Can toothpaste stain teeth? That seems counterproductive as toothpaste is meant to clean teeth. Some brands even go so far as to brand themselves as "stain-fighting" or "stain-erasing."
But TikTok user Julia (@julesjulesbobules), in a viral TikTok video, claims that her child's teeth were stained after he used Crest Pro-Health toothpaste. And she believes the toothpaste is the culprit.
"I just found out that Crest toothpaste stains your teeth,” Julia starts in her video. “I don’t know if everyone knew this already, and I’m the last one to find out."
She continues, "I don’t think it’s a really well-known thing."
"I had noticed my 5-year-old his teeth started getting really stained over the last few months when we bought this new toothpaste,” she adds.
She said her child's dentist was just as perplexed. "‘I don't know what’s going on with your teeth,'" she recalls the dentist saying after taking her child in for a check-up.
“It turns out Crest, especially the Pro-Health line, but I checked all of our toothpaste tubes, and all of them have switched from using sodium fluoride to stannous fluoride,” she says. “It says right on there that it can stain some people’s teeth and can make teeth staining worse.”
Julia tells viewers that "If your teeth are kinda yellowish and you’ve been trying to whiten them, and it’s not working, it’s probably your toothpaste.”
Since she posted it on Sunday, her video has been viewed 35,000 times .
@julesjulesbobules Mighty shady of them. Literally. #teeth #toothpaste #crest #flouride ♬ original sound - JuliaGulia
The Daily Dot reached out to Julia via TikTok comment and direct message as well as to Crest via press email.
As it turns out, Julia isn’t alone. Viewers shared that they felt their teeth looked less white after using the toothpaste.
“Oh my gosh, thank you!!! I use the crest pro line and felt like my teeth were not as white!!! Throwing that garbage!!!" one viewer wrote.
“I was wondering why my [kids'] teeth looked stained they brush 2 or more times a day n still yellow they use crest,” a second shared.
“Yes! I had zoom whitening done and they told me about this. I was shocked! No one ever told me,” a third recalled.
According to Crest’s website, stannous fluoride is the active ingredient in Crest Pro-Health toothpaste. Crest says on its site that stannous fluoride “protects against plaque/gingivitis, tooth sensitivity and cavities, making it the only fluoride source that fights all three. It also provides protection against erosion and bad breath."
On the drug facts portion of the Crest Pro-Health toothpaste, it says that "products containing stannous fluoride may produce surface staining of the teeth."
Dentist Dr. Stephen Griffith with Grand Corner Dental also confirmed to KREM2 that stannous fluoride can cause tooth staining for some people. “The stannous fluoride has been known in the past to cause internal staining. It will oxidize the tooth and make it turn a more yellow color. But, Crest has since realized that and is trying to develop a toothpaste now with different additives that combat against that,” Dr. Griffin told the outlet.
Fortunately, it is possible to reverse stained teeth, but only with a bleaching agent, according to the dentist. The drug facts portion of the Crest Pro-Health toothpaste backs this up. It notes that the stains are not "permanent and may be removed by your dentist." It also notes that "adequate toothbrushing" may even prevent these stains from happening in the first place.
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The post ‘I don’t know if everyone knew this already’: Woman shares warning about Crest Pro-Health toothpaste appeared first on The Daily Dot.
