MaoShan comments on Rational Toothpaste: A Case Study - Less Wrong

68 Post author: badger 31 May 2012 12:31AM

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Comment author: MaoShan 01 June 2012 10:22:00PM 0 points [-]

I use Tom's of Maine Wintergreen Fluoride-free toothpaste (okay, dentifrice), which sounds almost exactly like what you are describing. It sells in Walmart for about the same price as "regular" toothpastes. I really only buy it because I think that for general consumers in the USA, extra fluoride is unnecessary, so I rebel by buying the only locally available commercial alternative. Anyway, as an additional point to your description of the flavor which probably follows with Squigle too, it tastes "duller" than Colgate, Crest, etc., much like the difference between say, a Diet Coke and Coke Classic. At first it was unpleasant because that's not how my brain thinks toothpaste is supposed to taste, but neuroplasticity saved the day. I don't attribute any special benefit to the toothpaste itself, but I brush only once a day and haven't been to a dentist in the past fifteen years or so, so if I have cavities, they're not bad enough to call attention to themselves.