Toothpaste Innovations
I never really thought much about toothpaste. But at the last two innovation conferences where I spoke, toothpaste was one of the hot topics.
At the FT Innovate conference in London, Unilever discussed their “Signal White Now” (and other brands) toothpaste. Instead of using harsh bleaches and abrasives, they borrowed an optical-effect technology from their laundry team. This toothpaste uses a blue pigment to make yellow teeth instantly appear whiter. This same ingredient is used to make white clothes look even whiter.
At the Open Innovation Summit in Orlando, GSK discussed how their “Aquafresh iso-active” toothpaste borrowed an idea from Edge shaving cream (now a division of Energizer Holdings, Inc). The toothpaste comes out like a gel, but foams in the mouth, much like the shaving cream. This formulation, according to the can I was given, removes 25% more bacteria than regular toothpaste – or 3x more according to the picture left.
This got me thinking. If toothpaste manufacturers can get ideas from shaving cream and laundry detergent, where else could they get ideas? Within 5 minutes, I thought up a few ideas of how to gain inspiration from other products:
- Pop Rocks: As a kid, I loved how Pop Rocks, the carbonated candy, exploded in your mouth. What if you added Pop Rock-like crystals to toothpaste? Not only would the toothpaste foam, it would fizz and explode. Maybe this would blast the plaque off your teeth. Of course, it might blast off your teeth like Pop Rocks reputedly did a few times.
- Shampoo: Shampoos are infused with vitamins and minerals to give your hair bounce and shine. What if you infused toothpaste with these ingredients? Or maybe you could add some homeopathic remedies – for those who believe in these alternative “medicines.” Sublingual administration (under the tongue) is a common and effective way of delivering drugs directly into the bloodstream.
- Conditioner: We use shampoo to clean and conditioner to protect. Maybe they can create a tooth conditioner; a special toothpaste that you use after your regular toothpaste. It could coat your teeth to prevent staining, bad breath, or split ends. Even better, they could borrow the “technology” used by shampoos like “Pearl” that combine shampoo and conditioner into one formulation.
- Moisturizers: Several moisturizers have an AM and a PM formulation. One is used in the morning and the other at night before you go to sleep. The AM formula of toothpaste could be infused with caffeine that would be absorbed into the bloodstream sublingually (see idea #2 above). And the PM formulation could be infused with melatonin to help you sleep better at night.
- Weight Loss Products: I’m not sure how this would work, but what if you could create a toothpaste that somehow made certain foods taste bad? This might cause you to reduce the amount of food you eat. Or maybe there is another way to make toothpaste a weight loss product. OK, this one is a stretch, but there might be a kernel of an idea there!
Ideas can indeed come from anywhere. (Read more to find out how!)
If you have other toothpaste innovation ideas, I would love for you to post them as comments!
Tags: crowdsourcing, Steve Shapiro, toothpaste innovations
December 9th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Interesting toothpaste ideas, but what about the toothbrush? What if the toothbrushes were somehow biodegradable rather than the plastic versions in stores now? You could be helping the environment by brushing your teeth. Is it possible to infuse grass seeds into the biodegradable brush? People could brush their teeth as their walking to work, running to catch a bus/train and throw the brush in a park! Imagine people having Eco-Brushes in National Parks.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Nick, great ideas!
Let’s take it the next step…
I would love for someone to invest something the eliminates the need for brushing altogether.
Why can’t we create a gum infused with some kind of foaming agent. Dish washing machines don’t need to “brush” the dishes. They blast the grime away. Maybe the next generate of Pop Rocks that infuses teeth cleaning agents.
Or how about something that coats our teeth so that we never even need to clean them. Sort of a Rain-x for our teeth. We can prevent water from sticking to a windshield. Why not stop bad stuff from sticking to our teeth.
The possibilities are endless
December 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
For number 5, weight loss- rather than make things taste bad, how about making sour things taste sweet? An addition of a small amount of ‘Miracle fruit’ (Synsepalum dulcificum) will make things like grapefruit and apple cider vinegar taste sweet. Who needs sugary soda, sugary catsup and sugary salad dressing if there are lower calorie foods that taste just as good? Brush your teeth with miracle fruit, then eat better all day long!
December 18th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Martin – What a great idea! Thanks.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
How about incorporating chemicals in the toothpaste that develop ozone to kill the bacteria or a mouthwash that would do the same.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Son good all ideas, the bacterias at mouth come from inside and outside no all bacterias are dangerous, so the idea must be to get with the use of some special kind of toothpaste that makes constantly neutral PH like 7, then the product to develop will provide this effect for some time, let´s said until the next toothpaste use or mouthwash, think just a bite about it.
Another idea that switch in my mind is. A toothpaste birth control, to be used as preservative before making love, please think once more about the possibility, at least it could have some demand.
Merry Chrstmass an Happy New Year for all you.
December 21st, 2009 at 11:40 am
OK – I like your idea of infusing vitamins and other agents in the toothpaste.
How about incorporating nicotine to make it into a quit-smoking therapy? Smoking is very bad for oral health – so using the nicotine as an incentive to improve dental care might help those who smoke. A nicotine-laden version of the antibacterial mouthwash, chlorhexidine gluconate, which used to treat gingivitis and other gum disorders, might also be effective. Gum problems are common side-effects of smoking.
December 21st, 2009 at 11:56 am
[...] In addition to the comments below, look at the solutions provided on the InnoCentive blog. There are some great ideas there! If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS [...]
December 21st, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Stephen,
I have researched the topic of dentifrice for some time and I found this article very interesting. In particular GSK’s “Aquafresh iso-active” but the question I have is whether all of its ingredients are GRAS? I invented the Dent-Chew Brush (www.dent-chew.com), a single use toothbrush made from a gel formulation, shaped like a mouth piece, that when chewed cleans the teeth, gums and the tongue. When the utility is completed it dissolves and can be disposed of or ingested. I originally designed it for use by the military and people on the go however beyond brushing is its use as a low cost delivery system for therapeutics. Would you have a POC for GSK?
NB. The second part of #5 is not as big a stretch as one might think!
December 21st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Lots of brilliant ideas! This goes to show that there is no shortage of great solutions, especially when we tap into the InnoCentive network. I’m sure if we posted a formal InnoCentive challenge, we would find even more solutions that would not only be great in theory but would be practical and doable.
John, I can connect you with my GSK contact off-line.
If people missed them, check out some of the other ideas listed in the comments on my blog (http://www.steveshapiro.com/2009/12/06/toothpaste-innovations/)
Thanks!
December 24th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
All are very inspiring ideas. One very simple, yet not new idea is to develop a toothpaste-like gum that can be chewed for at least one hour after every meal, with no sugar, no artificial sweeteners or colors, with different flavors that are simply based on savory natural oils found in tea leaves, jasmine leaves, lemon, orange, coconut, mint leaves, chamomile, and thousands more of plants. I grew up on the country side of a developing country and back there our grand parents used to chew home-made candies made up from tree’s resins mixed with different herbs. Later on some of them started to add sodium bicarbonate and that was the first sort of toothpaste that was affordable to everyone. Granted, those who used to chew sugar cane on a daily basis without washing their mouth later on would loose their teeth as early as their 50’s but those who didn’t still have very healthy mouths, and no stinky smells. Perhaps we have surrendered too much of our indigenous knowledge to trendy and expensive fashions and many lessons have been forgotten.
December 25th, 2009 at 10:23 am
John (#2) – always good to be reminded that some of the best innovations have been around for ages.
May 25th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
I’ve found some reasonable results from a product called Natural Energy Max, It did take some time but I think thats always going to be the case with legal products. Since utilizing it though, the results have been steady and I’ve really benefitted from it. They’re offering a free trial currently so it’d be a good time to check it out. It’s at http://bit.ly/itsNRG
July 1st, 2010 at 3:20 am
Your article reminded me so much of days gone by! I like pop rocks, always had fun eating them when i was a li’l girl