I invented the world’s first caffeinated toothpaste - get a rush while you brush! I’m a serial entrepreneur, YCW16. Though it is a simple idea, I went through at least 60 formula iterations before I got the flavor chemistry right. This toothpaste seriously works. I actually had to lower the caffeine content from the original version.
Our toothpaste gives you a quick caffeine boost that works as soon as you start brushing, even faster than coffee. (I still drink coffee, just later in the morning)
I made version 1 with a hammer in my kitchen. I smashed a caffeine pill into dust in my cast iron pan, mixed it with toothpaste from my bathroom, and I had the first-ever caffeinated toothpaste. It worked. It was a little buggy. Since that point we have raised over $40k on Indiegogo and we’ve shipped over 2,000 tubes of toothpaste so far, all made in the made in the USA. I would love to answer any questions you might have or share any knowledge I’ve gained about plastic/tube packaging, cosmetics regulations, logistics, fulfillment, domestic manufacturing, and shipping physical products in general. I’m not an expert, but I’ve learned a lot. If you want to try Power Toothpaste, I live in the Bay Area, and I’d be happy to meet up and give you a squeeze of my toothpaste.
Your website does not contain a list of ingredients, nor do you show photos of your box with government required disclosures on it.
You admit that your toothpaste does not have fluoride, but does it contain SLS, propylene glycol, DEA, glycerin, hydrated silica, or artificial sweeteners? If so, please discontinue your product or change your formula. None of those ingredients are safe for use in toothpaste and help cause tooth damage and decay.
With the comments about "fighting plaque like leading brands", I'm actually curious whether this is legal. I believe the active ingredients disclosure box is mandatory, although possibly it's on the face of the box we can't see.
I see that the toothpaste is legal (white-labelled from an approved factory), so this is just a labelling question.
What's wrong with artificial sweeteners in toothpaste? Do they absorb quickly enough through the oral mucosa to spike insulin levels? Are the oral bacteria able to metabolize them?
Where can I actually get toothpaste without this stuff? I looked for one without hydrated silica last time I was out shopping for toothpaste, but didn't actually see one
TL;DR: Yes, even with oral absorption, you probably won't feel anything after 5 minutes, and you'll be wired at 15 minutes.
This toothpaste definitely won't work "on the spot", but 10-15 minutes is still quick enough to get you going by the time you're dressed and out the door.
Sublingual administration of certain chemicals allows for they bypass of first-pass metabolism; basically going from the thin membranes in your mouth directly into your bloodstream.
I posted another comment, but since you also brush your teeth at night, if I bought your product I'd have to use that in the morning and another brand before going to bed.
Did you think about this? People might not want to have 2. I was going to buy it but then I thought about this.
Wait. So you're saying you can't go sleep with a little bit of coffee in your organism? I've always wondered if that's true or a myth. I can take two cups of coffee and go to bed like a rock
1) Full disclosure: I haven't run blood tests to figure out exactly how much caffeine you absorb brushing with my toothpaste. Here's what I can tell you: in 1 ml of toothpaste there is just under 80 mg of caffeine. 1 ml is a bit more toothpaste than the pea-sized amount of toothpaste that you should use, but less than the amount you see put on a brush in a toothpaste commercial. You don't swallow toothpaste and brush for a brief period, so there is incomplete absorption. Based on the reported experiences of people who have used Power Toothpaste, it's faster acting, but say an hour later, it doesn't feel like you've had a full mug of coffee
2) (almost) immediate shipping. I have a few hundred units fully packed and ready to ship. I put a label on them and USPS picks them up! So it might be a day or two before it gets shipped. More inventory that needs to be packed before shipment.
3) Addressed this elsewhere in greater detail elsewhere, but as an adult you need less fluoride than children, and you may be getting fluoride in your water. I might suggest looking into a fluoridated mouthwash, sold at pretty much any pharmacy. I also don't reccomend Power Toothpaste before bed, so you might use a regular, fluoridated toothpaste :)
> Power Toothpaste does not contain Fluoride. We know many of you don't want fluoride in your toothpaste.
This seems bizarre to me. People don't want fluoride in their toothpaste? Why not? Dentists seem pretty unanimous that everyone should brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
I wrote a longer comment about this below, but the essential reason is: if I made fluoride a product requirement, I wouldn't have gotten to a release. It would have added a huge expense.
Additionally, fluoride is much more important for children. As enamel is forming, fluoride interacts with it and strengthens it. Adults need far less (threshold dose effect) and for most people in the United States, they likely get enough in the water. I also figure this is a toothpaste you'll use in the morning, and another fluoridated one in the evening. You can also use a fluoridated mouthwash.
At some point, I would love to introduce a fluoridated version.
This is fair. I do think this should be a bit more prominent, though, because when I hear "toothpaste", I tend to assume it is fluoridated. Unfluoridated toothpaste is unusual enough that it should probably be called out right on the front of the box/tube, whereas right now it's kind of buried in a FAQ.
Good job getting this off the ground, and best of luck with it.
As a guy living in Europe, it seems more logical to drink unfluoridated water and use fluoridated toothpaste, but that's America over there… Cool idea, for sure.
As someone with a kid, who lives in one of those towns where the crazies managed to prevent water fluoridation, I'm always looking at toothpastes to make sure they contain it.
That's clever of you to spin the lack of fluoride as a benefit. It'll satisfy people who are paranoid about fluoride, and people who aren't probably don't care.
Do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soap, sugar, milk. Ice cream. Children's ice cream.
Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face. A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
Well, that is certainly a mountain of things to go through just for fluoride in toothpaste.
I find it amazing that only basic testing is needed for cosmetic products and something one is easily ingesting (slightly) on a day to day basis, but yet... fluoride requires animal testing?
I would think at this point, a simple chemical composition testing the fluorine levels would be appropriate enough. They obviously don't find the caffeine a threat enough to warrant such things in the product.
Yep. & at least in this case, the FDA involvement may have good reason. Fluoride is a poison, and detrimental effects manifest themselves in much lower dosages than caffeine.
Yeah. This stuck out to me too. $15 dollars for a tube of toothpaste that doesn't contain flouride? What am I paying for? I'll just buy my own caffeine powder and use real toothpaste that's only $2.
Fluoridated toothpaste is, for regulatory purposes, a drug; caffeinated toothpaste is a food item. So this is just another way of saying, "We didn't want to deal with the regulatory burden."
But, man, one tube of this thing is roughly the LD50 for caffeine ingestion. This is definitely a "keep out of the reach of children" product.
I actually have fluorosis... I was shoved Fluride growing up and the damage it has done to my teeth is serve, add in my poor college choices and I will be having full on implants before I turn 40.
There seems to be some hardcore pro fluoride fanatics on here. Never the less I will stand by you with my no fluoride Tom's Toothpaste and fight the good fight.
If you're lucky enough to live somewhere where the crazies haven't defluorinated your water because "you're polluting our pure water with chemicals..."
If this is true, then I must be really out of touch. No one has expressed that opinion to me, nor have I seen it on Facebook in my News Feed (and I do occasionally see woo-woo stuff there). And I've certainly never heard a dentist say that. I'm not surprised that there are people who make this claim, but I would never have considered it "the popular opinion", or even a popular opinion.
I just tried to find a way to buy another caffeinated toothpaste. I see nothing, though i didn't dig too deep. Seems like it might be the first intended for mass marketing/consumption.
It appears that there is a patent (filed 2002, published 2003) on "blended toothpaste formulas and method for manufacture", claiming in part "A toothpaste as defined in claim 1 wherein the stimulant is caffeine".
Caffeinated toothpaste is so 2016 Q2. I heard there's a stealth startup doing caffeinated toilet paper that will disrupt this market by hitting the customer with a dose of caffeine earlier on in the morning pipeline.
Yeah, this is bizarre to me. Kind of like adding an mp3 player to a word processor. Toothpaste has a purpose. If you want caffeine have coffee, tea, Red Bull, 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, caffeine gum, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine.
"Why do you need caffeine gum? If you want caffeine have coffee, tea, Red Bull, 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
"Why do you need Red Bull? If you want caffeine have coffee, tea, 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
"Why do you need tea? If you want caffeine have coffee, 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
"Why do you need coffee? If you want caffeine have 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
So on and so forth. Why do you need one more way to get caffeine in your system? Why not?
> Also, what's the expected amount of caffeine per typical dispensing? How much of that are you figuring gets absorbed during brushing?
Wondering the same thing.
He said in another comment that an average-sized 'serving' of the toothpaste contains 80mg of caffeine (roughly half the amount of a small coffee from most chains), but there's no info on how much of that is absorbed when brushing.
There's no list of ingredients. Anyway, most toothpaste today has glycerin in it, which prevents tooth remineralization. Most toothpaste today also has carrageenan, which also is questionable - including by the WHO. SLS is not without issues either. Most non-natural toothpaste has aluminum. Most natural toothpaste is too abrasive. In general, I wasn't able to find a balanced product all these years - and it's a shame!
Point very well taken! Thank you for this!! I'm going to update our page with a high quality image of the back of our label with full list of ingredients.
Apologies for this omission that in retrospect is so obvious!
Readit News
Our toothpaste gives you a quick caffeine boost that works as soon as you start brushing, even faster than coffee. (I still drink coffee, just later in the morning)
I made version 1 with a hammer in my kitchen. I smashed a caffeine pill into dust in my cast iron pan, mixed it with toothpaste from my bathroom, and I had the first-ever caffeinated toothpaste. It worked. It was a little buggy. Since that point we have raised over $40k on Indiegogo and we’ve shipped over 2,000 tubes of toothpaste so far, all made in the made in the USA. I would love to answer any questions you might have or share any knowledge I’ve gained about plastic/tube packaging, cosmetics regulations, logistics, fulfillment, domestic manufacturing, and shipping physical products in general. I’m not an expert, but I’ve learned a lot. If you want to try Power Toothpaste, I live in the Bay Area, and I’d be happy to meet up and give you a squeeze of my toothpaste.
Cheers, Ian
You admit that your toothpaste does not have fluoride, but does it contain SLS, propylene glycol, DEA, glycerin, hydrated silica, or artificial sweeteners? If so, please discontinue your product or change your formula. None of those ingredients are safe for use in toothpaste and help cause tooth damage and decay.
I see that the toothpaste is legal (white-labelled from an approved factory), so this is just a labelling question.
Can we have a packet of yours for free?
I read that caffeine in coffee form takes 15-20 min to be felt by the user. I'm curious how the toothpaste form works on the spot.
http://www.militaryenergygum.com/wp-content/uploads/Bioavail... (take a look at the second graph)
TL;DR: Yes, even with oral absorption, you probably won't feel anything after 5 minutes, and you'll be wired at 15 minutes.
This toothpaste definitely won't work "on the spot", but 10-15 minutes is still quick enough to get you going by the time you're dressed and out the door.
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Did you think about this? People might not want to have 2. I was going to buy it but then I thought about this.
- What is the approximate equivalent caffeine content for, say, a 2 min morning brush?
- Is it available and actually shipping, or am I "pre-ordering"?
- No fluoride? Dentists say that's pretty important.
Edit - to be clear, really loving the conecpt. I wish more random things had caffeine in them ;)
2) (almost) immediate shipping. I have a few hundred units fully packed and ready to ship. I put a label on them and USPS picks them up! So it might be a day or two before it gets shipped. More inventory that needs to be packed before shipment.
3) Addressed this elsewhere in greater detail elsewhere, but as an adult you need less fluoride than children, and you may be getting fluoride in your water. I might suggest looking into a fluoridated mouthwash, sold at pretty much any pharmacy. I also don't reccomend Power Toothpaste before bed, so you might use a regular, fluoridated toothpaste :)
Thanks for all of the questions!
This seems bizarre to me. People don't want fluoride in their toothpaste? Why not? Dentists seem pretty unanimous that everyone should brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
Additionally, fluoride is much more important for children. As enamel is forming, fluoride interacts with it and strengthens it. Adults need far less (threshold dose effect) and for most people in the United States, they likely get enough in the water. I also figure this is a toothpaste you'll use in the morning, and another fluoridated one in the evening. You can also use a fluoridated mouthwash.
At some point, I would love to introduce a fluoridated version.
Good job getting this off the ground, and best of luck with it.
I really like the idea of caffeinated toothpaste. It is simple & brilliant and I hope you succeed with this.
Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face. A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12507965
I find it amazing that only basic testing is needed for cosmetic products and something one is easily ingesting (slightly) on a day to day basis, but yet... fluoride requires animal testing?
I would think at this point, a simple chemical composition testing the fluorine levels would be appropriate enough. They obviously don't find the caffeine a threat enough to warrant such things in the product.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/814774-overview
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/tooth-decay-calgary-fl...
Are unlikely to dissuade folks given the echo chambers people are encouraged to live in today.
But, man, one tube of this thing is roughly the LD50 for caffeine ingestion. This is definitely a "keep out of the reach of children" product.
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I mean, it's not the first, is it?
Here's a kid who had the same idea last year: http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-teen-entr...
Here's one from 2008: http://buzztoothpaste.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.google.com/patents/US20030147817
I don't know how to read patents, so I don't know if this is a relevant patent or not.
IANAL.
If you can't live without it, why not just buy the pills and take a pill each day. https://www.amazon.com/Natrol-Caffeine-200mg-Tablets-100-Cou...
Careful, caffeine can be fatal. I'm surprised it's not regulated.
"Why do you need caffeine gum? If you want caffeine have coffee, tea, Red Bull, 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
"Why do you need Red Bull? If you want caffeine have coffee, tea, 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
"Why do you need tea? If you want caffeine have coffee, 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
"Why do you need coffee? If you want caffeine have 5 hour energy, Monster, expresso beans, or one of the million other ways to get caffeine."
So on and so forth. Why do you need one more way to get caffeine in your system? Why not?
So, is the flavor mint-menthol? Which kind of mint?
(I personally, somewhat dislike peppermint, really dislike spearmint, but really like fennel toothpaste.)
Also, what's the expected amount of caffeine per typical dispensing? How much of that are you figuring gets absorbed during brushing?
Wondering the same thing.
He said in another comment that an average-sized 'serving' of the toothpaste contains 80mg of caffeine (roughly half the amount of a small coffee from most chains), but there's no info on how much of that is absorbed when brushing.
Apologies for this omission that in retrospect is so obvious!
[1] http://www.myfamilydentist.ca/glycerin-and-remineralization-...