Means for oral care

To ensure that the teeth are always healthy and beautiful, a prerequisite for this is their regular and high-quality cleaning. The most common means for treatment and preventive and hygienic care for the oral cavity are toothpastes, gels and tooth powders. At present, toothpastes and gels are most often used.

Compositions of oral care products are different, but must be neutral with respect to tooth enamel, oral mucosa. Treatment and prophylactic, as well as hygienic and oral care products should be well refreshed, remove all kinds of smells, clean the surface of teeth, gums and tongue, and even polish in some cases, but the abrasive and erasing effect should be minimized.
One of the specially designed for oral hygiene of medicinal and preventive agents is toothpaste, which is also intended for the treatment of various diseases and their prevention.
Toothpastes mainly consist of abrasive, gel-and foam-forming substances. Also, in order to give a pleasant smell and taste to the pastes, add all kinds of fragrances, dyes and substances that improve the taste.
Abrasive substances in toothpastes must be cleaned and polished. A classic example of an abrasive substance with a similar action is chemically precipitated chalk. But now widely used are substances such as dicalcium phosphate dihydrate, dicalcium phosphate monohydrate, anhydrous dicalcium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, calcium pyrophosphate, aluminum hydroxide, bentonites, silicon dioxide, zirconium silicate, as well as polymeric compounds of methyl methacrylate. Some of the above substances react with inorganic compounds of hard dental tissues, thus providing a curative effect on the strength of tooth enamel. Typically, a combination of abrasive substances is used in the toothpaste, and not just one substance.
Foaming properties of a particular toothpaste directly depend on the amount of surfactants in the composition of the surfactants, which are the foaming agents. The higher the foaming capacity of the toothpaste, the more effectively it cleans the teeth, the gums wash out the food residue and remove the plaque.
Gel-like pastes do not contain abrasive substances. In general, they consist of silicon oxide compounds, which are treated in a special way. In this regard, gel pastes have no deleterious effect on dental tissues.
Let us consider in detail the types of toothpastes. First of all, toothpastes are divided into preventive, hygienic and curative. Hygienic pastes have a cleansing and refreshing effect, and preventive - act on the hard surfaces of the teeth or on the mucous membrane of the mouth. Prophylactic toothpastes, in turn, are divided depending on the composition for anti-inflammatory, anticaries, with bleaching effect, for sensitive teeth, etc.
To treat and prevent diseases of the periodontal and mucous surfaces of the mouth and gums, toothpastes are used that contain medicinal infusions, substances with chlorophyll content, enzymes, trace elements, mineral salts and vitamins.
To reduce the inflammatory processes in the mouth, bleeding gums and improve metabolic processes in the tissues and mucous membranes of the periodontal, pastes with an anti-inflammatory effect are used, in which antiseptics, most often chlorhexidine, are sometimes added. Antiseptics both reduce the content of microorganisms in the oral cavity, and preserve toothpastes from the appearance and reproduction of microbes in them.
Calcium-containing toothpastes reduce the acidity of saliva, the intensity of various inflammatory processes and contribute to the structural restoration of collagen fibers in the gingival tissues.
Pastes with the content of mineral salts very well clean the oral cavity and have a therapeutic effect.
Also, there are pastes that are specifically designed to treat stomatitis.
The composition of anti-caries toothpastes includes fluorine, phosphorus, calcium and all kinds of antibacterial substances. These pastes are designed to strengthen mineralized dental tissues and prevent the formation of plaque or reduce the rate of its appearance.
Phosphates and calcium salts in toothpastes are used to strengthen hard tissues of the teeth and to activate remineralization processes.
Toothpastes containing enzymes help reduce plaque formation.
Toothpastes in which the fluoride content exceeds 500ppm categorically can not be used for children under the age of 2 years, and children under 6 years of age should not swallow such toothpastes when cleaning teeth; an excess of fluoride can cause opacification of the enamel or fluorosis.