That the routine dental health care regimen comes in paste format dispensed out of a tube is heavily imprinted on our cultural zeitgeist since its emergence in 1898. This is reflected in the multi-billion market share occupied by toothpaste versus better alternatives (~$20 million market share). The environmental impact of toothpaste in a plastic tube is immense. Which of course is exacerbated by the essentiality of brushing our teeth for maintaining our oral health.
On a global scale it is estimated that about 1.5 billion tubes are discarded annually, while in the UK this comes to about 300 million a year. A lot of these tubes end up in landfill or worse in bodies of water where subsequent degradation into microplastics may have habitat damaging effects. Never mind recent estimates that the toothpaste we consume also may contain up to 7% microplastics with unknown consequences for humans. The crude oil used to produce the plastic and some of the ingredients (surfactants) in toothpaste also carry their environmental burden in the form of emissions and ecological damage. Unfortunately, many recycling schemes are not ready to take ‘recyclable’ toothpaste tubes either so alternatives focus on biodegradable materials, which may not be an ideal storage condition for liquids either.
Outside of environmental impacts, there is also the issue of general wastefulness. Without cutting open the tube, it is impossible to remove all the paste, meaning that customers are likely to waste 10% of their product. Additionally, dispensing toothpaste from the tube is not always equal leading to different amounts being used to brush teeth each time.
Luckily alternatives exist in the form of dental tablets. These contain pre-dosed active ingredients of toothpaste but are presented in a dried form. This tablet can be hydrated using saliva leading to a similar solution where the active ingredients (like fluoride) can protect oral health. Dental tablets, like Reuterdent, also contain additional bioactive compounds, such as L. reuteri postbiotics and liquorice, which can help protect plaque formation, and have desirable antiviral as well as anti-inflammatory properties. Dental tablets provide a more efficient and environmentally conscious solution, so we encourage their mainstream usage.