Maintaining a balanced pH level in the mouth is key to maintaining good oral health, and toothpaste is an essential tool in that process. Many food and drinks we consume are acidic in nature, and the digestive process of food also creates destructive acids in the mouth. Toothpaste with the right pH level can help reduce that acidity.
Toothpaste is basic, or alkaline, in nature. It helps neutralize the harmful acids that are created when food breaks down or released by oral bacteria, and also stomach acids that come into the mouth due to reflux, which can cause dental erosion.
Let’s look at why most toothpaste manufacturers keep the pH value of the product as a base level, how fluoride in toothpaste affects its basicity, the different bases present in toothpaste, and also how the pH value of toothpaste affects the health of your tooth enamel.
Why Are Most Toothpastes Basic?
Since your saliva is coating your teeth, gums, and the surfaces of your mouth at all times, keeping your salivary pH at a healthy level is quite important. The more acidic your mouth gets, the more possibility there is for your tooth enamel to become eroded or dissolved over time.
Dental erosion can happen at any age, and if it’s left untreated, it can cause irreversible damage to the tooth structure that may even result in the need for a tooth extraction or root canal treatment.
Most toothpastes have a base pH level to neutralize the acidity in your saliva as you brush and clean your teeth. Drinking water also helps balance the pH in your mouth.
When you brush your teeth with toothpaste, the emulsified toothpaste can get into the nooks and corners of your teeth that are not easily accessible, and neutralize any acidic agents stuck in there.
Is Fluoride in Toothpaste Acidic or Basic?
Fluoride is a weak base. In toothpaste, fluoride is added in the form of sodium fluoride, which is a basic salt. It doesn’t damage the enamel, and also helps the remineralization process of tooth enamel, which prevents cavity forming and tooth decay.
What Are the Bases Present in Toothpaste?
Most regular toothpaste kinds have the following components as ingredients that decide the overall pH value of the product.
- Water
- Fluoride (in the form of sodium fluoride)
- Abrasives which usually include calcium carbonate, aluminum hydroxide, and silica
- Detergents (mostly sodium lauryl sulfate)
- Flavors (mint varieties such as spearmint and peppermint)
- Humectants (glycerol, propylene glycol, etc)
- Antibacterial agents (zinc chloride)
About 20-40% of toothpaste composition is water. With a pH level of 7, water helps balance out the pH level of the end product. Sodium fluoride exists as a weak base in toothpaste.
The recommended concentration of fluoride to give a desirable tooth enamel remineralization effect is between 1,000 and 1,500 ppm, which keeps the overall pH at a base level. Added flavors such as mint varieties are also rather neutral, whilst the humectants also stay around 7.75 on the pH scale.
Most abrasives used in toothpaste, such as calcium carbonate, are strong bases due to the presence of calcium. Synthetic detergents such as sodium lauryl sulfate, which gives the foaming or emulsification effect, also have a relatively neutral pH.
Antibacterial agents in some toothpaste are acidic, but the concentration is quite low so it doesn’t affect the overall basic nature of the toothpaste.
Toothpaste varieties with whitening effects, however, have ingredients such as carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide, which are acidic bleaching agents. Therefore, you need to be careful when using them in the long term since they can affect the tooth enamel in negative ways.
How Does the pH of Toothpaste Affect Teeth Enamel?
The normal pH of saliva in your mouth is around 6.7-7.4, which is in a relatively neutral range. If the pH level goes below that value, saliva becomes more acidic.
This is often caused directly when we consume acidic food and also with sugary food and drinks since the digestion process of carbohydrates releases acids. If you don’t rebalance your salivary pH often by drinking water and cleaning your mouth, the high acidity in your saliva causes your dental enamel to erode and damage.
The pH value of regular toothpaste is somewhat over 7 to keep it basic enough to effectively neutralize harmful acidic agents in your saliva. The basic nature of toothpaste helps neutralize the acids and the overall salivary pH which helps prevent dental erosion.
This function of toothpaste is important since your dental enamel doesn’t grow back once it breaks down.
