Is Your Toothpaste Bad For Your Health?

Is Your Toothpaste Bad For Your Health?

Brush your teeth twice a day and floss regularly - that's the advice dentists dish out for healthy teeth and gums. But who'd have thought there could be a danger lurking in your tube of toothpaste?

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According to the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, an ingredient in toothpaste may be harmful to your health. Using triclosan - an antibacterial ingredient found in many leading brands - could lead to antibiotic resistance, they claim. In other words, it could mean antibiotics and other life-saving medicines stop working. And that's really bad news if you develop an infection.

Triclosan is a powerful antibacterial chemical. It's used in many leading toothpastes because dental experts believe it helps prevent plaque and gum disease. It's found in other products such as handwashes and cosmetics too.

But lab studies suggest triclosan makes bacteria immune to its antibacterial effects by creating mutations, and that the mutated bacteria affect other bacteria - something experts call cross-resistance. And it's the cross-resistance that they fear could cause antibiotic resistance.

Several studies already claim mutated versions of bacteria such as E coli, salmonella, listeria and the hospital superbug MRSA already exist - which suggests they're all developing a resistance to triclosan.

The US Food & Drug Administration is also reviewing the use of triclosan as experts suspect it's a hormone disruptor. In other words, the use of triclosan could be a risk factor in the development of hormone-related cancers, such as breast cancer.

Do you think triclosan is a cause for concern? Or do we worry about far too many health issues nowadays?

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