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P&G Brings a Healthy Smile
How the Patented Formula Works
Improved Dental Health Worldwide
The Fight Against Tartar

P&G Brings a Healthy Smile

P&G's scientists are responsible for keeping healthy smiles on faces worldwide as a leader in developing new technologies in dental care. P&G's impact on dental health has been immense. The introductions of Crest and later Crest Tartar Control have helped reduce the average of missing teeth or cavities in the United States from 15 to three, with more than 50 percent of children today having no tooth decay.

Even though the benefits of fluoride were discovered in 1916, there were no fluoride toothpastes prior to the introduction of Crest in 1955 because manufacturers were unable to develop an abrasive that would not render fluoride ineffective. Indiana University researchers identified stannous fluoride as a potential anti-cavity active ingredient in the late 1940s, and in 1950, research was initiated to develop a compatible abrasive. This research led to the development of gamma phase calcium pyrophosphate, the first fluoride-compatible abrasive for toothpaste, and to the introduction of Crest. In 1960, the American Dental Association recognized Crest as effective in preventing tooth decay, and Crest quickly attained U.S. market leadership, which it has never relinquished.

In 1982, P&G made history in cavity fighting again with the introduction of Advanced Formula Crest. Advanced Formula Crest uses sodium fluoride, which is an even more effective fluoride, with a totally compatible silica abrasive system.

How the Patented Formula Works

Our patented pyrophosphate formula (P207) disrupts tartar formation on the tooth surface. Any calcium that does form is not tightly bound and can be easily removed.

Tartar Control Toothpaste

Improved Dental Health Worldwide

Introduced in 1985, Crest Tartar Control was the first toothpaste recognized by the American Dental Association as effective in reducing both tooth decay and tartar formation. Clinical testing demonstrates that Crest Tartar Control reduces tartar formation by as much as 42 percent and reduces cavities by 39 percent.

Crest Tartar Control continues to use pyrophosphate, as do most of the major competitive brands under licensing agreements with P&G. Since its introduction, no manufacturer has been able to discover a better anti-tartar agent than soluble pyrophosphate. Accordingly, in 1990, The Wall Street Journal named Crest Tartar Control one of the "milestones of the decade." Tartar control toothpastes now represent a significant category of the U.S. toothpaste business, with Crest Tartar Control comprising more than half of this segment.

The Fight Against Tartar

Although P&G was the undisputed leader in the toothpaste category, researchers continued to search for ways to improve Crest. P&G's goal was to develop an agent that would reduce tartar buildup while not interfering with fluoride's decay protection. Fluoride protects teeth in a process called enhanced remineralization by replacing minerals that are lost when acids from bacterial plaque attack the surface of the tooth. Tartar deposits on the tooth surface in an almost identical manner in which fluoride's remineralization occurs. Consequently, any chemical used to inhibit tartar formation could also hinder remineralization, causing cavity formation. Developing a tartar control toothpaste that did not interfere with fluoride's efficacy against tooth decay was a major challenge that had baffled manufacturers for decades.

P&G scientists solved this dilemma with the discovery that soluble pyrophosphate—the anti-tartar ingredient in Crest Tartar Control—reduces tartar without interfering with fluoride's decay protection.

Pyrophosphate reduces the amount of tartar formed, and any tartar that does form is not bound as tightly to the tooth. Tartar formation begins with the deposition of various calcium phosphates that undergo eventual transformation and harden into tartar on the tooth surface. The soluble pyrophosphate used in Crest Tartar Control deposits in the bacterial plaque on teeth and gums and is slowly released to bind calcium in saliva. This reaction reduces the formation of calcium phosphate on the tooth's surface. Additionally, the pyrophosphate binds the calcium in saliva without pulling it out of tooth enamel and does not interfere with fluoride's effect on remineralization.

The small amount of calcium phosphate that is deposited on the tooth's surface is stabilized by the soluble pyrophosphate, thus further reducing the amount of tartar formed.

Once pyrophosphate was proven to be effective in reducing tartar without diminishing cavity protection, scientists still had to develop a formula with enough soluble pyrophosphate salt for an effective product. P&G scientists developed stable and effective compositions using mixtures of di- and/or tetra-alkali-metal pyrophosphate salts.

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