Did you know that children's toothpaste cost more than its adult counterpart? With a discrepancy in pricing, it's easy to believe that toothpaste for children are made specifically for kids' needs. However, the ingredients in the children's toothpastes, don't have much difference compared to adult products.
According to the Times, the two variants have the same amount of fluoride in them, but the kids' products cost higher. The average price of 100ml of children's toothpaste retailed for £2.40 ($3.40) in the U.K.'s largest five supermarkets, while the standard branded toothpaste for adults cost around £1.21 ($1.71).
Popular Cartoon Characters Make Toothpastes Pricier
The highest prices are slapped on toothpaste brands that have popular cartoon characters on their packaging, Mirror reported. Colgate and Aquafresh's toothpaste products for kids contain the same amount of fluoride as the companies' standard toothpaste, but the former is pricier.
Colgate's Minions toothpaste can be bought for $4 for 100ml, which is four times more expensive than the standard toothpaste products of the brand. Many believe that kids' toothpaste has less fluoride, an element capable of staining children's teeth upon overexposure. The substance can also give stomach cramps if it was consumed a lot.
Despite these downsides, fluoride has significant benefits for teeth. The American Dental Association stated that fluoride toothpaste helps remove plaque, which is responsible for gum disease and tooth decay buildup. Fluoride does this by making the tooth enamel strong.
The NHS, meanwhile, said buying children's toothpaste is unnecessary because they don't contain enough fluoride. They also advised that children below three years old should only put a smear of toothpaste on their toothbrush. Kids with ages three to six are advised to only use pea-sized amount of toothpaste.
Kids' Toothpaste Is More Expensive to Make
Manufacturers argued that making children's toothpaste is more expensive. According to Aquafresh, kids' milk teeth are "50 per cent thinner so our children's toothpaste has low abrasivity compared to our standard pastes to meet this need," Mirror further reported.
Tesco, which offers flavored toothpaste like strawberry ice cream, said the high cost of a product is the result of a greater unit cost of production. "Children's toothpaste should be the same price as adult paste," said Kris Coomaraswamy, who is a lecturer in the University of Birmingham's pediatric dentistry, as reported by the Times.
"We should be encouraging parents to get kids to brush and not put a financial barrier in the way," Coomaraswamy continued. "It is quite safe to use adult toothpaste on even the youngest children, provided you only smear a small amount."
