Spry Toothpaste with Fluoride By Xlear (Dentist Recommended to Help Fight Cavities and Gum Disease with Xylitol) 4 Oz 6-Pack

definitely recommend it!!

This toothpaste is excellent I have been using for over a year, my dentist said my hygiene was great

I love Spry Xylitol products. This toothpaste tastes great (kind of like the green dinner mints you find at weddings) and isn't too strong. At roughly $4.50 a tube it is on the more expensive side of toothpaste, but I enjoy the xylitol in it and am happy to pay a little extra for that added benefit. As a dental professional, I recommend this product as an additional preventative method against cavities. Xylitol is a natural sugar alcohol that cannot be digested by most bacteria in the mouth. Consuming xylitol limits the growth of bacteria in the mouth, which reduces the amount of acid left behind by bacteria. Less bacteria=less acid=reduced chance of decay forming (cavities). HOWEVER, It is important to note that in order to get the FULL anti-cavity benefit from xylitol, you have to use xylitol products correctly and consistently over a period of time. Recommended dose for highest anti-cavity benefit: 6-10grams/day, administered 3-5 times. One Spry mint = 0.5 grams xylitol One piece of Spry gum = 0.72 grams xylitol One gram toothpaste = approximately 0.25 grams xylitol (minimum). At least 25% of the weight in Spry toothpaste is xylitol, (roughly a minimum of 36 grams xylitol in an entire tube (144g) of toothpaste. 36/144=.25g xylitol per 1g toothpaste) **Most people do NOT use an entire gram of toothpaste when brushing, 0.25 grams is considered a "pea sized" amount of toothpaste. If I had to guess most people would average around 0.5-0.7 grams of toothpaste each time they brushed, since most people tend to use more toothpaste than recommended.** Taking the above numbers into consideration, it would be extremely hard to get to the 6-10grams recommended daily. Brushing twice a day with Spry toothpaste (0.50g), eating two Spry mints (1g), and chewing two pieces of Spry gum (1.44g) in one day doesn't even make it to 3 grams of xylitol (roughly 2.94). That's even calculating toothpaste at 1 gram per brushing, which is an excessive amount of toothpaste. I am telling you this to be aware that in order to have anti-cavity protection from this product, as seen in studies, it is recommended to have 6-10grams xylitol per day. Consuming less xylitol will provide some protection but in order to receive the FULL benefit to protect against cavities, you'd have to consume 6-10grams each day. Consuming higher than this level did not offer additional benefits in the studies done. Long story short, this is a great product and will provide anti-cavity benefits depending on the amount you consume/if you consume consistently. In my opinion, additional preventative measures taken are better than nothing, so even if you do not consume the recommended 6-10grams each day, using this product will still be beneficial towards maintaining great oral health. Just be aware there are specific guidelines set to achieve maximum results in preventing cavities when using xylitol! ***Any preventative measure works together with other preventative measures to help maintain optimum dental health. It is important you are doing your part brushing 2 minutes, 2 times a day, flossing daily, and maintaining regular dental visits in order to prevent decay!***

I have always used Spry and loved its product line, including their gum and pastilles, for their taste and to reduce cavities in my children and myself. It seemed to be effective because whenever we used Xlear toothpaste, we seemed to get no cavities compared to the years we used regular Crest or Colgate fluoride toothpastes. During those years, cavities abounded, and our diet has not changed appreciably since then. If anything, I think we probably consume even more sugar today than we did years ago. "Xylitol cannot be metabolized by plaque bacteria, contrary to sorbitol and other 6-carbon polyols, and may thus favour mineralization." This is from the European Journal of Dentistry. HOWEVER, this same source also indicates: "Studies with low daily doses of xylitol are known as a rule to fail to show any caries-preventive effects. To obtain beneficial xylitol-effects on mutans streptococci, on plaque and caries occurrence xylitol must be consumed three times or more per day, with a daily dose of 5-6 grams." (Eur J Dent. Apr 2009; 3(2): 81-82.) How does xylitol work to prevent caries? It inhibits growth of the oral bacteria Streptococcus mutans. (Incidentally, it also prevents periodontal disease and has been shown to be effective at reducing the risk of ear infections.) Other studies I saw indicated an optimal dose for cavity prevention in the order of 4.3 to 10 grams per day. So how much xylitol is in this toothpaste, and how much are you getting when you place a small amount on your toothbrush each day? This is difficult to quantify since everyone uses a different amount of toothpaste. However, some smart people have already done the math for us at xylitolpreventscavities.com. Basically, Spry contains 25% xylitol, and it is not the first ingredient after the active ingredient, which is fluoride. The first ingredient is water. We are getting around half a gram to a gram of xylitol each time we brush our teeth with this product. Therefore, the more xylitol in the product, the closer we get to the optimum dose. The highest concentration is found in Squigle toothpaste (which you can find here on Amazon; I have it and will use it more than Spry now that I know this). To obtain the optimum dosing of xylitol in your diet for caries prevention, you would probably need to chew Spry gum and pastilles at least a few times a day. Moreover, the controversy around the harmful effects of fluoride has been widely published, and certain cities in the United States have even removed it from their water supplies, I have steered clear of fluoride toothpastes. Ah, but Xlear Spry has fluoride in it, 0.243%, according to the label. This is why I removed a star from a potential five star rating. Xlear makes a non-fluoride Spry toothpaste, and that one I would give five stars. I like the taste of this toothpaste. It is very minty without being overwhelming. It did take me three days to get used to its different minty taste, but afterwards, I liked it more and more than any commercial fluoride toothpaste I had ever used, including Tom's. My children like the taste, also, and this is important to promoting brushing. Overall, I would recommend it, but not over its non-fluoride counterpart. Despite its lengthiness, I hope this review has helped people make an informed decision.

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