Does toothpaste expire? Yes, and every medicine and every product has an expiry date but people don’t take expiries too seriously. Specially when it comes to the daily use products and sometimes they don’t even know which of their products are expired or not. The expiry date of the product is the date that is announced by the company or the manufacturer to proclaim that it won’t be useful after that period and may even be harmful to human health.
Expiry fate when it comes to products for oral health and other hygiene and self-care products is very important and should make the regular checks on such products keeping on the mind which one will expire when. People usually discard the products before their expiry date and if the products are kept in the extreme heat and humidity conditions then this is a good practice as the triggering situations may accelerate the expiry and degradation process. Using the expired products may not be harmful but it definitely won’t be effective.
Toothpaste Expiry date
Basically, the expiry date is the date when the half-life or the shelf life of products is over. The half-life of a product is the time by which the half of the products becomes degraded or inactive and the shelf life is the time where 10 percent of the product decay has happened. Some of the materials change into other materials after their expiry date. That can be questioning situations to how will that other substance affect your health. Now when it comes to the toothpaste to answer your question does toothpaste expire. Yes, it does because it has an active ingredient which is fluoride present in it and it is a common ingredient in all the toothpaste.
Most of the toothpaste has 2 years after manufacture, as the expiry date. Even though the expired toothpaste doesn’t cause any harm but still it becomes ineffective after that time period. That is why the FDA requires toothpaste manufacturing companies to print or engrave the expiry date of the toothpaste on the tube. Fluoride being the main ingredient prevents the enamel from decaying and also protects it from the cavities. With this role to play you should make sure you use a toothpaste that is not expired. Because you should take proper care of your teeth.
Children toothpaste
Now as most of us are aware that the children’s toothpaste lacks the main ingredient fluoride. The reason behind this is that it is not safe for the kids to use the fluoride filled toothpaste. Now that makes it for toothpaste companies not to have an expiration date. Still however most of the companies recommend that you didn’t use the children’s toothpaste for too long. Using expired products on the children is even a greater risk so it would be better to just avoid it.
Is expired toothpaste safe?
Using expired toothpaste is a bit of the controversy as most of the people believe that it is unsafe to use the expired toothpaste. On the other hand other keep using them without any care. As it has been already established that use of the expired toothpaste, even though it is not dangerous but that doesn’t mean it will have the same effect that it had before the expiry date. And we know that how important oral hygiene is. Using the oral hygiene products that actually work will be good for your oral health otherwise you will be compromising it. So be on the safe side it is better that you use the toothpaste before its expiry date. Following are some of the things that explain what may happen to the toothpaste after it expires and does toothpaste expire at all
- A toothpaste consisting of the fluoride may lose half or even more than half of the fluoride. Fluoride is the main ingredient present in the toothpaste. Without fluoride, your tooth enamel is at the risk and to avoid that from happening stop using the expired toothpaste
- The ingredient may also start separating out too and that will make the whole constitution of the toothpaste very useless. Without all the ingredient properly mixed together a toothpaste is not even a paste. That means you will have to get rid of this tube of the toothpaste. This type of expiry indication appears when the toothpaste is kept in the extreme heat and humidity conditions.
- The toothpaste also loses its texture after the expiry date. And that is another reason to throw your toothpaste tube away.
- Dried out toothpaste may also be the indication of expired toothpaste.
- Not only may bacterial and fungal growth also happen because the preservative in the toothpaste stays there for some period of time until they degrade too.
So that gives the answer that the toothpaste is not really good to be used after the expiry date.
When to know your toothpaste has been expired
Usually, the expiry date is after two years of manufacturing of that toothpaste, like the Crest Toothpaste. Some people like to get rid of the products even before the expiry date just to be on the safe side. Usually, toothpaste should not survive two years. Because if you brush your teeth regularly you will be able to finish the entire tube of the toothpaste. But if you are not home a lot or live alone then you can go for the smaller package size of the toothpaste. So we are sure about the question, does toothpaste expire. Because it definitely does.
Oral health
Oral health is very important because as long as you have the beautiful smile of yours, you can live happily. And to make that possible you need to take care of the oral health. That means you should floss regularly. You should also make sure that taking care of the oral health means bruising your teeth regularly. Make sure to be brushing them with a good toothpaste.