Fundamentals of Dentifrice: Oral Health Benefits in a Tube | Dentalcare.ca

The course will focus on the most common dentifrice ingredients and the oral health benefits they provide. Upon completion of the course, participants will understand not only the fundamentals of dentifrice ingredients, but also key regulatory aspects of the dentifrice market and the role of professional societies in credentialing consumer dentifrices.

The majority of patients use dentifrice in their daily hygiene routine. As such, it is a cost-effective and convenient vehicle to deliver ingredients that provide therapeutic benefits, cosmetic benefits, or both. Classification of dentifrice ingredients into these key benefit categories affects how products are regulated as well as the types of claims that can be made about a product. Products providing therapeutic benefits are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The first therapeutic ingredient to be included in dentifrices was fluoride. Since this first therapeutic advancement in the dentifrice market, many other ingredients have been formulated into dentifrices to provide other benefits, such as plaque and gingivitis reduction, enamel protection, antihypersensitivity benefits, extrinsic whitening, calculus protection and reducing halitosis (bad breath). These ingredients and their mechanisms of action are described in detail in this course, along with ingredients that provide stability and esthetic benefits to a dentifrice formulation.