Evaluating Glister Toothpaste. Review on Glister Toothpaste

Glister Toothpaste is the toothpaste product distributed by Amway/Quixtar. Naturally, many recommend Glister because they wish to support an Amway business. But given a choice, choose what's best for your teeth. In this regard, Amway claims Glister is a special toothpaste that is great for your teeth. Is this true? To help you decide, here's some facts:

What makes Glister toothpaste different from other toothpastes? According to Amway, ''Glister uses a polishing agent, LS-928 which safely cleans and whitens teeth. LS-928 - small, bead like, clay particles with a smooth surface that provide high polish without excessive abrasion.''

Exactly what is LS-928? Well, according to US patent 4,414,199 (awarded in 1983) LS-928 is a grit having low abrasivity and good shelf-life, while also promoting absorption of fluoride into the enamel.

Some things here are not right. First, technology and marketing has changed a lot since 1983 (e.g. tartar control, peroxide, baking soda, whitening, gum care, sensitivity protection). If LS-928 was invented in 1983, we should be using LS-929 by now.

Second, the LS-928 patent expired three years ago. Any toothpaste manufacturer is free to use LS-928 today. However, only Amway continues to use LS-928. The reason does not seem to be cost (LS-928's patent specifically states ''low-cost''), so the reason could either be marketing (Colgate/Crest/etc. do not want to copy Amway), research (Colgate decided that LS-928 is not optimal), or ignorance (Colgate doesn't understand the benefits of Amway's patent). My guess is that the scientists at Colgate are not ignorant. In fact, since the 1980's most toothpastes have switched from calcinated and pyrophosphate abrasives to silica abrasives. Silica abrasives generally work better at cleaning teeth.

Third fact, abrasiveness is a tradeoff. More abrasive 'whitening' toothpastes tend to remove more stains. While less abrasive 'sensitive' toothpastes remove less enamel. Everyone wants to whiten their teeth, but given the choice between removing stains and protecting enamel, I think most people would protect their enamel. This tradeoff is measured in a statistic named ''PCR'' which stands for 'plaque cleaning ratio,' the amount of plaque removed compared to the amount of enamel removed. But, PCR values are not publicly available.

Aesthetically, Glister toothpaste is pretty normal as far as toothpaste goes. It's white. It's somewhat gooey and sticky (contains less glycerine?). It has mint flavoring.

Glister does not carry the ADA seal of approval. No big deal - any fluoride toothpaste could qualify for the ADA seal, as long as it jumped through enough hoops and paid enough fees to the ADA.

My personal experience: when I visit my relatives I sometimes brush with their Glister toothpaste, and after about two hours I want to brush again. I normally use Colgate Total everyday. It contains Triclosan (an antimicrobial) and a polymer that bonds the Triclosan to the tooth for a few hours. I brush in the morning and feel okay through lunch. My electric toothbrush has a 2-minute timer, so I think I get sufficient fluoride, too. It's what my dentist recommended.

So until I see clinical evidence showing Glister is the better toothpaste for my teeth, I'll view Glister as an ordinary toothpaste.

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2/2003: I came by US patent 6,174,515 (issued in 2001) assigned to Amway. It is titled ''Toothpaste composition'' and appears to pick up where the 1983 patent left off. It's primary invention is literally a LS-928 based toothpaste that squeezes out of the tube better.

Apparently the ''stickiness'' I attributed to Glister is properly called ''stringiness.'' When reducing the amount of LS-928 to reduce abrasivity, Amway had to compensate by increasing the amount of thickeners. The thickeners caused Glister to stick to the tube. The invention of the 2001 patent is the addition of a ''nonabrasive silica gel'' to the toothpaste that keeps the toothpaste thick without becoming stringy.

So, we should see Glister becomes less stringy in the future. Amway hasn't been mentioning the 2001 patent on the tube, so I assume they are waiting for FDA approval.

One disclosure made in the 2001 patent is the RDA (radioactive dentin abrasion or relative dentin abrasivity) value. RDA is a measurement of how much a given toothpaste will wear down your tooth (dentin). RDA is more meaningful than descriptions about ''small bead-like clay particles.''

Amway's patent gives RDA as ''less than about 110'' but preferably 50-80. This wide range probably was given to cover different varieties (sensitive through whitening). However, this value of 110 is the only number available. This value is higher than Colgate Total (70) and Crest Regular (95), but less than Colgate Whitening (124) or Crest MultiCare Whitening (144).

In other words, Glister may be harsher to your teeth than regular toothpaste, but gentler to your teeth than whitening toothpaste. Given the data, Glister should be considered a moderately-abrasive toothpaste.

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1/2005

Amway has changed the abrasive in Glister from LS-928 to Sylodent, a silica abrasive. I am unaware how the Sylodent abrasive compares to other silica abrasive. Amway also changed Glister's product label from ''anti-plaque'' to ''multi-action'', although besides the new abrasive, the toothpaste formula contains ingredients found in all other common toothpastes: fluoride, SLS, sweetener, flavor.