Natural Ingredients for Oral Care

Manufacturers are invigorating the oral care category, providing new product innovations; products reformulated and repackaged with new flavors and condition-specific profiles; and clinically tested products to make teeth whiter, shinier and cleaner. These innovations have brought life into the oral care market in both the natural and conventional marketplace. The oral care market is currently worth $7.5 billion at retail and is headed for $8.9 billion by 2012 as new products and repositioning of existing products are released, noted a 2007 Packaged Facts report, “Oral Care Products in the United States.”

More consumers have adopted the belief that natural products are better for their health and the environment and are willing to purchase products they feel are safer, non-chemical based, efficacious and pure. “Oral care ingredients are finally getting more attention and knowing what’s in a mouth rinse and tooth paste is every bit as important as skin care,” said Paula Van Gelder, director of communications, The Natural Dentist. She noted there are several ingredients consumers want omitted from their oral care products, including alcohol; the foaming agent sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), which can irritate the mouth and gums; artificial colors; saccharin; stannous fluoride, a processed form of fluoride that can stain teeth; and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), which can cause noticeable and hard-to-remove staining for some people.

Manufacturers are utilizing plant-based ingredients and emphasizing whole body health and wellness. Many have found successful, natural substitutes that form the base of toothpaste, such as calcium carbonate (chalk for whitening); glycerin and carrageen for moistening and thickening; licorice root extract for sweetening; and a vast range of herbal extracts that benefit the teeth and gums in myriad ways. Tom’s of Maine, for example, utilizes a patented natural-based active ingredient called Glycyrrhizin that is formulated using licorice root. Kissable, an Atlanta-based company, utilizes cranberry extract, which is said to protect against tooth decay  by keeping bacteria from sticking to surface enamel, and has also added Aloe vera for its moisturizing and wound healing benefits.

Tea tree is a popular herbal ingredient that regularly appears in natural oral care. Many use tea tree for cold sores, canker sores, oral thrush, toothache and gum infections. Tea tree oil appears in mouthwashes and toothpastes, and in combination with other natural herbs, such as rosemary, chamomile, Echinacea, Aloe and fresh mint.

Ayurvedic herbs have increased in popularity and have been used for centuries for improving oral hygiene and gum conditions. Neem (Azadirachta indica) is the superstar ingredient and is used straight off the tree in villages throughout India as a natural toothbrush to scrub teeth and purify the mouth and gums. “An oral Ayurvedic formula such as Auromere’s contains ingredients like neem, peelu, vajradanti, babul and 20 other extracts used since ancient times for cavity prevention, antibacterial and antiseptic properties, to strengthen and heal spongy, bleeding gums, to whiten teeth and purify the breath,” said Dakshina Vanzetti, president, Auromere. “A majority of these herbal extracts have a powerful astringent action that leaves the mouth in a squeaky-clean condition that naturally deters the formation of plaque and tartar.”

Xylitol, a naturally occurring 5-carbon sugar alcohol, has gained momentum as both a natural sweetener and a deterrent of dental caries. Xlear Inc., manufacturer of a range of xylitol-sweetened gum and mints, noted products sweetened with xylitol create an unwelcome environment for bacteria, which prohibits bacteria from building and sticking to teeth. The sweetener has also been shown to help increase mineral absorption in tooth enamel, thus increasing its strength.

One of the most promising innovations coming out of the oral care market is the use of probiotics. ProBiora3, a clinically tested mouth rinse recently launched by ONI BioPharma Inc. provides a dose of friendly, beneficial oral bacteria and been shown to promote good oral health by inhibiting the growth of the bacteria that can cause disease. “The substitution of a probiotic oral hygiene product can specifically target those bacteria that are known to adversely affect oral health” said Jeffrey D. Hillman, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, ONI BioPharma Inc. “By reducing the levels of disease-causing bacteria in the mouth, one not only prevents oral diseases or helps existing problems, but also reduces some of the undesirable side effects of high levels of pathogenic bacteria, including bad breath.” The oral hygiene formula addresses the two main challenges that can plague mouths: tooth decay and gum disease, caused when specific bacteria that is a normal part of dental plaque reaches high levels. “Probiotics address nature’s intent for maintaining health, and certainly accomplishes this more safely and less invasively (less significant side effects) than conventional approaches,” he said. “Conventional oral care products follow a non-specific approach by reducing the total bacterial load in the mouth. These products treat all oral bacteria as equal and in need of elimination, rather than recognizing the delicate microbial balance that nature established to ensure health. Probiotics have a balancing effect, specifically exerting an antagonistic action that suppresses those bacteria that are injurious to oral health and thus modulates the composition of the oral flora in favor of health.”