Package and product downsizing is all the rage now. The latest one is some of the slices in a pack of Cheer cheese are so thin they’re almost translucent.
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We did a major project with a Unilever factory in Ireland where they make millions of tube of toothpaste for most of Europe every day. Worked out that there is very little difference between the premium brands and the cheaper ones, very much common ingredients with slight variations.
Sensodyne is the only toothpaste made by a different method with unique ingredients and has high fluoride level.
Our calculations were that a fully packaged tube cost about 10 cents to make, with most of that in the packaging. Probably cost more to truck it to a market.
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Yer but you get my point eh.
They work out all these “incredible” features for simply toothpaste. Whose job is mainly just to be slightly abrasive to clear away plaque.
The price is set unrealistically high because they know people dont buy toothpaste every day. But when you see it 50% off? Of course you think wow its a good deal.
Little do you realise at 50% off the toothpaste is still sold at a significant premium of toothpaste that does the exact same job.
But you think ah, ill treat myself anyway because i think it will also make my teeth whiter or will help with my sensitive teeth than the budget brands that do the exact same thing.
Im onto you BIG Supermarket and BIG toothpaste.
(As well as other “brands” that do the same)
Did you get to see how they do the stripes in the toothpaste? It’s a marvel how the stripes don’t mix after one or two squeezes.
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The joys of science and engineering.
It is fascinating
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Your Dentist tell you to use a toothpaste with fluoride, especially for kids.
Isn’t that why fluoride was put into tap water?
I wonder with everyone switching to bottled water nowadays whether people aren’t getting enough fluoride
Does anyone know if water filters filter out the fluoride in our tap water?
I recently bought a fancy arse fridge that gives me cool, plumbed water and ice cubes. Love the convenience but I do wonder if I’m missing out on the fluoride.
It won’t remove fluoride.
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Yep, but not everywhere is fluoridated. And if you use tank water.
well yeah but thats in all toothpaste.
if you also don’t eat any refined sugar you won’t get any tooth decay at all. but thats a pretty hard thing to always give up. sugar is nice.
if your brushing your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste your likely to be getting enough.
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Filters could not have a pore size small enough to exclude those small molecules. NaF is many thousands of times smaller than the smallest filter pores, and is in fact around the same MW range as the water molecules.
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Regarding fluoride removal:
- Your fridge filter mainly improves water quality with carbon filtration. Carbon removes many contaminants from the water. It removes a little fluoride, but not a lot.
- If you wanted to remove fluoride, a Reverse Osmosis filter would be the best way. Some ion exchange resins can remove much of it as well, but nothing beats RO for pure water. Even the salts are removed.
- As an aside, carbon, though very effective at removing many chemicals initially, gets overgrown by bacteria long before its capacity to remove materials is reached. Once it has been overgrown by bacteria, it can be ‘recharged’ by baking in an oven, to kill most of the overgrowth. The best carbon material is silver impregnated carbon. The silver stops the growth of bacteria, and the carbon can filter chemicals to its full capacity for its full lifetime - often in the region of 2 years as a water filter, rather than more like a few weeks to a couple of months effective use.
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Regarding fluoridation of water, most of Europe has rejected fluoridation of water for several reasons. Even the US, no fluoride products designed for ingestion have ever been approved as safe or effective by the US Food & Drug Administration. Controlling fluoride consumption via the water supply is very hard to administer, as the amount consumed by each individual is highly variable. If this were the best way to go, then dosing at the home level would make a lot more sense.
There are many risk factors for ingestion of fluoride, and most of the benefits from fluoride are topical, as you get when using toothpaste or mouthwash.
When the initial studies on fluoridation of water were done, tooth decay was reducing across most of the world, mainly due to better dental practices. Several studies have been done more recently that show that dental decay doesn’t increase in children in communities that stopped fluoridation. The largest study ever done in the US between children living in fluoridated vs non-fluoridated areas showed 0.5% difference.
I personally think there’s a lot of evidence for fluoridation of the water supply being a bad practice, with little to no real benefit, and potential risks. I also think Europe leads the way in health and safety over the US in many areas, and I’d rather follow their lead, given the choice.
Not enough talk about our precious bodily fluids.
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Anyone know how he doesn’t get an afl game?
What’s the going rate at intersection for having your window washed?
Why don’t taxi drivers use their meters any more?
4th time in 2 weeks after a gig or the footy the taxi just yells a price at me and that’s their offer.
I say how about we just put the meter on and they refuse
A meter means they split it with the taxi company and pay tax on it. So $20 becomes $10 becomes $7 to them. Paying cash on the other hand, is all profit to them.
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