I don’t suppose you remember what the magical ingredients were in those products? Call it morbid curiosity.

You know now that I think about it, I’m not sure how much of dental products are actually FDA approved. I think they might fit into a weird zone where they’re not technically medication or food so FDA doesn’t really look too closely. Dental machinery and appliances for sure need to be FDA-approved, but mouthwash and toothpaste I’m not so sure about. I’m fairly sure the active ingredients within mouthwash and toothpaste, such as fluoride, need to have FDA approval before they can be used, but I don’t think the toothpaste or mouthwash itself needs FDA approval. I think for the most part the FDA oversees marketing claims and manufacturing standards for toothpaste/mouthwash, whereas the American Dental Association (ADA) is the body that “approves” them.

I’m curious. What for? Something non-dental the dentist noticed or something dental-related?

I don’t like those mechanical/timer ones. Especially the ones with a push button top, always felt like I had to smack the button several times just to get twenty seconds of water.

That didn’t work as expected either. They sent the command for self-destruct and it took a while for the rocket to actually fall apart. Something about the self-destruct charges not being strong enough? It was kind of amazing to see this ginormous rocket pinwheeling through the air before it finally tore apart once the pressure inside lessened enough.

I guess that makes some sense. I think the counter argument to that may be that our teeth are constantly in a demineralization demineralization cycle anyways, so it’s better to brush after breakfast to ensure that until next you eat you’ve got no debris left for bacteria to eat and make acid and to boost remineralization.

Afaik, brushing your teeth doesn’t weaken the enamel or anything like that, or at least it shouldn’t. When brushing it’s not actually the bristles that are supposed to be doing most of the work, it’s the toothpaste which acts as polishing paste (it has tiny little micro abrasive particles or something like that). So if a dentist ever asks you what kind of toothbrush you use, soft, medium, or hard bristles, if you answer anything other than soft they’re probably going to recommend switching to soft bristles. Medium and hard bristles can damage the gums and with hard enough brushing overtime can be macro-abrasive and wear away your teeth. Better to use soft bristles and let the toothpaste do the polishing work.

Source: dentists told me so, lol