European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Quick by Anthony Ramirez new York times there Are few things in life More humdrum than the Toothbrush. One of the few however is toothpaste. Still that unprepossessing goo has for decades occupied the attention of some of the worlds largest and savviest manufacturers of consumer products. At first glance it is not Clear Why. Industry growth in the United states is glacial a a few percentage Points a year roughly the increase in the population. Yet for the company that comes up with the right mix of ingredients packaging and therapeutic benefits toothpaste can be a Money machine. A retailer in the United states typically makes 29 cents Gross profit on a $1.99 tube and a manufacturer rakes in 34 cents. It has been a Long time however since the Industry s last Home run a fluoride the breakthrough of the 1960s, which helped reduce cavities and boost sales. The prime Prospect now is a new antibacterial agent that May help reduce gum disease. There is no shortage of Niche marketers including Epi products which Sells a $12 toothpaste. But with thousands of groceries and drugstores to Supply it is no Surprise that the $1.5 billion United states Market is dominated by giants. Procter amp Gamble maker of Crest and gleem leads with nearly 38 percent of the Market. Close behind is the Colgate palmolive company maker of Colgate and via Dent with nearly 30 percent. Worldwide Colgate dominates with perhaps a 42 percent Market share. P. Amp g. And Unilever p.i.c., maker of close up and aim have 20 percent each according to Bonita Austin an analyst at Wertheim Schroder amp company. Before the multinational giants there were the individual innovators. The meticulous Aristotle advised Alexander the great to rub a rag against his Teeth. More than two millennia later George Washington a dentist advised him to do the same suggesting the addition of some Chalk. With the invention of the Toothbrush in about 1770 by William Addis a British subject imprisoned at the time for provoking a riot dental creams and powders became popular. But Dentifrices were Long sold in porcelain jars into which whole families would dip their Damp toothbrushes. The fastidious were repulsed. Their anxieties were not allayed until 1892, when or. Washington Wentworth Sheffield a dentist in new London conn., invented the toothpaste tube. The collapsible Metal tube allowed individual a and hygienic a portions for each member of the family. Despite toothpastes widespread use it often failed to Stem dental disease and tooth loss which was virulent As recently As world War ii. Desperate for manpower after Pearl Harbor the . Armed forces repeatedly lowered its dental standards a initially seeking recruits with at least six pairs of opposing Teeth then finally settling for recruits with jaws Strong enough to support dentures. Most toothpastes today Are similar in formula and Price. They have a mild abrasive like the watery Sand known As hydrated Silica sodium Lauryl sulfite to disperse the abrasive and Glycerine a moistening agent to keep the goo gooey. Then there is a carrageenan a thickener plus an Arit fical sweetener like saccharin for flavor or a form of sugar like sorbitol that does not promote tooth decay. Smokers toothpastes like Topol use a somewhat More abrasive Silica to remove heavy stains. Products keep on brushing . Retail sales for toothpaste in percent with major companies and their Brand names. Total in 1989 $1.5 billion. Close up 5.3% aim 4.9% Pepos Dent 0.8% Aqua fresh 11.9% source Wertheim Schroder a company including Dent co Sens Odyne 1.9% Carter Wallace Pearl drops 1,5% Topol Topol 1.3% Church $ Dwight Arm amp Hammer 0.8% . Johnson Check up 0.5% . Johnson act 0.4% Tom s of Maine 0.3% not advertised for sensitive Teeth like Sens Odyne add a mild local sedative potassium nitrate. Quot natural toothpastes like Toms of Maine leave things like artificial sweeteners and colors out. Such variations can be successful Niche formulas. Toms founded in 1970 by a Harvard divinity student named Thomas m. Chappell once sold its toothpaste Only in natural food stores. Today with the Boom in health concerns Toms is Selling toothpaste in More than 20,000 drugstores and supermarkets nationwide with annual retail sales this year expected to exceed $10.5 million. Even the giants vary their formulas somewhat mainly for taste. For years they have offered toothpaste in opaque pastes and colourful Clear gels. The Only difference is that gels Are slightly More flavorful. Children s flavors with More sweeteners have even More taste. If All these ingredients seem somewhat beside the Point Well they Are. Fluoride is toothpastes Only proven therapeutic substance and it was widely introduced by Procter amp Gamble s Crest in the Early 1960s. Crest soon became the Market Leader overtaking Colgate. Fluoride toothpaste combined with the fluoridation of water is widely credited with helping to reduce cavities. Nearly half of children in the United states age 5 to 17 were cavity free in 1987, up from 36,6 percent in 1980, according to the National Institute of dental research. With the incidence of cavities declining toothpaste makers turned Consumers attention to plaque and tartar which both contribute to gum disease. Plaque is a living film of bacteria and Mouth secretions that forms on Teeth. Tartar is a Mineral Deposit. With anti plaque and anti tartar formulas Colgate and Crest posted Strong sales gains in the mid-1980s. Toothpaste Only acts against plaque and tartar on the exposed tooth which have not been shown to cause gum disease. But making those deposits softer helps dentists penetrate to the disease producing plaque and tartar beyond the gum line. Gum ailments themselves remain epidemic and As yet untreated by toothpastes in the United states. Colgate and presumably Crest which wont say for sure Are working on a gum Protection formula using Tri Closan an anti bacterial agent found in deodorant. Colgate already has Strong sales of a Tri Closan toothpaste in Europe. Quot by mid-1991, Well be pretty much a amps Susan Harris everywhere else except the United states Quot said Craig b. Tate Colgate a vice president of global business development. The food and drug administration is still studying whether the substance reduces gum disease and thus deserves clearance. Said Tate Quot there s no predicting what the Fra will  while they work on the next therapeutic breakthrough toothpaste manufacturers make do with innovations in packaging. The pump was introduced by Colgate and followed by Crest in the mid-1980s, mainly for Consumers concerned about clean Wash basins. Children favored it As Well prodding purchases by parents who wanted their offspring to like brushing the Only difference Between pump and tube toothpaste is that the pump variety is a Little thinner to ease delivery. Now Crest and presumably Colgate which wont Sayare working on a squeezable pump for Consumers who like the neatness of the pump but miss the soothing therapeutic benefits of squeezing after the consumer squeezes the upright Crest tube it snaps Back into its original shape. Slicing the tube 3 of q a a Colgate won t say but analysts a estimate these costs in a seven ounce tube of toothpaste Selling for $1.99. Raw materials and labor 99 cents Selling general and administrative expenses 37 cent3 manufacturer s profit 34 cents retailer s markup 29 cents spurt Wertheim so godot prot Esble not Susan hams Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes Friday june 29,1990