CATEGORY 110 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST REALITY BITES Move over, Mint! Bacon, octopus, wasabi and cupcake are here and breathing fragrant new winds around the mighty dominance of traditional minty white toothpaste. Jade Richardson By Jade Richardson Mint has ruled the world of toothpaste almost forever. It has been the very definition of fresh, clean, bright and sparkly, but there’s a new dream in toothpaste-land, and it’s got curry, calamari, and toasted marshmallow on its breath. This all opens marvellous new opportunities for romance writers and marketing magicians, but will the dental industry, with its long-term marriage to Immaculate Mint, be tempted to step out and try the seductive new offerings? Bacon is among the bravest of the wild new offerings in toothpaste flavours. It makes a clear statement. It’s an undeniable enchantress in the world of sexy aromas. It’s right up there with freshly baked bread, fluffy new cake and lavender, but does it work in oral hygiene? Let me put it like this: in a new, possibly over-diverse world, where there is a market for lightly fried octopus, Indian curry and stir-fry spices in toothpaste, bacon suddenly seems a lot less unlikely. Toothpaste is changing. It’s undergoing a biodiversity explosion right in front of us, driven by big new players in the body care market and online shopping, where novelty and temptation slay convention by the second. Normal has gone queer, and taken most things with it, and the dental world is going there, whether driven by the industry or by innovators everywhere. America, predictably, leads the charge in stacking the buffet with playful new themes on toothpaste. They did the same thing with mayonnaise, available in a tragic number of colours, flavours and tangos with bedazzling companion ingredients taking up miles of supermarket shelves and proving that democracy is not always the answer. In oral care products, they’re offering everything from pine, licorice, lemon, cinnamon, chocolate and coffee, to watermelon, cupcakes and strawberry for the kids. There’s charcoal, pickle, salt, ever more exotic salt: like bamboo, or wild harvested, or Tibetan, and increasingly fascinating variations on exotic and helpful ingredients, as well as toxicity-free offerings in the dental consumables world. This may come as a shock to mint, because its supremacy just seems like a nobrainer. But in a world once considered flat, we’ve been through total collapses in facts of life before, and we are definitely in one now in the world of everyday brushing. The big manufacturers are sluggishly admitting it. They’re reluctantly dipping toes in this water with very conservative diversifications into sodium bicarbonate, unsexied up salt, and varieties of mint among their ranges. Perhaps they think the creative euphoria in toothpasteland is a passing intoxication. Over in Japan, they were never really sold on the mint cult from the start. Having a minty mouth in Japan, or maybe anywhere really, is apparently not a selfevidently good thing. The Japanese are warmly invited to enjoy brushing with matcha flavours and ingredients, citrusy yuzu, mood-altering wasabi and white tea. Beyond the American razzle dazzle for amusing sensations, Asian and Indian ideas influencing oral care choices include a more holistic appreciation of natural ingredients, subtlety and thoughtfulness. The market is well aware of the pharmacopeia of healing herbs and sensory arts – they’re looking for more than just a minty blast. Matcha, for example, is considered healing, anti-inflammatory and soothing to the nervous system. White tea brings purification, elegance and warmth to the toothpaste party. In India, neem brings a deep rooted Ayurvedic cultural legacy into daily dental care, which is logical to a very large market and expanding globally as millions look beyond multinational manufacturers’ mono ideals around self-care. IMPROVEDPRACTICE? Apply now for the Sydney 2026 Australian Dentistry Awards Are you the most
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