A round-up of the oral care market to sink your teeth into

The year 2011 has been an interesting one for cosmetics and personal care innovation. Highlighting this is a round-up of three key trends we at CosmeticsDesign.com have identified in the oral care market, including naturals, sustainability, and concept innovations.

Sustainability remains a hot topic, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) addressed this area by launching its latest toothpaste in self-standing tubes for its Aquafresh brand.

GSK’s latest oral care product, the toothpaste has a noteworthy lack of secondary packaging, resulting in environmental benefits including the need for fewer manufacturing resources.

Producing the self-standing tubes and eliminating the cartons will save up to 2,240 trees and 340 tonnes of paper per annum, according to the company.

Concept innovation

US-based Archtek launched Toothpaste Tablets, in chewable form earlier this year. Once chewed, the product turns to a similar consistency to toothpaste, allowing the teeth to be brushed as normal.

The product in tablet form was launched in the North American market in an attempt to avoid the restrictions on liquid cosmetic and personal care products as hand carry for air travel.

According to the company, the tablets contain Xylitol and ExoCyanCran, having proven benefits to de-plaque teeth and no peroxides or bleach components which can make enamel brittle.

Naturals

Another toothpaste, this time by Tom’s of Maine, claims to be the first clinically tested natural whitening toothpaste.

The maker claims that Natural Simply White Fluoride Toothpaste has been clinically proven to whiten teeth, even though the formulation does not include conventional whitening ingredients such as bleaching agents.

Conventional whitening toothpastes can contain a number of ingredients, including abrasives such as silica, which help to remove stains, or peroxides such as carbamide or hydrogen peroxide.

Tom of Maine has said its new whitening toothpaste is based on three different types of naturally occurring silicas that combine to gently remove tartar and stains without causing any damage to the tooth enamel.