What to Look for in a Toothpaste

Looking Beyond Ingredients

REFLECTIONSHEALING FOUNDATIONS

Shannon Korczynski

6/21/20265 min read

One of the most common questions I receive in practice and in my community is:

"What toothpaste do you recommend?"

After over 40 years in dentistry, I have found that the better question is:

"How do I choose a toothpaste that supports my current needs?"

Walk down any oral care aisle or Google search, and you'll find products claiming to remineralize enamel, strengthen teeth, balance the microbiome, reduce sensitivity, whiten stains, freshen breath, and prevent cavities.

The challenge isn't finding a toothpaste. The challenge is understanding how to evaluate one.

Most discussions focus on the individual ingredients. Fluoride. Hydroxyapatite. Xylitol. Essential oils. Charcoal. Probiotics. Ozone. While ingredients do matter, they are only one piece of a much larger picture.

Every toothpaste reflects a philosophy. Some formulas are designed to suppress symptoms. Some are designed to replace what is believed to be missing. Some are designed to force an outcome. Others are designed to support the body's natural ability to regulate and maintain balance.

Understanding that distinction is where meaningful evaluation begins.

Maintenance or Treatment?

One of the first questions worth asking is whether a toothpaste is intended for daily maintenance or temporary therapeutic support.

A product formulated for sensitivity, active demineralization, bacterial imbalance, dry mouth, whitening, or gum inflammation may serve a purpose during a particular season of health. But that does not automatically make it the best choice for long-term use.

Daily maintenance products should support the whole system and self-regulation. Therapeutic products should address a specific concern and then be reassessed as the body heals and changes.

The formula that supports someone today may not be the formula that supports them six months from now.

Does It Support the Oral Ecosystem?

The mouth is not sterile, nor should it be.

A healthy oral environment depends on communication between saliva, microbes, tissues, immune function, and mineral transport. When evaluating a toothpaste, it is worth considering whether the formula supports natural balance and resilience, or attempts to dominate the environment.

The goal should never be kill, kill, kill. The goal should be balance.

For daily maintenance, I generally favor formulations that support microbial resilience through nourishment. Prebiotic ingredients that feed existing microbial communities often make more sense than continually trying to suppress with antimicrobials or replace with probiotics. Anti-inflammatory ingredients may also help calm irritated tissues while simultaneously supporting the body's own healing responses systemically.

Does It Work With Saliva?

One of the most overlooked factors in oral health is saliva.

Saliva helps regulate pH, transport minerals, support the oral microbiome, protect soft tissues, and participate in the body's natural remineralization processes. It is far more than just moisture. Ultimately, a toothpaste should work with saliva rather than attempting to replace its role.

When evaluating a formula, it is worth considering whether the ingredients support the body's natural communication systems or simply attempt to override them.

How Transparent Is the Company?

Ingredient labels only tell part of the story.

Questions worth asking include:

Where do the ingredients come from?
Are they food-grade?
Are flavor systems fully disclosed?
Is sourcing transparent?
Is testing available?

Transparency often reveals more about a company than marketing claims.

Is a Certificate of Analysis Available?

One of the most overlooked tools available to consumers is a Certificate of Analysis, often called a COA.

A COA helps verify what is actually present in a product rather than simply what appears on the label. Depending on the manufacturer, it may include testing for heavy metals, microbial contamination, ingredient purity, potency, and manufacturing consistency.

Anyone can make claims. A COA provides evidence of what has actually been tested.

How Processed Are the Ingredients?

Many people assume natural automatically means clean and biologically supportive.

That is not always the case.

An ingredient may begin in nature and still become highly processed before reaching the final formula. The more processing required, the more important it becomes to ask whether the ingredient still reflects the structure and intelligence found in nature.

A living tooth is not a hole in a wall that needs patching. It is living tissue communicating with saliva, microbes, circulation, minerals, and the rest of the body. Many modern ingredients attempt to fill, coat, seal, or replace what has been lost. While this may improve appearance or reduce symptoms, it is not the same thing as restoring vitality. A healthy tooth is not simply a harder tooth. It is a tooth participating in a healthy system.

Vital nutrients support vitality within a vital human being. The body must still absorb, transport, communicate, and utilize those resources appropriately.

What Is the Relative Dentin Abrasivity (RDA)?

Relative Dentin Abrasivity, or RDA, measures how abrasive a toothpaste may be to dentin and exposed root surfaces.

This becomes particularly important for people with sensitivity, gum recession, cervical notching, exposed roots, grinding habits, or dentinal wear.

As a general guide:

0–70 = Low abrasion
70–100 = Moderate abrasion
100–150 = Higher abrasion
150–250 = Highly abrasive

For many individuals, products below an RDA of 70 are worth considering first. Not every company publishes this information, but many will provide it when asked.

The willingness to disclose RDA values can also be a useful indicator of transparency.

Looking Beyond Individual Ingredients

I spend a great deal of time reviewing individual ingredients because every ingredient has an effect and tells a story.

However, ingredients never exist in isolation.

An ingredient that appears beneficial on its own may behave very differently when combined with preservatives, flavor systems, antimicrobials, abrasives, sweeteners, or other active compounds. Context also matters.

This is why I evaluate both individual ingredients and the formula as a whole.

A toothpaste should be assessed not only by what it contains, but by how those ingredients work together toward a common purpose.

This is one reason I avoid evaluating ingredients solely as "good" or "bad." An ingredient may be beneficial in one formula and problematic in another. The concentration, purpose, sourcing, processing, and relationship to the rest of the formula all influence how that ingredient ultimately behaves.

That said, over time I have become increasingly cautious of formulas that rely heavily on antimicrobial activity, highly processed replacement materials, undisclosed flavor systems, excessive abrasives, or ingredients designed to override biological processes rather than support them. While these approaches may provide short-term results, I often question whether they contribute to long-term resilience and self-regulation within the oral ecosystem.

The Bigger Picture

Through my work in biological dentistry, natural health, airway education, cell salts, and oral-systemic health, I have come to appreciate that healing is rarely the result of a single ingredient or product.

Healthy saliva, nutrient-dense foods, mineral utilization, mitochondrial function, balanced breathing, microbial resilience, nervous system regulation, and organ system health all contribute to the body's ability to maintain and repair tissues.

Toothpaste is only meant to support that process.

It should never be mistaken for the source of healing itself.

The formula that serves one person may not serve another. The formula that serves someone today may not serve them during a different season of life, stress level, health challenge, or healing journey.

In my experience, there is no single toothpaste that works for everyone. A child, a healthy adult, someone with dry mouth, someone recovering from periodontal disease, and someone working through active demineralization may all benefit from different approaches. Understanding the body's current needs is often more important than finding a "perfect" toothpaste.

If You Are New to My Work

I am the founder of Heal Teeth Naturally, a private educational Facebook community where I share weekly ingredient highlights, toothpaste reviews, and discussions on biological dentistry, oral ecology, cell salts, airway health, meridian connections, and individualized approaches to healing.

My reviews go beyond ingredient lists to explore transparency, sourcing, processing, abrasivity, microbiome impact, strengths, weaknesses, and holistic suitability. The goal is not simply to identify "good" or "bad" products. The goal is to understand how different products may support, or interfere with, the body's ability to create balance.

The concepts explored within Heal Teeth Naturally have also become the foundation for my developing framework, The Cellular Remembrance Method, which explores the relationship between oral health, cellular communication, mineral utilization, terrain restoration, and the body's innate healing intelligence.

The best toothpaste is not necessarily homemade, the one with the newest technology, the shortest ingredient list, or the strongest marketing claims.

It is the one that best supports the body you have, the season of health you are in, and the natural healing processes already working within you.