Toothpaste Ingredients to Avoid for Kids

If you change one thing, drop the SLS.

It has the clearest evidence of causing a problem, it delivers nothing except foam, and it is the most common reason I see a child find brushing unpleasant. Everything else on this page is secondary to that.

Here is the rest, including the ingredients that get far more alarm than the evidence supports. I would rather you could tell the difference than avoid everything with a long name.

Two things that make a panel readable

Order is by weight, descending. The first four or five ingredients are most of the product. Anything after the preservatives and flavour is present in small amounts. This is the fastest way to tell whether an "active" is working or decorating.

A long name is not a red flag. Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda. Cellulose gum is plant fibre. Meanwhile "natural flavour" is vague and tells you almost nothing. Chemical-sounding and concerning are different things.

The ones worth avoiding

Sodium lauryl sulfate

The one most parents have never heard of, and the one I would change first.

SLS is a detergent. It is in there to create foam, and foam does not clean teeth. It is there because we have been trained to expect lather.

It is also a known irritant to the mouth lining. There is reasonable clinical evidence linking it to recurrent aphthous ulcers, and several studies have found people prone to ulcers get fewer of them on an SLS-free toothpaste. It strips the mucin layer protecting soft tissue, and it is why food tastes wrong straight after brushing: it temporarily disrupts your taste receptors.

In children this matters more, not less. Smaller mouths, more delicate tissue, and a child who finds brushing uncomfortable is a child who resists brushing. I have had parents bring me children described as difficult about oral hygiene whose problem resolved when we changed the toothpaste.

Also appears as sodium laureth sulfate or sodium dodecyl sulfate.

Triclosan

An antibacterial agent, largely phased out. The FDA banned it from consumer soaps in 2016 over hormone disruption in animal studies and antimicrobial resistance. Rare in toothpaste now, but worth checking older or imported tubes.

Heavy abrasives

Toothpaste needs some abrasive. Too much removes enamel and exposes dentine, and that change is permanent.

Whitening toothpastes are typically the most abrasive on the shelf, and no child needs one. Newly erupted enamel is still maturing in its first years and is more vulnerable to abrasion than adult enamel.

If a product publishes an RDA figure, below 70 is gentle and above 150 sits at the top of the accepted range. Most brands do not publish it, which is itself informative.

Artificial colours

Blue 1, Red 40 and similar. They do nothing in a product that spends two minutes in the mouth. Some have been associated with behavioural effects in some children and that evidence is mixed rather than settled, but there is no argument in favour either. A purely cosmetic additive in something a child partly swallows is easy to drop.

Titanium dioxide

A whitening pigment, in there to make the paste look brighter. In 2021 the European Food Safety Authority concluded it could no longer be considered safe as a food additive because genotoxicity could not be ruled out, and the EU banned it in food from 2022. That ruling concerns eating it, and toothpaste is not food, so this is not a direct read-across.

My position is simpler. It is a pigment with no functional role. In a product young children partly swallow, an ingredient with unresolved questions and zero benefit is not worth defending.

Saccharin, when there is a better option

Toothpaste needs to taste acceptable, particularly for children, so sweetening is not the issue. Saccharin is permitted and common. Xylitol does the same job without sugar, and it is my preference.

The ones I would not lose sleep over

A lot of "toxic ingredient" content online is not accurate, and being able to dismiss the wrong worries is as useful as knowing the right ones.

Glycerin. There is a persistent claim that glycerin coats teeth and stops toothpaste from working. It traces back to a single unsupported source and has never been substantiated. Glycerin is a humectant that stops the paste drying out. It is fine.

Fluoride. Not on my avoid list, and I want to be explicit. If your dentist has recommended fluoride for your child, follow their advice. Ours has no fluoride because I wanted one gentle tube for the whole family; more in nano-hydroxyapatite vs fluoride.

Calcium carbonate, silica, sodium bicarbonate. Standard, well-tolerated abrasives. The question is how much, not whether.

Xanthan gum, cellulose gum, carrageenan. Thickeners that stop the product separating. Not a concern at these levels.

What to look for instead

• A disclosed key ingredient. Fluoride at an age-appropriate strength, or hydroxyapatite with the percentage stated. If the number is nowhere on the pack or the site, ask.
• SLS-free, or a gentler surfactant such as sodium cocoyl glutamate.
• Xylitol rather than a purely cosmetic sweetener.
• Low abrasivity, and no whitening claims on a children's product.
• A short panel you can mostly read. Not because long is bad, but because a short one makes it obvious what the product is built around.
• A flavour your child will accept. The formulation only matters if the brushing happens.

The one-line version

Drop the SLS. Then check that whatever you buy has a real active ingredient with a number attached to it.

Frequently asked questions

What toothpaste ingredients should I avoid for my child?

Sodium lauryl sulfate, artificial colours, titanium dioxide, triclosan and heavy abrasives such as those in whitening formulas. Of these, SLS has the clearest evidence of causing a problem, being linked to mouth ulcers and soft tissue irritation.

Is SLS in toothpaste bad for you?

SLS is a foaming detergent that provides no cleaning benefit. It is a known irritant to the mouth lining and studies have associated it with recurrent mouth ulcers, with people prone to ulcers experiencing fewer on SLS-free toothpaste. Not dangerous, but unnecessary.

Is titanium dioxide in toothpaste safe?

Titanium dioxide is a whitening pigment with no functional role. The European Food Safety Authority concluded in 2021 that it could no longer be considered safe as a food additive and the EU banned it in food. That covers ingestion rather than toothpaste specifically, but given it provides no benefit, avoiding it in a product children partly swallow is reasonable.

Does glycerin in toothpaste coat your teeth?

No. The claim circulates widely but traces back to a single unsupported source and has never been substantiated. Glycerin is a humectant that keeps the paste from drying out.

What is the best natural toothpaste for kids in Australia?

Look for a disclosed active ingredient with the percentage stated, no SLS, low abrasivity, xylitol as the sweetener, and a mild flavour your child will accept. "Natural" is not a regulated term, so the ingredient panel matters more than the front of the pack.

Flossy & Pure toothpaste is a cosmetic product and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. For advice about your own teeth, speak with your dentist or Oral Health Therapist.

References
Herlofson BB, Barkvoll P. Sodium lauryl sulfate and recurrent aphthous ulcers. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica. 1994;52(5):257-259.
European Food Safety Authority. Safety assessment of titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive. EFSA Journal. 2021;19(5):6585.
Meyer F, Enax J, Amaechi BT, et al. Hydroxyapatite as remineralization agent for children's dental care. Frontiers in Dental Medicine. 2022;3:859560.
Riley P, Moore D, Ahmed F, et al. Xylitol-containing products for preventing dental caries in children and adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2015;3:CD010743.