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If all the toothpaste tubes that are consumed worldwide each year were to be placed lengthwise next to each other, the queue would reach one and a half times around the world - 14,000 kilometers alone were accounted for by German toothbrushes. And although the tubes are usually made of plastic, they are particularly difficult to recycle. You don't need to be a sustainability fanatic to be aware of the devastating consequences; every halfway ecologically minded person should understand the urgency of an alternative to pasta in a tube. There are now a few, in pill form.
The toothbrush tablets from Denttabs * are dehydrated, compressed and packed in compostable paper sachets made from corn starch. The German company is one of the pioneers among manufacturers of alternative dental care products. Founder Axel Kaiser originally comes from the automotive industry: “One of my brothers ran a dental laboratory in Singapore and supplied dentists in Germany. When his partner broke away, he asked my other brother, who was actually a teacher, and me to take over the job. That was in 1992. “It would be almost a decade before the company produced the first toothpaste tablets - and almost two more decades before production was profitable.
But how does the invention, which was still so innovative at the time, work?
The handling is simple: chew the tab until a slightly foamy mass is formed and then clean it off as usual.
But as Goethe already wrote in Wilhelm Meister: "The only comfort of a person rests in habit." Tablets have a slightly floury, crumbly pasta consistency in the mouth.
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“Before we can speak or walk, we endure toothpaste and toothbrushes. Anyone who does not follow the principle is threatened with the worst possible consequences, ”says Kaiser, explaining the initially restrained interest in his tabs. In addition to the lack of sustainability, he also demonizes the effectiveness of conventional toothpaste: “It does not do what it promises. Otherwise we would not have any more tooth decay. ”Nevertheless, his company needed the so-called
tipping point
:“ That was sustainability for us. The actual approach, oral and dental health, is mostly still aloof today in the perception of users. "
The consistency, which takes getting used to, is, however, quite acceptable, also in view of the manageable list of ingredients, as the pastilles use far less than half of the ingredients compared to conventional toothpastes - among other things without problematic microplastics. “A topic that has not been investigated so far is not only the systemic pollution caused by the ingredients of conventional toothpaste but also the pollution of drinking water. Because toothpaste typically ends up in the sink and thus in the wastewater - some of which comes back down the pipe as treated drinking water, ”says Kaiser.
And teeth can become supple even without many ingredients.
This is ensured by the natural main ingredient of the tabs: cellulose, which gently polishes the teeth smooth - the tabs from other manufacturers such as Stop The Water While Using Me * or Hydrophil * also work in a similar way.
If you believe the experience reports of some users, symptoms such as bleeding gums, aphthae or the like should "disappear" within a few days after brushing with toothbrush tabs.
Kaiser suspects: "Since there is nothing in the tabs that heals, the suspicion arises that 'doing without' toothpaste makes the difference."
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And what about the big fluoride debate? There are extensive discussions about its “toxicity”, but Kaiser has long resisted offering his tabs without fluoride. Because when it is administered as a dry tablet, the fluoride develops its ideal positive effect - on the one hand, it rebuilds the tooth enamel and, on the other hand, creates a wafer-thin calcium fluoride protective layer. "Since the positive effect can be shown demonstrably, I didn't want to do without fluoride just for the sake of market share." But now there are both variants - and he himself now also switches "uncontrollably back and forth".
Much may not yet have been fully proven, but one advantage of toothbrush tabs is obvious: The usual 14 percent of toothpaste does not remain in the packaging if you think you have used it up completely.
Probably one of the reasons why the big players in the industry are watching the growing company with curiosity: "Initial cautious contacts show that there is definitely interest," says Kaiser.
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This article was first published in October 2020.