Our Adventure Down the Toothpaste Aisle....

Have you ever walked down the toothpaste aisle and taken a look around you? I don't mean just walking down the aisle, picking up your regular toothpaste and just throwing it in your cart; I mean start at the beginning of the aisle and take a look at all the different products that are "dentist approved", "dentist recommended", made to "whiten your teeth in just 5 days", or made to "fight off cavities, strengthen your gums, kill gingivitis, wipe away all bacteria and give you minty fresh breath all at the same time". You probably think I am crazy right now but I'm not....I promise!!!

This all started last week when Brian and I were talking about how we don't visit the dentist often enough and we really need to get better about keeping our pearly whites healthy and strong. We've vowed to maintain our brushing daily (which hasn't been a problem!) while maintaining our daily mouthwash routine (which happens more like every other day or so) and floss daily ( I'm REALLY bad about this). We also decided we should change our toothpaste to one that would help whiten our teeth gradually. We didn't really think that this would be such a difficult decision or one that would turn a quick trip into an adventurous discovery while at Target.

We had a couple of items that we needed to stock up on so we made our typical trip to Target. Brian and I went through all the aisles and, of course, picked up more than what we originally had intended to buy. All that was left on our list was to pick up a new tube of toothpaste. We didn't do any research before we went....we figured this would be pretty straight forward. We knew we didn't want our usual Aquafresh (which has been great but we felt it was time for a break so we broke it off for a bit). We were SO wrong!!

I had no idea that there were so many different types of toothpaste. I guess I never really paid a lot of attention to all the different kinds. We were totally overwhelmed.....we really were! There were toothpastes that "made you mouth sparkle", toothpastes that "strengthens your enamel", toothpastes that had confetti like strips in it, I could go on and on and on. Brian and I probably looked absolutely ridiculous standing there comparing the backs of the toothpaste boxes and having intense discussions as to what was better and the different percentages of fluoride that each package contained. We talked and compared any extra "active" ingredients and I'm pretty sure we discussed the pro's and con's of each toothpaste that was for sale at Target (which was probably around 50 different types). Let me put it this way....we were there so long, I had to take a bathroom break in the middle of our board meeting. Customers continued to walk by and stare as we pulled up the internet, on our phones, and did some online research for our toothpastes that were lucky enough to make it to the final round before approval.

After much consulting, we finally decided on our new toothpaste................... and the winner is:

Crest Pro-Health Whitening Gel Toothpaste in Fresh Clean Mint

We are so confidant in our decision that we even bought two boxes.

Next time you make your trip to go purchase toothpaste, take a look around and look at all the products that are being sold to us. It is absolutely mind boggling. This blog clearly shows how random Brian and I are but it really did open our eyes to all the different items out there for consumers and honestly, they are all so different. Seriously....take a look next time you're out!!