An ingredients panel is not a threat assessment. It is a recipe, and most of it is doing dull, necessary work: stopping the paste drying out, making it spread, keeping it from spoiling. This article explains what each category is for, sets out what UK and EU regulators actually say about the ingredients people ask about most, and shows you how to check a specific product properly. No scare stories, and no claims we cannot stand behind.
The seven jobs in a tube of toothpaste
| Category | What it does | Names you will see |
|---|---|---|
| Active | The ingredient meant to change something about your teeth | Sodium fluoride, sodium monofluorophosphate, hydroxyapatite, zinc hydroxyapatite, potassium nitrate, stannous fluoride |
| Abrasive | Gentle physical cleaning of surface deposits | Hydrated silica, silica, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate |
| Humectant | Stops the paste drying out in the tube | Glycerin, sorbitol, propylene glycol |
| Surfactant | Makes it foam and spread around the mouth | Sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium myristoyl sarcosinate, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate, cocamidopropyl betaine |
| Binder | Holds the paste together as a paste | Cellulose gum, xanthan gum, carrageenan |
| Preservative | Prevents microbial growth over the product's life | Sodium benzoate, phenoxyethanol, benzyl alcohol, parabens |
| Flavour, sweetener, colour | Makes it tolerable twice a day | Aroma, sodium saccharin, xylitol, titanium dioxide (CI 77891) |
One useful habit: INCI lists are ordered by concentration, highest first, down to 1 per cent. If an ingredient a brand shouts about appears near the end of the list, that tells you something.
The actives
Fluoride
The most studied active in oral care. It works largely by changing the chemistry of enamel repair so the rebuilt mineral is more acid-resistant, and by interfering with bacterial metabolism. UK guidance recommends it: the government's Delivering Better Oral Health toolkit advocates 1,350 to 1,500 ppm for people aged seven and over, and NHS guidance for adults says at least 1,350 ppm.
Some people prefer to avoid it. That is a personal choice, it is common, and it is not our job to argue you out of it or to frighten you into it. What we would say is that "fluoride-free" only makes sense if something else is doing the work.
Hydroxyapatite
The main mineral of tooth enamel — enamel is approximately 96 to 97 per cent hydroxyapatite by weight — used in toothpaste to supply that same mineral to the tooth surface. It appears on labels as hydroxyapatite, hydroxylapatite, nano-hydroxyapatite or zinc hydroxyapatite. Two randomised trials found the tested hydroxyapatite formulations non-inferior to their fluoride comparators, and a 2023 meta-analysis of 44 trials supports it for dentine sensitivity. Concentration matters enormously, and most products do not state one.
Other actives worth recognising
Potassium nitrate calms nerve response in sensitivity products. Stannous fluoride combines fluoride with additional antibacterial activity. Zinc salts are used for breath and plaque. Arginine appears in some sensitivity formulations.
The ingredients people ask about most
Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)
What it is: the surfactant that makes toothpaste foam. Foam does very little cleaning — the bristles do that — but it helps distribute the paste and most people associate it with the product working.
What the evidence says: there is a specific, limited finding worth knowing. A 2019 systematic review in the Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine pooled crossover studies comparing SLS-free and SLS-containing toothpaste in people with recurrent aphthous stomatitis — recurrent mouth ulcers. It found SLS-free toothpaste reduced the number of ulcers, their duration and the associated pain, while noting the evidence base is limited and better trials are needed.
What that means: if you get frequent mouth ulcers, trying an SLS-free toothpaste is a reasonable, low-cost experiment with some evidence behind it. If you do not, there is no established reason to avoid SLS. It is a foaming agent, not a hazard.
Parabens
What they are: a family of preservatives — methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben — used to stop products growing bacteria and mould.
The regulatory position: parabens are permitted preservatives in UK and EU cosmetics, within set limits. Methylparaben and ethylparaben are permitted at up to 0.4 per cent for a single ester and 0.8 per cent for mixtures; propylparaben and butylparaben are restricted to 0.14 per cent combined. Five others — isopropylparaben, isobutylparaben, phenylparaben, benzylparaben and pentylparaben — were prohibited in cosmetics by EU regulation in 2014, and that prohibition carried into UK law.
The honest summary: the ones still permitted have been assessed and restricted rather than left unexamined. Some people prefer to avoid them anyway, and there are plenty of paraben-free products. That is a preference, not a rescue.
Titanium dioxide (CI 77891)
What it is: a white pigment, used in toothpaste to make the paste opaque and bright. It is cosmetic in the literal sense — it changes how the product looks, not what it does.
The regulatory position, precisely: in 2022 the EU removed titanium dioxide (E171) from its list of permitted food additives, after EFSA concluded that a concern for genotoxicity could not be ruled out. That was a food decision. Great Britain did not follow it: the Food Standards Agency kept E171 authorised, and in 2024 the UK Committee on Toxicity concluded it is unlikely there would be a risk to health from current UK dietary exposures. In cosmetics, including toothpaste, titanium dioxide remains permitted in both Great Britain and the EU, and the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety has been asked to review its cosmetic uses.
What that means: this is a live regulatory question rather than a settled one, and the two jurisdictions currently disagree about food. If you would rather avoid it in a product you use twice a day and occasionally swallow a little of, that is a reasonable preference. Anyone telling you it is banned in toothpaste is wrong.
Artificial sweeteners
Sodium saccharin is the most common in toothpaste. It is there for taste and does not feed the bacteria that cause decay, which is the relevant point for teeth. Xylitol appears in some formulations and has its own small literature. Neither is a decay risk.
Charcoal and abrasive whitening
Worth a caution in the other direction, because "natural" is not the same as gentle. Highly abrasive pastes can remove surface stain while wearing enamel over time, and enamel does not grow back. If a paste feels gritty, that is information.
Why we will not list our own products' full ingredients here
You may reasonably expect this section to end with a tidy claim that our toothpastes are free of everything above. We are not going to make that claim, and here is exactly why.
We can confirm, from Biorepair's own published information, that Biorepair Plus Sensitive Teeth and Biorepair Plus Total Protection are fluoride-free, and that Biorepair lists them at 240 mg/g (24%) and 200 mg/g (20%) microRepair® respectively — microRepair® being the manufacturer's patented zinc-substituted carbonate hydroxyapatite.
What we will not do is publish an SLS, paraben or titanium dioxide status for these products from a third-party listing. When we checked, different online sources gave materially different ingredient lists for the same product — which is what happens when manufacturers reformulate and retailer pages are not updated. We are not prepared to put a claim in front of you that we cannot verify against the pack you will actually receive.
So the honest instruction is the useful one: read the ingredients panel on the box or tube you receive. It is the only version that is definitely current. If you are avoiding a specific ingredient and want certainty before ordering, email us and we will read the panel on a stocked unit and tell you what it says.
We would rather be the shop that says "we checked and we are not sure" than the shop that guesses confidently.
How to read any label in two minutes
Find the active and its concentration. If neither is stated, you are buying a delivery system with nothing to deliver.
Check the position of anything the front of the pack boasts about. Near the top of the list means meaningful; near the bottom means decorative.
Identify the surfactant. This tells you immediately whether it is an SLS product, which matters if you get mouth ulcers and not otherwise.
Ignore the marketing vocabulary. "Natural", "clean" and "non-toxic" have no regulatory definition in cosmetics. The INCI list does.
Then stop. Once you have the active, the concentration and any ingredient you personally avoid, you have everything you need. Further reading rarely improves the decision.
The calm conclusion
Most of what is in a tube of toothpaste is there to make a paste behave like a paste. The parts that matter for your teeth are the active, its concentration, and whether you will use it twice a day. Everything else is a preference, and preferences are allowed — they just should not be sold to you as escapes from danger.
Our care guide covers the routine these products sit inside, and you can see the whole selection at our shop.
If you want the fluoride-free option with a stated active
Both our toothpastes state their active and its concentration, which is the test we would apply to anything. Biorepair Plus Total Protection at £6.99 lists 20% microRepair® for everyday use; Biorepair Plus Sensitive Teeth lists 24% at the same price if cold drinks are your trigger. And if there is a specific ingredient you need to avoid, message us before you order and we will read the current pack for you.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Delivering better oral health: chapter 9, Fluoride
- NHS — How to keep your teeth clean
- Alli et al., Effect of sodium lauryl sulfate on recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a systematic review, Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine (2019)
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 1004/2014 — parabens in cosmetic products (as retained in UK law)
- Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/63 — removal of titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive
- UK Committee on Toxicity — Statement on the safety of titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive
- Xu et al., Advanced materials for enamel remineralization, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (2022)
- Limeback, Enax & Meyer, meta-analysis of 44 clinical trials, Biomimetics (2023)
- Paszynska et al., 18-month adult randomised trial, Frontiers in Public Health (2023)
- Biorepair — microRepair® concentrations in Biorepair toothpastes