4 weeks on a 5% baking soda gum, against a matched control
Effects of a baking soda gum on extrinsic dental stain: results of a longitudinal 4-week assessment Soparkar P et al., Compend Contin Educ Dent, 2001
The world's first clean-label whitening gum
Lift the stain. Leave the enamel alone.
3,494 papers behind the ingredients. The most studied in any whitening gum.
The 60-second version
10 min read- The stain is a coat on top of the enamel. The tooth underneath stays white.
- Baking soda lifts the stain. No peroxide, so the enamel is never touched.
- 5% baking soda, matched to the trials. 29.7% less stain in 4 weeks.
- Hydroxyapatite and calcium phosphate feed the enamel while you chew.
- 12 lines on the label. No aspartame, no colourants, no peroxide.
- Every dose printed in milligrams. The next-best label prints one.
Your teeth are still white under the stain.
Tea, wine and coffee leave a thin coat on the enamel. The coat holds the colour. Underneath, the tooth is as white as it ever was.
- On topA coat can be lifted off. Bleach was never needed for this.
- UnderneathYour own shade sits under the coat. Lift the coat and the shade shows.
- Why it buildsOld stain gives new stain something to grip. Left alone, the coat thickens every year.
Brushing gives your teeth 3 minutes a day.
2 brushes, 90 seconds each. 3 minutes a day against a stain that builds all day.
- The windowStain goes on while you drink. Brushing turns up hours later.
- 40 minutes2 chews of 20 minutes put 13 times the contact on the tooth, while the stain is still soft.
- BothKeep the brush. The gum covers the hours in between.
There's one way to whiten teeth without ruining enamel.
Every whitening product picks a route. The route decides whether your teeth sting afterwards, and what is left of the enamel.
- BleachPeroxide goes through the enamel to bleach the colour underneath. It strips mineral out on the way.
- LiftBaking soda works on the coat sitting on top. Nothing goes into the tooth.
- The tradeBleach buys a shade at the enamel's expense. Lifting gives back your own shade and feeds the enamel.
Why sensitivity follows bleaching
Peroxide whitens by pulling the mineral structure open so colour can leave. The opening also exposes the channels behind the sting, so the two arrive together.
Softer than enamel. Stronger than the stain.
Baking soda is mildly alkaline: it works the coat loose without scratching, and neutralises the acid a drink leaves behind.
- Softer than enamelHard enough to shift the coat. Too soft to mark what the coat sits on.
- The acidEnamel loses mineral in an acidic mouth. Baking soda pushes the pH back the other way.
- Across the chewCoated, so it releases over 20 minutes instead of burning out in the first 30 seconds.
29.7% less stain at 4 weeks. 70.8% at 14.
70.8% less stain, and 1.73 shade tabs, at 14 weeks
Shade tabs are the scale a dentist uses to record tooth colour. Nearly 2 of them is a change other people see.
Efficacy of baking soda-containing chewing gum in removing natural tooth stain Mankodi SM et al., Compend Contin Educ Dent, 2001
The trial gum was 5% baking soda. So is ours.
Most gums that mention baking soda never say how much. At 1% the words on the pack are identical and the product is not.
- The number85 mg of baking soda in a 1,700 mg piece. 5.0% by weight.
- Why 5% mattersMatch the concentration and the trial numbers are yours. Miss it and they belong to another gum.
A mineral in the pack is not a mineral on the tooth.
Where a mineral sits inside the piece decides how much reaches the enamel. Measured: zero one way, 22.9% the other.
- ZeroKneaded into the gum base, calcium release measured zero. The mineral stays in the gum.
- 22.9%Dosed as free powder into the additives, release was the most of any placement.
- OursOur minerals go into the blend as free powder. Where the 22.9% was.
Hydroxyapatite is what enamel is made of.
Enamel does not heal. Its surface loses mineral in acid and takes mineral back once the acid clears. Each piece carries exactly that mineral.
- Hydroxyapatite, 75 mgThe mineral enamel is made of. 75 mg a piece, above the next-best label's 70 mg.
- Calcium phosphate, 97 mgThe mineral trial's own per-piece dose, unchanged.
- No peroxideNothing in the piece opens the surface up. Every ingredient pushes one direction.
Sensitivity down 54% in 2 weeks. Placebo managed 30%.
A hydroxyapatite and calcium phosphate gum.
Sensitivity down 54%, 66% and 49% at 2 weeks
Less sensitivity means the mineral is reaching the surface.
A clinical study of the efficacy of a new chewing gum containing calcium hydroxyapatite in reducing dentin hypersensitivity Porciani PF et al., J Clin Dent, 2014
How many times a day do you stain your teeth?
Drag to the number of drinks and meals you have. Minutes with something working on the stain, against the minutes it goes on.
4 drinks or meals a day is about 48 minutes of stain.
Brushing, twice a day 6%
3 min
2 chews of 20 minutes 83%
40 min
Nothing on your teeth 11%
5 min
48 minutes of stain a day. Brushing covers 3. 2 chews cover 40. 5 minutes with nothing working.
Counting 12 minutes of contact per drink or meal.
Every dose in mg, next to the study's dose.
Hydroxyapatite 75 mg 12 mg per piece in the trial
Above the trial dose. 75 mg is the highest hydroxyapatite dose in the category; the next label carries 70.
Calcium phosphate 97 mg 97 mg per piece
Carried unchanged from the trial. 2 pieces match what the trial gave per chew.
Sodium bicarbonate 85 mg, 5.0% w/w 5% of the piece by weight
The 5% the stain trials ran. Our 85 mg is 5.0% of the piece.
Zinc acetate 2 mg 2 mg
45% fewer breath sulphur compounds.
Caffeine 20 mg No trial dose
20 mg a piece. 2 pieces is 40 mg.
L-theanine 40 mg No trial dose
Paired with the caffeine at 2 to 1. Task switching improved in the pairing's own study; alertness did not.
2 mg of zinc cut bad breath 45%. 0.5 mg did nothing.
- 2 mg45% fewer sulphur compounds. Our dose, exactly.
- 0.5 mg16%. Placebo managed 14. Not a result.
Nothing in an ordinary stick of gum touches the stain.
12 lines each. 6 doses printed on ours, in milligrams. Theirs is 5 sweeteners, gum, wax and a preservative.
An ordinary stick of mint gum, off the pack
- Sorbitol
- Maltitol
- Aspartame
- Mannitol
- Acesulfame K
- Gum base
- Flavourings
- Gum arabic
- Glycerol
- Soya lecithin
- Carnauba wax
- BHA
Ours, off the pack
- Xylitol
- Gum base
- Calcium phosphates: hydroxyapatite 75 mg, DCPD 97 mg
- Sodium bicarbonate, 85 mg
- L-theanine, 40 mg
- Natural mint flavourings
- Fully hydrogenated vegetable fat (coating)
- Caffeine, 20 mg
- Steviol glycosides
- Zinc acetate, 2 mg
- Calcium stearate
- Silicon dioxide
Theirs is built to sit on a shelf. Ours is built to work in 20 minutes.
Other gums print one dose, or none.
| Measure | Ordinary gum | The next-best label | ENAMELIFT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Actives printed with a dose | Nothing to print | One, hydroxyapatite | Every one, in milligrams |
| Hydroxyapatite, printed | None | 70 mg | 75 mg |
| Anything for the stain | Nothing | Nothing | 85 mg baking soda, the trials' 5% |
| Anything for breath | Mint over it | Mint over it | 2 mg zinc, the studied dose |
| Sweetened with | Sorbitol, maltitol, aspartame, mannitol, acesulfame K | Sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol, isomalt, stevia | Xylitol and stevia |
| Preservative | BHA | None | None |
Only one column prints every dose.
2 pieces, 20 minutes, twice a day.
- 1 2 pieces, 1 serving Both at once. The trials ran 2 per chew.
- 2 Straight after After a drink or a meal, while the stain is still soft.
- 3 20 minutes The contact time and the mineral release both need the full 20.
- 4 Twice a day 4 pieces a day at most. The trial ran 3 chews; ours is 2.
Questions this raises.
Is hydroxyapatite the same thing my enamel is made of?
Close to it. Enamel is largely hydroxyapatite, a calcium phosphate mineral. Ours is a micronised food-grade form, milled fine enough to go into solution while you chew.
Why baking soda and not a bleach?
Because the stain sits on the surface. Baking soda works on that coat and neutralises acid at the same time. A bleach goes after the colour inside the tooth, which is a different job with a different cost.
Do these studies test your gum?
They test the actives, in a gum. Our baking soda, calcium phosphate and zinc doses are the trial doses. Hydroxyapatite runs above its trial.
Does chewing on its own do anything?
Yes. Chewing drives saliva, and saliva is the mouth's own buffer and mineral supply.
Why does the piece weigh 1,700 mg?
Because 1,700 mg is the smallest piece that carries every dose in full.
20 minutes seems long for a chew.
20 minutes is the format. A 90-second brush cannot give that much contact, and the chew lands while the stain is still soft.
Will the minerals reach my teeth?
Where a mineral sits inside the piece decides it, which is why ours is dosed as free powder into the blend rather than into the gum base.
Is there enough caffeine to notice?
20 mg a piece. L-theanine rides with it at 2 to 1, which keeps the lift smooth.
Can I chew it alongside fillings, crowns or veneers?
Yes. There is no peroxide and no bleach in it, and nothing in the formula is abrasive enough to be a problem for restoration work.
Do I still brush?
Yes. The gum covers the 20 minutes after a drink or a meal, when your teeth are otherwise on their own until the next brush.
Will it change the natural colour of my teeth?
No. Under the stain sits your natural shade. Lifting the stain shows that shade. Only bleach changes the shade itself, and there is no bleach in the piece.
3,494 papers on the actives.
Hydroxyapatite alone carries 1,963 of them.
The 8 papers behind the pack.
4 set a dose. 2 carry the stain results. 2 are background.
Stain result
Effects of a baking soda gum on extrinsic dental stain: results of a longitudinal 4-week assessment.
The 4-week stain trial, on a 5% baking soda gum. Ours runs the same 5%.
Shade result
Efficacy of baking soda-containing chewing gum in removing natural tooth stain.
70.8% less stain and 1.73 shade tabs at 14 weeks, 126 subjects.
Sets 85 mg
An evaluation of sodium bicarbonate chewing gum in reducing dental plaque and gingivitis in conjunction with regular toothbrushing.
The paper the 5% comes from. Ours is 85 mg in a 1,700 mg piece: 5.0%.
Sets 97 mg
A clinical study of the efficacy of a new chewing gum containing calcium hydroxyapatite in reducing dentin hypersensitivity.
The hydroxyapatite and calcium phosphate gum trial.
Context
Home oral care with biomimetic hydroxyapatite vs. conventional fluoridated toothpaste for the remineralization and desensitizing of white spot lesions.
Biomimetic hydroxyapatite measured head to head against fluoride toothpaste on remineralisation.
Context
Sugar substitutes, chewing gum and dental caries: a review.
The review on sugar-free gum and saliva.
Sets 2 mg
The effect of zinc-containing chewing gum on volatile sulfur-containing compounds in the oral cavity.
2 mg of zinc cut sulphur compounds 45%; placebo 14%.
Sets the 2:1 ratio
L-theanine and caffeine improve task switching but not intersensory attention or subjective alertness.
The caffeine and L-theanine pairing behind the category. Task switching improved; alertness did not.