Best Non-Mint Toothpaste Options For Adults

There are many reasons why you may want to choose a non mint toothpaste – perhaps you don’t like the taste of mint, or you may find mint too overpowering.

Some people find mint can cause a burning sensation in the mouth and wish to avoid this. 

Mint is the traditional flavour of oral care products, in part because it is known for its antibacterial and fungicidal properties, and because of its perceived refreshing flavour.

But companies are now reaching out to those looking for a mint free toothpaste. On this page I include various options for you to consider, and my comments about them as a dentist.

5 good non-mint toothpaste options

These are by no means the only good toothpastes that come without mint flavouring — there are various other options.

But to keep things simple, I have listed 3 good choices below. I also include other options later on in the article.

The toothpastes that have made it into this list:

• Contain fluoride. If non-fluoride is what you are looking for I have these covered in the list below.
• Avoid mint flavours (but may still contain traces of mint)

Why go for a non-mint toothpaste?

There are a number of reasons that make non mint flavoured toothpaste preferable to some people:

• Personal preference — some simply don’t like the taste of mint. In particular, adults and children with learning disabilities can prefer a more bland tasting toothpaste.
• Mint may cause a burning sensation in the mouth. 
• Certain oral conditions may make mint toothpaste uncomfortable in the mouth, for example:
  • Oral Lichen Planus sufferers.
  • Head and neck cancer patients after radiotherapy.
  • Burning mouth syndrome.
  • Sjögrens syndrome
  • Behcets disease
  • Allergies or intolerance to mint.

In addition to these reasons, there is some debate about whether you should avoid mint if receiving homeopathic medicines. Whilst the advice seems to be that you don’t need to avoid mint during homeopathic treatment, it is your choice – and hopefully this list of non-mint toothpaste will help you.

Some toothpastes do not list mint in their ingredients

Non-mint flavoured toothpastes may still contain mint, even though it isn’t listed on the packaging.

So while a toothpaste could have a non-mint flavour, it may still contain mint.

This means it’s important to double check with the manufacturer if you are allergic to mint.

One example is toothpaste from Colgate. Previously we had listed some on this page as being non-mint, but have since discovered that they do contain mint. We contacted Colgate about this to double check, this was its response:

We do not currently have a mint-free toothpaste in our range. The flavours we use in our toothpaste products are made up of both natural and manmade ingredients, of which mint may be a component. We understand that this is information consumers like you want to see on the packaging so please be assured that your feedback will be passed onto the relevant team.

Can adults use kids’ non-mint toothpastes?

Generally speaking, kids’ toothpastes are more likely to be fruit flavoured than an adult toothpaste. But it doesn’t matter whether it is marketed at children or adults, as long as it has the correct amount of fluoride in it.

Children’s toothpastes may contain lower concentrations of fluoride, especially if they are targeted at children under 6 years old. Over this, they may well have the same concentration of fluoride as an adult toothpaste.

The take home message here is that as long as the toothpaste contains at least 1350ppm fluoride you will get a good level of protection, regardless of whether the flavoured toothpaste is marketed at children or adults.

Fluoride-free non-mint toothpastes

Fluoride is a vital ingredient to toothpaste, and only toothpastes which contain fluoride will have the ADA Seal of Approval. The recommendations in my more general best toothpaste article all contain fluoride.

To still get the anti-cavity benefits of your mint free toothpaste, make sure it still has fluoride in its list of ingredients. 

As a dentist, I don’t normally recommend fluoride free toothpaste, as you miss out on the known anti-cavity properties of fluoride, but I do respect that some people may still wish to avoid toothpastes containing fluoride. 

In which case, there are two main options available to you:

1. A non-mint fluoride free toothpaste that contains no fluoride and no major source of remineralizing agent. Whilst ingredients like xylitol have a small anti-cavity effect, it would not be enough to be remineralizing in the same way as fluoride.
2. A non-mint fluoride free toothpaste that contains no fluoride and which does contain an alternative remineralizing agent. Calcium phosphates (such as hydroxyapatite) help reharden the tooth surface in a similar way to fluoride. These ingredients are newer than fluoride and are still undergoing long term studies, but have been FDA approved. They are normally more expensive than fluoride, but there is lots of evidence supporting their effectiveness.

I’ve rounded up a whole list of non-mint toothpastes below, and you can easily see which ones don’t contain fluoride.

Other mint-free toothpastes

In case the toothpastes in the lists above don’t fit your needs, I’ve included some more options below.

As a dentist I do recommend choosing a toothpaste with fluoride in it, but have included some non-fluoride options below.

We are in the process of updating the table below to specify whether toothpastes are truly non-mint, or if they still contain traces of mint. For any paste that contains a question mark in the ‘contains traces of mint?’ column, we are awaiting manufacturer feedback for confirmation.

Please note: We aim to recommend only pastes that are truly non-mint. As per our disclaimer, we advise you still check the packaging & consult with the manufacturer as some ‘non-mint’ toothpastes can still contain traces of mint.