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| SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2025
Is That
Chic Toothpaste Worth the Price?
(ABOVE PHOTO COURTESY OF ISTOCK IMAGES)
By Bee Shapiro
Though Dubitsky took The New York Times marketing cues from the beauty world, he knew he had It was bound to happen. to “marry fun and functionalToothpaste, perhaps the last ity,” he said. “If your shampoo part of your daily grooming regimen that had not been didn’t work, it’s just a bad hair day. But if your toothpaste gussied up, has now been doesn’t work? You’re in a lot of rethought. Chic dental care has arrived. trouble.” It wasn’t so long ago that He also pointed out how much our culture has changed toothpaste, floss and mouthin recent years. Everyone washes were perfunctory deserves and expects design products meant to clean but also to instill a certain amount across all price points, he said. of fear (ack, cavities! bad breath? lose all your friends!). Is it just about looks? Dubitsky is far from alone. That was the epiphany Craig Dubitsky, the founder of Hello Already there is a wide variety of products — new and old oral care, experienced a few years ago when standing in his — on the market. Old-school local drugstore in Manhattan. Marvis toothpaste, which was founded in the 1950s “Everything was a big swath of blue and a big swath and was a pioneer of offbeat flavors like licorice, ginger of red, like the cola wars,” said Dubitsky, who formerly and jasmine, is experiencing worked at Eos, a company he a resurgence and is available at retailers like the millennial helped found that makes lip friendly Revolve.com. balms and other skin-care products. “And why am I It has company in Buly seeing a picture of an extract- 1803, the French apothecary and fragrance line, which ed tooth on the products? Or has $29 tubes of toothpaste a staff wrapped with snakes. that come in packaging Then I started reading the ingredients, and it was things worthy of Gucci and flavors like orange-clove-cinnamon like triclosan and saccharin. The FDA banned triclosan for (recently sold out on Net-ahand soap, but you could still Porter). Coconut oil features promput it in your mouth. I thought inently in new formulations it was insane.” Dubitsky set out to rethink like Cocofloss ($8), a coconut oil dental floss sold at Sephothe whole category. ra. The beauty brand Lush He ditched what he called the “emotional scare tactics” introduced a toothpaste exuand branded his line with berantly called Boom! Dental the friendliest word he could Dynamite ($10.95), which is think of: Hello. Then he hired essentially a charcoal, kaolin a formulator to work with clay and gunpowder tea tablet him on products like charcoal that you chew before brushtoothpaste and mouthwashes ing. with aloe vera. Chic dental care wasn’t an
obvious extension of Lenny Kravitz’s brand, but he has a new line called Twice (named for the act of brushing twice a day). For several years, Kravitz has been providing free dental care to communities in the Bahamas, where he has a residence, but he came to realize that once-a-year clinics weren’t enough; the communities lacked basic dental hygiene products. With the brothers Julian and Cody Levine, he dreamed up two toothpastes: one for the morning (a zingy wintergreen and peppermint) and one for the evening (a calming peppermint-vanilla-lavender). A portion of the proceeds ($17 for the pair) goes to the Bahamas communities. “The aesthetic of it was important because people like that upgraded toothpaste experience,” Kravitz said. “When it sits next to the rest of your products, it looks beautiful and sleek.” “It’s definitely about dental health, but also you’re giving people confidence,” he said, adding that he saw the effects firsthand in the Bahamas. “That’s your calling card, your smile.”
What ingredients should you be using?
His Apa Beauty line, packaged in minimalist white and gold, is sold by beauty retailers like Violet Grey in Los Angeles. It includes products like Blue Lip Shine (the subtle blue crystals in the $25 gloss are said to make teeth look whiter); $25 Pink Gum Gel with extracts of lemon, cucumber and Irish moss to rejuvenate gums; and $25 fluoride-free toothpaste containing the hydroxyapatite that Apa believes is superior to fluoride at remineralizing teeth. “Fluoride is meant to strengthen teeth, but it produces more of a calcifying effect,” he said. “Hydroxyapatite actually mineralizes
teeth and it permeates better — your teeth have pores, and micro-hydroxyapatite can get in those pores and strengthen them from the inside out. But, it’s superexpensive.” Steven Butensky, who has a practice in Manhattan, said that a lot of healthy dental care is based less on product than on regular acts of brushing, flossing and visits to the dentist. Still, he said he has seen promising research on hydroxyapatite but wants to see longer-term studies. And he is not averse
to some of the newer ingredients. Coconut oil and aloe vera have anti-inflammatory properties, while charcoal can help remove stains, though it may be abrasive if used daily, he said. Butensky is also encouraged that newer brands are bringing excitement to dental care and changing the perception of it as a chore. Dubitsky, of Hello, is on board. “Of course oral care is about health products,” he said. “But I want to bring some joy to this daily act. It’s really that simple.”
If the high prices elicit more of a grimace than a grin, you may want to study the ingredient listings. Michael Apa, a dentist in Manhattan who has built a name for himself Above: Reformulated and redesigned toothpastes, made with activated charcoal, in New York. among models, celebrities and Toothpaste, perhaps the last part of your daily grooming regimen that had not been gussied Middle Eastern royalty, insists up, has now been rethought. Chic dental care has arrived. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY CENICOLA / THE NEW YORK TIMES) that not all are created equal.