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Toothpaste Formulation
Good morning Chemists Corner lovely members.<div>
Please kindly check my toothpaste formulation, I want to produce toothpaste for low income consumers, the items should be inexpensive but still do its work.
Ingredients list
Abrasive silica 15%
Thickening silica 5%
Sorbitol(70% aq. sol) 25%
Sodium CMC 1%
Sodium saccharin 0.2%
SLS 1.5%
PEG (I’ll use glycerin) 5%
Monosodium phosphate Can I omit??
If I can’t omit I’ll use 0.35%
Sodium fluoride (1450PPM) 0.32%
Sodium benzoate 0.30%
Water 47%
Menthol flavour 0.5%
Colour 0.5%
Kindly help me adjust the formula to what will be affordable so the rural people can be able to buy. If possible give me alternative ingredients that are less expensive.
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2 Replies
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Toothpaste formulator here.
1. Abrasive silica - are you targeting a specific RDA? In which case that will affect the choice of abrasive silica and the quantity used. If you are using Evonik material there is an RDA/PCR calculator on their silica site. There are a ton of different grades with different abrasivities. You can adjust or mix and match accordingly. You should ensure your toothpaste is safe - we send to University of Indiana’s Oral Health Research Institute for analysis
2 Thickening silica - You will find that this will very much depend on the silica above and also the quantity used. For example if I use a low RDA/PCR silica it also has very low thickening ability (I’m using 7% Thickening silica like zeodent 165) whereas if I have a high abrasive silica, it does not appear to contribute to the viscosity in the same volume used, but I tend to use more of it - in one case I am using 20-24% abrasive silica to about 3% thickening silica.
3. Sorbitol - Depends on the formula - I am using between 13-40%. A lot of this will depend on the aesthetics of the toothpaste. If you want a clear gel, you will need to match the refractive index of the silica. If you are titanium dioxide to give opacity or a FD&C colour this will be less important.
4. Glycerol - We were using around 10-15% as a humectant to stop it drying out. We have used much more than that in some formulations.
5. CMC - Probably about right. But you will need to trial this based on the formula. It will work with the thickening silica.
6. Remaining ingredients - a lot of this will be down to your product preferences and performance. SLS might need adjusting up or down depending on how much it foams and whether you want less or more foam Colour is down to personal preference
7. Fluoride - depending on your market, this may be considered a drug or a cosmetic product. Fluoride in toothpaste in USA, Japan, Korea is a drug, In EU, China, ASEAN Aus, NZ it comes under cosmetics provided 1000 ppm/g is not exceeded. Just check whether you are expressing ppm w/w or ppm w/v.
Trouble is, like many things, there is no-one off the shelf formula. The guts of it look OK, but ultimately so much will depend on the materials you use and the trials you need to do to confirm this.
With silicon dioxide gels, mix under vacuum, then once clear, mix the SLS in last and stir for a few minutes. Otherwise it will go opaque. This may not be a problem if you are producing a white gel.
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Thank you so much for your reply. Your reply will be helpful to me.
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