GET MULTINATIONALS OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!

I am about to run out of Sensodyne toothpaste and started looking at toothpastes by the company that makes them.  Sensyodyne is made by GlaxoSmithKline¹, a British Multinational.  They also make Macleans² and Aquafresh toothpaste too.

I was totally shocked when I started looking for toothpaste that was not made by a multinational, they virtually all are!

You would think with its Victorian looking packaging maybe Euthymol² would be ok.  No, this is made by Johnson and Johnson the 6^th largest consumer health company.

I tried Arm and Hammer³ as I had never heard of its manufacturers, Church and Dwight⁴ but their parent company is based in New Jersey, USA. 

Colgate⁵ toothpaste is obviously made by Colgate⁶ which was started in 1806 by William Colgate, an Englishman, in the US.  It is now known as The Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Crest⁷ and Oral-B toothpastes are both made by Proctor and Gamble and both earn over $1 million for P & G per year.  They also own Fixodent for those of you who have dentures. Proctor and Gamble was founded in the US in 1837.  In 2014 it earned $83.1 Billion Dollars, an obscene amount of money! In Romania and other Eastern European countries Crest is sold as Blend-a-Med!

Theramed is toothpaste I have never heard of but in case you use it, it is made by Henkel, a German company which also owns Schwarzkopf and Persil. Another one I hadn't heard of was Clinomyn, the smokers’ toothpaste, which is made by Lornmead UK Ltd which is part of the Li and Fung Group which has branches in the UK, Germany and the US.

I did briefly think of making my own with baking soda and even found a recipe but then read a review that said it is actually too abrasive and can take all the enamel off your teeth.  I have had sensitive teeth for years so I do not want to lose any more enamel.

I went searching in Realfoods¹¹ in Broughton St, which is definitely not a multinational as it only has two shops both in Edinburgh, although it does have an online service.  I found Kingfisher¹² toothpaste, which has been made by a company in Norwich since 1988. I have also found Aloe dent¹³ by Optima Health and Nutrition which seems to also be ok for me too.  It is made by a Company in Yorkshire although it is sold worldwide.   Other natural toothpastes I am keen to try are those made by Green People¹⁴, who is a family run firm in West Sussex. 

I haven’t tried the Kingfisher toothpaste yet but will do and report back soon.

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1. http://www.gsk.com/en-gb/products/our-consumer-healthcare-products/
2. http://www.gsk.com/en-gb/search/?q=Macleans+toothpast
3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthymol
4. www.churchdwight.co.uk/about/in-the-uk
5. www.colgate.co.uk 
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgate-Palmolive
7. http://www.pg.com/en_US/brands/global_health_grooming/crest.shtml 
8. http://www.pg.com/en_UK/ 
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlaxoSmithKline 
10. http://www.henkel.co.uk/about-henkel-72.htm 
11. http://www.realfoods.co.uk/ 
12. www.kingfishertoothpaste.co.uk 
13. www.optimah.com/brands-range.asp?Auto_ID=19 
14. http://www.greenpeople.co.uk/mint-toothpaste-organic-50ml