brush? Whitening toothpaste routine reveals the secrets of toothpaste
"Whitening Toothpaste Reverses 15 Years of Tooth Stains," "Quail Egg Grey Spots turn white once brushed," "as white as liquid foundation"... During the "June 18" period, several "magic" whitening toothpastes appeared on the network platform, and the female anchor in the network platform video showed white and shining teeth while promoting. Do these toothpaste really have a whitening effect? Will teeth really glow white after using whitening toothpaste? A reporter from China Consumer Daily conducted an investigation into this matter.
Whitening is a basket that can hold anything
Who doesn't want to have teeth that are as white as jade? Whitening toothpaste is precisely using this to exaggerate the "whitening" effect. During the "6.18" period, toothpaste claiming to have whitening effects on e-commerce platforms was dazzling. There are claims of time effectiveness: "60 second strong whitening", "1 day significant whitening", "5 days start whitening", "7 days teeth significant whitening", "2 weeks teeth whitening"; There are claims of technology: "Non friction whitening technology is gentle and effective for whitening" and "can form a pigment isolation shield on the surface of teeth"; There are claims of effectiveness: "Invalid after-sales refund", "Yellow teeth and stones removed with a brush will fall off", "Teeth that are white but not white once will be fully refunded"; There are claims of high-tech concepts, such as "nano" and "highly active whitening energy that deeply repels inner and outer tooth stains"; There are concepts that play with factor particles: "100 million polishing particles for efficient stain removal", "300 million whitening factors", "billion level whitening factors with strong stain removal power of 5 times", "containing billions of yuan of micron level baking soda for gentle polishing and natural whitening", "spherical DCPA factor can clean 93% of dental plaque", "whitening formula specialized in whitening and polishing factors"... With these gimmicks, the price of whitening toothpaste has also been rising, with some single tubes priced at 68 yuan.
On June 15th, a reporter from China Consumer Daily clicked on an e-commerce platform and entered the keyword "whitening toothpaste", bringing up a bunch of toothpaste products claiming to have whitening effects. The reporter saw that a specialized store called Shimeng Personal Care claims to be conducting a "6.18" promotion. A product with the name "Dr. Fan's Probiotic Whitening Toothpaste for Removing Bad Breath, Yellow Stains, and Smoke Stains, Fresh and Brightening Breath" is prominently displayed in the store. The top picture shows teeth covered in black brown smoke and tea stains, while the bottom picture shows teeth that are shiny white. The advertisement claims to have "bright white teeth, yellow teeth, smoke stains, tea stains", "safe plant extract formula", "enjoy SPA level experience with fine and clean factors, gentle friction to remove stains", and "born for brightening teeth". The reporter noticed that the execution standard for this product is GB/T8372-2017.
It is understood that toothpaste can be divided into two categories: one is ordinary toothpaste, which complies with the national standard GB/T8372-2017 "Toothpaste", which indicates that the basic functions of toothpaste are to clean the oral cavity, reduce tooth stains, reduce soft scale, whiten teeth, reduce dental plaque, freshen breath, have a refreshing taste, maintain the health of teeth and periodontal tissue, and maintain oral health; Another type is efficacy toothpaste, which follows the light industry standard QB/T 2966-2014 "Efficacy Toothpaste Standard", that is, adding relevant chemical substances or active efficacy ingredients in the production of toothpaste. The efficacy of functional toothpaste mainly includes anti caries, inhibition of dental plaque, resistance to dentin sensitivity, reduction of gum related problems, removal of stains and whitening, resistance to tartar, reduction of bad breath, and other effects verified for improving oral problems. The various nominal types of toothpaste sold in the market, such as stain removal and whitening toothpaste, full effect toothpaste, and anti allergy toothpaste, are all efficacy toothpaste.
Mr. Lin, a toothpaste industry practitioner in Fujian, told reporters that whitening teeth is actually one of the many basic functions of ordinary toothpaste, just like the basic function of rice is to provide energy to the human body. It is a bit excessive to blow up the basic function. Nowadays, some businesses in the market use information asymmetry to excessively exaggerate the whitening effect of toothpaste, treating the whitening function of toothpaste as a basket and filling everything in. Various whitening routines have been launched one after another, and each manufacturer has its own definition of whitening. They upgrade the packaging of basic functions and exaggerate the whitening effect of dental paste, making consumers feel like they are falling into a cloud and being lured into a "trap".
Lack of clinical evaluation verification seems to be ambiguous
Since "whitening teeth" is the basic function of all toothpaste, then toothpaste with "stain removal and whitening" effect is the true whitening effect toothpaste. China has strict requirements for efficacy toothpaste. According to the QB/T2966-2014 "Efficacy Toothpaste Standard" implemented in September 2010, the management of efficacy toothpaste must comply with all regulatory requirements of ordinary toothpaste, including raw materials, product requirements, testing methods, labeling, claims, etc., and also comply with the management requirements of "Efficacy Toothpaste" and "Toothpaste Efficacy Evaluation" standards. One particularly important point is that the efficacy should be supported by a efficacy evaluation report, which should be issued by a tertiary Grade A dental medical institution with the qualification of the former National Food and Drug Administration's Drug Clinical Trial Institution, or a dental college/specialized hospital or provincial-level dental specialized hospital that has obtained key clinical specialties from the Ministry of Health. The laboratory evaluation report can also be issued by a qualified national or provincial third-party laboratory organization.
The reporter checked the product reports of whitening toothpaste sales merchants on e-commerce platforms and found that most of them did not have authoritative reports. What could be seen were mostly specious experimental or third-party evaluation reports and test reports, which were displayed in a stacked form and difficult to see clearly. There is basically no explicit "efficacy clinical evaluation report" or other information about whitening toothpaste in the store, and some only emphasize its reliability with statements such as "scientifically verified". Consumers have no way of knowing whether it is true or not.
At the flagship store of Yihou Dental on an e-commerce platform, the reporter checked the product description of Yihou baking soda whitening toothpaste and found that the product is nominally compliant with the QB/T2966 standard and belongs to the efficacy type toothpaste. But the reporter could not find a "efficacy clinical evaluation report" issued by a dental medical institution on its official website, only a nominal "Guangzhou Quality Supervision and Testing Research Institute evaluation report", which stated that the product "has stain removal and whitening effects". The store also displays comparison images of three types of teeth cleaning experiments in the store. The experimental subjects are quail eggs with spots, gray brown boiled eggs, and black and dirty shells. The experimental results show that the gray spots on quail eggs have been washed away by a toothpaste brush, while the gray brown boiled eggs and shells have turned white. Subsequently, the reporter conducted an experiment where quail eggs and boiled eggs could still be whitened using a toothbrush and vinegar without toothpaste.
At the Halfway flagship store, the reporter saw a whitening toothpaste called Oralshark Halfway Oral Shark, which is also a functional toothpaste with a nominal QB/T2966 standard, claiming to be able to deeply remove stains. But the reporter searched through half of the flagship stores, but did not see any authoritative clinical and laboratory evaluation reports. The reporter consulted with customer service, and they received an evaluation report from Guangzhou Quality Supervision and Research Institute, which stated that the sample has the effect of removing exogenous pigmentation. The reporter asked if there was a clinical evaluation report from a dental hospital, and the customer service replied, "No".
Industry insiders told reporters that currently there are no clinical evaluation reports on the whitening and stain removal effects of toothpaste on the market, because the vast majority of whitening toothpaste production enterprises have not conducted clinical efficacy validation. The reason is that clinical validation belongs to fire refining real gold, and the test is the true effect, and the cost is high. In December 2010, the original Ministry of Health issued the recommended health industry standard WS/T326.1-2010 "Evaluation of Toothpaste Efficacy", which only evaluated the efficacy of preventing caries, inhibiting dental plaque, reducing gingival inflammation, and resisting dentin sensitivity. The efficacy of toothpaste, which was not mentioned in the "Evaluation of Toothpaste Efficacy," but has been included in the efficacy type toothpaste, includes eliminating and reducing bad breath, whitening, anti tartar, etc. It is reported that currently there are group standards for the whitening effects of removing exogenous pigmentation and bleaching and optical whitening.
The new regulations will be implemented, and Mo Xin will boast casually
On June 15th, Du Jianning, Secretary General of Fujian Special Food and Cosmetics Association, stated in an interview with China Consumer News that some of the toothpaste whitening advertising images on online platforms are computer-processed images that highlight the whitening effect of teeth and are not actually achievable. Consumers should be cautious when choosing whitening toothpaste and have a correct understanding of efficacy toothpaste.
Du Jianning stated that the current regulatory regulations related to toothpaste are undergoing a phase of renewal, and there have been changes in the regulations regarding the efficacy of toothpaste. Not long ago, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued Order No. 71 on the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Toothpaste", which will come into effect on December 1 of this year. The National Medical Products Administration is responsible for the supervision of toothpaste nationwide. According to the Measures, toothpaste is subject to filing management, and the toothpaste filing person is responsible for the quality, safety, and efficacy claims of the toothpaste. The efficacy claims of toothpaste should have sufficient scientific basis. The toothpaste registrant shall publish on the filing information service platform a summary of the literature, research data, or product efficacy evaluation materials on which the efficacy claim is based, and accept social supervision.
Du Jianning revealed that according to the "Specification for Toothpaste Filing Materials", the efficacy of toothpaste may be divided into 9 categories in the future, namely basic cleaning, caries prevention, plaque inhibition, anti dentin sensitivity, gum problem reduction, whitening, anti tartar, bad breath reduction, and other benefits. Among them, whitening refers to whitening teeth, whitening teeth, whitening teeth through oxidation reactions, reducing exogenous coloring, mechanically reducing exogenous coloring, chemically reducing exogenous coloring, and achieving whitening/whitening effects through optical effects. According to the regulations, products that claim to have anti caries, plaque inhibition, anti dentin sensitivity, and reduced gingival related issues should still be evaluated for efficacy using clinical evaluation methods; Products that claim to have whitening, anti tartar, odor reducing, and oral improvement effects can be evaluated using methods specified by relevant domestic and foreign regulations, technical standards, technical specifications, authoritative organizations or technical institutions, industry association guidelines, professional academic journals, and public development tables. Due to the ongoing solicitation of opinions on the "Regulations", there may be variables in the classification and evaluation methods of toothpaste efficacy, but the overall direction will not change.
The reporter learned from the Cosmetic Supervision Department of the Fujian Provincial Drug Administration that currently toothpaste is managed in accordance with the provisions of the Cosmetic Supervision and Administration Regulations on ordinary cosmetics. After the implementation of the Measures, the toothpaste filer can claim that the toothpaste has the effects of preventing caries, suppressing plaque, resisting dentin sensitivity, and reducing gum related problems after evaluating its efficacy in accordance with national and industry standards. However, it cannot express or imply that the toothpaste has medical effects, cannot make false or misleading efficacy claims, and cannot claim its efficacy without evaluation.
Dentist Xu Bicong reminds consumers that whitening toothpaste mainly targets external tooth coloring and can bring a slight whitening effect; Endogenous pigments are generally used to bleach teeth with chemical components such as hydrogen peroxide or urea peroxide, enzymes, etc. found in toothpaste. It is recommended to use them under the guidance of a doctor. During regular brushing, toothpaste stays on the teeth for a very short period of time, making it difficult for even effective whitening toothpaste to work in a short period of time. Therefore, consumers should not blindly believe in toothpaste that claims to quickly whiten, but should develop the habit of regular teeth care, avoid some incorrect dietary habits and teeth cleaning methods.
