Colgate Total 12 ORIGINAL - Oh yes!

Bought my usual Colgate toothpaste, it tasted odd, thought it might be a bad batch, so contacted Colgate.

Apparently Colgate Total Original is no longer their original they have changed the constituents - and some customers may find the taste disagreeable, if so why don’t you try some of our other products.

Disagreeable - certainly it leaves a sour taste in my mouth which lasts for hours!

It got me thinking why would a toothpaste manufacturer change the constituents to one of the established products? Particularly in the case of toothpaste, where taste is everything, would they replace it with constituents that they know some of their established customers would find disagreeable? What was wrong withe previous constituents? Were they harmful?

Is it just a plow to switch customers to other products, the latter is certainly going to work for me!

Whatever, I smell a rat!

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Most likely cause is a change to a cheaper ingredient, although it could be the result of marketing incompetence that challenges New Coke. Even a small fraction of a cent against the volume of toothpaste can add up to another latte on the executive floor.

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Maybe so they could add some nanoparticles! :wink:

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It is likely that the previous taste may have been disagreeable to others. Most larger companies with new products use groups or panels of people of various backgrounds to taste samples of potentially new products. This could be one reason why the taste changed that the tasting panel indicated the new flavour was preferable to the previous flavour.

It is also possible that Colgate are standardising their product line so that the same product is sold in multiple international markets. If this is the case, Australia’s market is very small compared to most other developed and developing nations and these other nations tastes may be met rather than that which is traditionally Australian.

The third…have you recently started taking any new medicines or had other lifestyle changes. These can affect the taste receptors in one’s mouth making things change different. It may not be the toothpaste which has changed flavour.

And the fourth, they could be adding a new ingredient to the previous toothpaste to add to its efficacy as a wonder tooth cleaner. Many toothpastes have a wider range of ingredients with each generation and more claims of what it does to ones teeth. Some of the claims were outlined in this other thread…

In relation to flavours, Australian’s seem to prefer a mint flavour (common mint, peppermint, spearmint) where other countries often have a range of different and alternative flavours. In our travels we have seen green tea, mango, chocolate, lemon, licorice, curry etc flavours, We have tried a few and most aren’t to my personal taste…but expect they would be sellers in the other countries otherwise they wouldn’t be sold. The only one which was ‘passable’ was the lemon one as it left the mouth feeling clean, a little like mint toothpastes. I expect the feeling of clean is psychological rather than real as a flavour wouldn’t affect the brushing outcome…

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It also appears that the ‘new formula’ has removed triclosan…which may be a positive move. Removing one ingredient may mean the remaining mixture is changed to compensate for the loss of the ingredient.

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This seems to be the most likely underlying cause. Thanks for the link.

I suggest Choice needs to consider the chemical content of all the Toothpaste brands when it test them again.

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I’ve just noticed I am once again longinthetooth, I’ve been trying to get Choice to reinstate my nom-de-plume for a couple of years at least. Yippee!

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I refuse to buy Colgate when I see they have so many variations (most of which are minor) taking up so much shelf space in the supermarkets to the detriment of other well established brands such as McLeans.

McLeans is great for removing minor scratches on cars, Colgate fails this test. Is this a good or a bad attribute for a toothpaste?

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Oh dear. I buy the one thats good for sensitive teeth, I hope the change doesnt affect the taste, because the other options (sensodyne et al) just do not work as well. :frowning:

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A very interesting article, with a great take away for more general discussion, from the links.

Decades ago, when he was a science adviser at the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, David J. C. Constable advised the company to drop triclosan from its consumer health products. Constable left GSK in 2009, and is now the science director at the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute. Triclosan is biodegradable, he says, but not in the quantities that have been released to the environment as a result of overzealous consumers demanding more antibacterial products. “Bans become necessary because of the excessive and in many cases, unnecessary, uses of some compounds added in response to consumer fear,” he says.

The notion that antibacterials are added to personal soaps and body products to address the fears of customers. As a reflection on corporate thinking it is a beautiful comment. Where do those fears of bacteria come from in the first place? Reinforced in consumers heads by the very advertising and promotion by the industry, are they not? Marketing 101!

Triclosan was used in body washes and soaps, until restricted by the US FDA in 2017, and as stated still added to toothpaste. The action by the FDA was in respect of possible health risks to the users of products containing triclosan, following studies on mice.

Given the recent billion dollar USA court awarded damages arising from another chemical is the tooth paste business also at risk? There is research and FDA assessment that suggests triclosan could cause health issues in users.

Where in a more general view does this lead?
Dec 2017.

the FDA has issued a final rule determining that triclosan and 23 other active ingredients are not generally recognized as safe and effective for use in certain over-the-counter (OTC) health care antiseptic products because no additional safety and effectiveness data for these ingredients were provided to the agency. Because, however, these active ingredients are not used in the majority of currently marketed OTC health care antiseptic products, the agency expects little change to currently available products. The FDA has deferred for one year rulemaking on six active ingredients (benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride, chloroxylenol, ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, and povidone-iodine) that are the most commonly used in OTC health care antiseptic products to provide manufacturers more time to complete the scientific studies necessary

Of further concern may be the reliance by the FDA on the manufacturers to do all the research and provide reports a product is safe?

And in a land far far away, what has been our response?

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I know you know and where this sentence would knowingly go and it was a figurative comment but still have to reply.

Our response is to always trust outsourced certifiers who are at best arguably responsible for a part of whatever they are supposed to be checking, and oversight(?) agencies using company supplied data 100% whether from biased or unbiased tests or just from the nethers of the marketing departments! By definition business has to be as honest as the sun will rise tomorrow whether as seen in the sunny North or behind our Melbourne clouds. Yet we hope for change when the recent revelation about Crown has gotten our bi-partisan crickets in unanimous agreement as an example of their values and what is important to the powers that be and want to be.

The governmental parties assure us and the opposition parties are quiet because profits matter. Too Right!

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Oooh! Curry flavoured toothpaste. Is it that sickly isabella colour that Keens Curry Powder made Grandma’s “curry”?

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Can’t say as it is one we didn’t purchase to try as I knew it would be a one hit wonder and the rest would become waste.

Any new flavours we think about trying we also check it has fluoride as some toothpastes sold in overseas markets are devoid of the chemical.

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Just of late i have noticed Colgate have changed and have added different ones in replacement…Whitening Toothpaste now is Optic White taste is very different and a couple of other changes as well

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Buy Aldi toothpaste. It’s 100% made in Australia.

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I’m so glad that the triclosan has been removed. As long as it hasn’t been replaced by something just as bad, I might now be tempted to buy it. I have avoided Colgate Total up til now due to the triclosan.

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So glad to hear Aldi toothpaste is made in Australia. A few years ago I discovered that my local supermarket stocked only Colgate and McLeans, both made overseas. I want to support local business so found Australian brands Grants and Cedel. Took a while to adjust to the new flavours but like them now. I haven’t checked Cedel, but Grants have no triclosan.

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No triclosan in their products…

We have used the spearmint toothpaste in the past and liked it a lot. It is also cheaper than the multinationals.

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Having worked in the food industry for decades there are a couple of main reasons to reformulate. Often it is due to a change in the food laws (and they are many and they occur on a regular basis). This necessitates reformulating to try to maintain the same taste (or properties) with compliant ingredients. Sometimes ingredients become unavailable or over priced. For instance the USA trade war will be effecting ingredients for some companies at the moment.
They are the practical reasons. Sometimes reformulation occurs through a change of management that wants to put its stamp on a product regardless of logic and the advice of it’s technical department.

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ALDI toothpaste may be made in Australia and I have indeed tried it because it’s much lower in cost, but unfortunately it left a nasty vile aftertaste in my mouth which lingered for hours.

I can’t remember which of their toothpaste variations did this to my mouth, but was promptly back to ALDI for a money back refund.

After that bad taste experience I haven’t got the courage to try their other toothpaste variety.

I’m currently using Colgate Advanced Whitening with TARTAR CONTROL and to date this is the only Tricolsan FREE toothpaste which has been successful in reducing Tartar buildup, even my dentist has noticed a substantial reduction in Tartar buildup, plus everyone whom has tried it really enjoys the refreshing taste.

It is expensive at AU$7.00 per 190gm tube but Coles have it on special for 50% off occasonally and I buy enough to last until it’s 50% cheaper again.

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