Can toothpaste stain teeth? That seems counterproductive as toothpaste is meant to clean teeth. Some brands even go so far as to brand themselves as “stain-fighting” or “stain-erasing.”
But TikTok user Julia (@julesjulesbobules), in a viral TikTok video, claims that her child’s teeth were stained after he used Crest Pro-Health toothpaste. And she believes the toothpaste is the culprit.
“I just found out that Crest toothpaste stains your teeth,” Julia starts in her video. “I don’t know if everyone knew this already, and I’m the last one to find out.”
She continues, “I don’t think it’s a really well-known thing.”
“I had noticed my 5-year-old his teeth started getting really stained over the last few months when we bought this new toothpaste,” she adds.
She said her child’s dentist was just as perplexed. “‘I don’t know what’s going on with your teeth,’” she recalls the dentist saying after taking her child in for a check-up.
“It turns out Crest, especially the Pro-Health line, but I checked all of our toothpaste tubes, and all of them have switched from using sodium fluoride to stannous fluoride,” she says. “It says right on there that it can stain some people’s teeth and can make teeth staining worse.”
Julia tells viewers that “If your teeth are kinda yellowish and you’ve been trying to whiten them, and it’s not working, it’s probably your toothpaste.”
Since she posted it on Sunday, her video has been viewed 35,000 times .
@julesjulesbobules Mighty shady of them. Literally. #teeth #toothpaste #crest #flouride ♬ original sound – JuliaGulia
Viewers have a similar experience
The Daily Dot reached out to Julia via TikTok comment and direct message as well as to Crest via press email.
As it turns out, Julia isn’t alone. Viewers shared that they felt their teeth looked less white after using the toothpaste.
“Oh my gosh, thank you!!! I use the crest pro line and felt like my teeth were not as white!!! Throwing that garbage!!!” one viewer wrote.
“I was wondering why my [kids’] teeth looked stained they brush 2 or more times a day n still yellow they use crest,” a second shared.
“Yes! I had zoom whitening done and they told me about this. I was shocked! No one ever told me,” a third recalled.
Does Crest contain stannous fluoride?
According to Crest’s website, stannous fluoride is the active ingredient in Crest Pro-Health toothpaste. Crest says on its site that stannous fluoride “protects against plaque/gingivitis, tooth sensitivity and cavities, making it the only fluoride source that fights all three. It also provides protection against erosion and bad breath.”
Does stannous fluoride stain teeth?
On the drug facts portion of the Crest Pro-Health toothpaste, it says that “products containing stannous fluoride may produce surface staining of the teeth.”
Dentist Dr. Stephen Griffith with Grand Corner Dental also confirmed to KREM2 that stannous fluoride can cause tooth staining for some people. “The stannous fluoride has been known in the past to cause internal staining. It will oxidize the tooth and make it turn a more yellow color. But, Crest has since realized that and is trying to develop a toothpaste now with different additives that combat against that,” Dr. Griffin told the outlet.
Fortunately, it is possible to reverse stained teeth, but only with a bleaching agent, according to the dentist. The drug facts portion of the Crest Pro-Health toothpaste backs this up. It notes that the stains are not “permanent and may be removed by your dentist.” It also notes that “adequate toothbrushing” may even prevent these stains from happening in the first place.
Update 2:23pm CT, July 18: During an interview with the Daily Dot, Julia revealed that she and her family have been using Crest for years. It was only recently her son’s teeth became stained. Nothing in his routine changed. Then, the content creator did her own research that she made this discovery.
“It was then that I discovered multiple web sources that said stannous fluoride can stain some people’s teeth and that Crest Pro Health line is a common cause of tooth staining because it uses stannous,” she shared via TikTok direct message.
This prompted Julia to check all of her toothpaste and her husband’s mouthwash.
“After figuring that out, I went through all of the toothpaste tubes in our house, including all of the little samples sent home from our dentist that were just sitting in a drawer. Every single one that was Crest brand (not just Pro Health – all of them) listed stannous fluoride on the back as the main ingredient,” she said. “I checked the back of my husband’s/other children’s Sensodyne and it lists sodium fluoride. I went to the grocery store and checked the back of several brands, including Colgate, and they all use sodium fluoride (at least the ones I checked).”
Last year, she had a terrible experience using Crest’s Pro-Health Mouthwash.
“I personally had a bad experience with Crest Pro Health mouthwash about a year ago. It caused brown staining between my teeth that I had to have scraped off professionally by a dentist. I stopped using it, and threw it away, but didn’t think the same problem would happen with non Pro Health children’s toothpaste,” she said.
After switching to Colgate, her son’s teeth started to improve.
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