smile! (My First Colgate Toothpaste)

Member Name: kjl12

Product:	My First Colgate Toothpaste
Date:	11/08/05 (289 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: minty, well designed tube, made by Colgate

Disadvantages: none

This seemed a logical follow up review from my recent foray into the world of teething - your child has got their first tooth - how are you going to look after it? Having made a bit of a mess of looking after my own teeth, I was determined to look after my son's teeth right from the start. Now, I knew from my wealth of baby books that you need to brush them twice a day with a special children's toothpaste. A child's toothpaste has a lower concentration of fluoride than adult toothpaste - I presume this has to do with the fact that they are more likely to swallow the toothpaste than an adult, which can be bad for your teeth, ironically. Anyway, then all you have to do is decide which one to buy....

So why Colgate?

Well, like many mums, I actually had a little free tube from my Bounty Pack (freebies which are given to all new mums) so it seemed as good a place to start as any. I think, though, even without that I would have picked this off the supermarket shelf - when you're looking for a product as important as this, you go for a brand that you know and trust and I've always used Colgate myself.

In addition the tube itself is different to others on the market and very practical - it's a pity there's no photo in this category. I'll try to describe - the opening is at the bottom and the tube stands up on the cap - does that make sense? So no chasing it as it rolls around the floor - cleaning a toddler's teeth is hard enough anyway! This makes it, in my opinion, the best design around - although why no one does those pump dispensers which you get with adult toothpaste, I'll never know.

And, I would have chosen it anyway, because the original version is mint flavoured. Now, this may seem a bit of a self evident statement if you've never tried to buy children's toothpaste, but it's really quite hard to avoid strawberry , bubble gum and chocolate flavours, and I really wanted to teach my son that toothpaste tastes of...well....toothpaste! Call me old fashioned!

Also the packaging is nice - primary colours, bold lettering - it stands out nicely on the shelf amongst the jumble of fussy, character branded pastes.

So what’s the verdict?

Well, if you saw my son having his teeth cleaned, you would immediately call the authorities as it looks for all the world like I am torturing him, rather than contributing to his oral hygiene. But, I do maintain this is just he doesn’t like me poking about in his mouth, rather than the taste of the toothpaste as he is quite happy to use it on himself! So, we’ll presume he likes it..

But of course, you’ll want it from the horse’s mouth, so I have tried some myself and yes, well, it tastes like toothpaste! To be strictly accurate, it tastes a bit like adult minty toothpaste just milder. It’s rather pleasant really - the texture is exactly the same as original adult Colgate. And we have had the minty gel version which is quite fun and blue, but I’m still the traditionalist.

As for how well it works, it’s probably too early to say and my son isn’t really up to telling me how clean and fresh his mouth is, but his teeth stay white and he has lovely fresh breath despite a liking for garlic laden pasta sauces, so so far so good!

The details?

Available from all major supermarkets in 50ml tubes for around £1.20
Suitable for children aged 0-6 (basically formulated for milk teeth only)
Sugar free and minty!

Summary: A minty toothpaste for milk teethj