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How does this compare with Sensodyne Repair and Protect? That product uses Novamin and effective rebuilds enamel, also offering whitening, reduced sensitivity,

How does this compare with Sensodyne Repair and Protect? That product uses Novamin and effective rebuilds enamel, also offering whitening, reduced sensitivity, etc.

danielheath 5y ago
Repair is not rebuilding. “Repair” toothpaste chemically strengthens existing enamel.
- defaultname 5y ago
  Fluoride strengthens enamel. Novamin remineralizes enamel. It "rebuilds" it. How Sensodyne markets it is largely irrelevant. Indeed, this product targets sensitivity which is exactly what Novamin does (by remineralizing those tiny holes permanently, versus traditional sensitivity products that simply "clog" them temporarily). Note that Novamin-containing Sensodyne is an overseas thing that you have to import. For whatever reason they didn't seek FDA approval in the US so the product there is sans it.
pier25 5y ago
I've used Sensodyne for years for sensitivity issues. Last year, I tried a new version with whitening and after a couple of weeks my teeth started hurting all day long. It took me a couple of days until I made the connection. I stopped using that and went back to what is being sold (here in Mexico) as Sensodyne Original.
wodenokoto 5y ago
I asked my dentist about novamin after it trended on HN a few months ago. Apparently every toothpaste brand has a number of proprietary compounds that, according to their own research, is the biggest thing since flouride. Sensodyne has Novamin, I don't know the name of Colgates, but I am sure they list it on one of their websites. Why HN has taken to Novamin, I don't know. Maybe it is because it was taken off the American market? Anyway, it doesn't seem like Novamin makes a real difference: According to a 2020 literature review, > ... the objective of this review is to find out the current evidence available on the use of Novamin as an agent for remineralization. > ... and at 6 months’ time point the p-value is 0.81 concluding that there are no significant difference of remineralization process obtained by using traditional toothpaste and Novamin. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/
- defaultname 5y ago
  "Sensodyne has Novamin" There is nothing like Novamin among other toothpaste brands. Novamin has long existed as a bone regeneration treatment, with a very proven mode of action. The inventor spun it off and GSK bought the company and made it exclusive to Sensodyne. This isn't a company that made some fun name on a method of fluoride. It doesn't exist formally in the US (or at least it didn't) because FDA rules would make it fall under a medical treatment and a toothpaste isn't possibly worth the process and bureaucratic overhead. >Anyway, it doesn't seem like Novamin makes a real difference That is a study of studies, and its conclusion isn't that there is no "real difference", but that there is a need for more clinical trials, which is an enormous difference. Because there is little demonstrated proof of Novamin specifically in regards to teeth. It is largely theoretical. But for what it's worth, I've used it for a bit over a year and now have zero sensitivity and my teeth are demonstratably much whiter. My own anecdotal experience is very positive, though maybe I'll have throat cancer or a third eye or something eventually.
  - wodenokoto 5y ago
    > but that there is a need for more clinical trials, which is an enormous difference. Almost twenty years after this compound was developed into toothpaste, the best we can show in peer reviewed research is “inconclusive” when it’s used in toothpaste and you consider that a big win? I consider that “doesn’t seem to make much of a difference”. Maybe it’s the novamin that helped you. Maybe it is one of the other compounds. Regular Sensodyne is a toothpaste for sensitive teeth, after all. Maybe you just started brushing more carefully. I did when I got my pack of “Sensodyne whitening repair & protect deep repair” toothpaste. That tube was almost double a regular Sensodyne, which is already an expensive brand.
    - defaultname 5y ago
      Big win? I didn't say that. Your original citation was an analysis of studies that actually said "more research is necessary", yet you claimed it as proof that it doesn't work. It doesn't work like that. Novamin is caught in a classic consumer product study quagmire. It's a proprietary, IP-wrapped solution. This leaves extraordinarily few people with an interest in proving its efficacy. Who is going to pay to study it? And the answer is that only people with a strong financial interest in its effectiveness are willing to study it, and those studies have little credibility due to bias. The vast majority of consumer products you use have no peer reviewed research behind them for the same reason. But we know its method of function, and the theory behind its operation. People using the product often find reduced sensitivity (I went from really bad sensitivity to no sensitivity) and a whitening effect. Eh, good enough for me. And it's interesting that this submission is about a product that has a virtually identical method of operation - calcium and phosphorous ions.

How does this compare with Sensodyne Repair and Protect? That product uses Novamin and effective rebuilds enamel, also offering whitening, reduced sensitivity, etc.

danielheath 5y ago

Repair is not rebuilding. “Repair” toothpaste chemically strengthens existing enamel.

defaultname 5y ago
Fluoride strengthens enamel. Novamin remineralizes enamel. It "rebuilds" it. How Sensodyne markets it is largely irrelevant. Indeed, this product targets sensitivity which is exactly what Novamin does (by remineralizing those tiny holes permanently, versus traditional sensitivity products that simply "clog" them temporarily). Note that Novamin-containing Sensodyne is an overseas thing that you have to import. For whatever reason they didn't seek FDA approval in the US so the product there is sans it.

pier25 5y ago

I've used Sensodyne for years for sensitivity issues. Last year, I tried a new version with whitening and after a couple of weeks my teeth started hurting all day long. It took me a couple of days until I made the connection. I stopped using that and went back to what is being sold (here in Mexico) as Sensodyne Original.

wodenokoto 5y ago

I asked my dentist about novamin after it trended on HN a few months ago. Apparently every toothpaste brand has a number of proprietary compounds that, according to their own research, is the biggest thing since flouride. Sensodyne has Novamin, I don't know the name of Colgates, but I am sure they list it on one of their websites. Why HN has taken to Novamin, I don't know. Maybe it is because it was taken off the American market? Anyway, it doesn't seem like Novamin makes a real difference: According to a 2020 literature review, > ... the objective of this review is to find out the current evidence available on the use of Novamin as an agent for remineralization. > ... and at 6 months’ time point the p-value is 0.81 concluding that there are no significant difference of remineralization process obtained by using traditional toothpaste and Novamin. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/

defaultname 5y ago
"Sensodyne has Novamin" There is nothing like Novamin among other toothpaste brands. Novamin has long existed as a bone regeneration treatment, with a very proven mode of action. The inventor spun it off and GSK bought the company and made it exclusive to Sensodyne. This isn't a company that made some fun name on a method of fluoride. It doesn't exist formally in the US (or at least it didn't) because FDA rules would make it fall under a medical treatment and a toothpaste isn't possibly worth the process and bureaucratic overhead. >Anyway, it doesn't seem like Novamin makes a real difference That is a study of studies, and its conclusion isn't that there is no "real difference", but that there is a need for more clinical trials, which is an enormous difference. Because there is little demonstrated proof of Novamin specifically in regards to teeth. It is largely theoretical. But for what it's worth, I've used it for a bit over a year and now have zero sensitivity and my teeth are demonstratably much whiter. My own anecdotal experience is very positive, though maybe I'll have throat cancer or a third eye or something eventually.
- wodenokoto 5y ago
  > but that there is a need for more clinical trials, which is an enormous difference. Almost twenty years after this compound was developed into toothpaste, the best we can show in peer reviewed research is “inconclusive” when it’s used in toothpaste and you consider that a big win? I consider that “doesn’t seem to make much of a difference”. Maybe it’s the novamin that helped you. Maybe it is one of the other compounds. Regular Sensodyne is a toothpaste for sensitive teeth, after all. Maybe you just started brushing more carefully. I did when I got my pack of “Sensodyne whitening repair & protect deep repair” toothpaste. That tube was almost double a regular Sensodyne, which is already an expensive brand.
  - defaultname 5y ago
    Big win? I didn't say that. Your original citation was an analysis of studies that actually said "more research is necessary", yet you claimed it as proof that it doesn't work. It doesn't work like that. Novamin is caught in a classic consumer product study quagmire. It's a proprietary, IP-wrapped solution. This leaves extraordinarily few people with an interest in proving its efficacy. Who is going to pay to study it? And the answer is that only people with a strong financial interest in its effectiveness are willing to study it, and those studies have little credibility due to bias. The vast majority of consumer products you use have no peer reviewed research behind them for the same reason. But we know its method of function, and the theory behind its operation. People using the product often find reduced sensitivity (I went from really bad sensitivity to no sensitivity) and a whitening effect. Eh, good enough for me. And it's interesting that this submission is about a product that has a virtually identical method of operation - calcium and phosphorous ions.