CATEGORY AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST 111 REALITY BITES The Indian toothpaste market actually makes sense. Neem is an age-old antibacterial and medicinal ingredient which has a lot more to offer those turned on to its properties than everyday mint. Clove and tulsi, or holy basil, are other well accepted tastes and ingredients in the mouth care world, leaving a warmer more exotic flavour, and comforting daily brushers with a hygiene routine that connects them to the healing and supportive properties of spices, herbs and other plants they know and trust. Tulsi, especially, has sacred connotations – linking brushing with more than just freshening up, which could be one way to shift the whole western consumer notion around body care from ‘compliance and prevention’ towards caring connection with the body. Which might turn out to be more motivating and actually healing than anyone in normal toothpaste world has thus far realized. Brands like US-based Tom’s, Himalaya and Tharaneem, have exploded onto the world market with dental products and other ranges by replacing mint with ingredients that promise so much more. Their neem oil infused floss, soaps and body care products offer the promises of an ingredient with thousands of years of cultural value, as well as fatty acids, vitamin E, triglycerides, antioxidants and calcium, which is all appealing to global markets looking for natural ingredients and increasingly suspicious of toxicity and chemicals. Herbodent, Georganics, Himalaya Botanique, Auromere and a growing plethora of herb-based, chemical free and organic ranges are all exploding online – some selling for nearly $20 a pop and offering combinations of exotic ingredients giving mouth experiences more like ritual tea ceremonies than anything the old model dentist in the white coat with the sparkling smile used to tell us we could expect from brushing our teeth. People are choosing toothpastes that can transport them to fragrant markets in Dharmsala, the ancient spas of Ayurveda, tea tree lakes, Japanese plum blossom gardens, and the clove forests of pristine Indochine. From Europe, there’s fennel, liquorice, vanilla and pine on offer to a market that knows these tastes, trusts these ingredients as clean, nourishing and safe, and isn’t afraid to carry them on their breath each day. Toothpaste, as well as so many other personal care and daily consumables is being evolved before our eyes. It’s part creative innovation and maybe driven by mint fatigue but certainly reflects a wider trend toward natural and wellness-focused personal care which dentists may be wise to embrace and use to their advantage. Sexing up toothpaste or at least giving it deeper value and richer meaning is one way to motivate daily brushing. Offering products including healthy ingredients, free of chemicals and adding to the pleasure of oral care adds a mystique that might be missing, and could be inspiring after a lifetime of mint, mint, mint! Where the seductions of healing properties, exotic sensations and gourmet experiences aren’t really doing it for brushers, there’s the lure of the weird. Curry flavours from India, red hot fire flavours from southeast Asia and fishy calamari are all out there. Wasabi toothpaste, perhaps the ultimate mouth experience – is practically a cult offering now from major luxury brand, Aesop, selling for nearly $40 a tube. Fluoride-free, infused with sea buckthorn, imbued with the glamour of the brand and a guaranteed new style of mouth pop – it’s an invitation to a mind-blowing daily adventure on the tip of a toothbrush. u
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