Best Toothpaste Tablets 2023

When you think toothpaste, you probably think of a squeezable tube.

Not any more!

There is a new era of toothpaste products upon us.  Say hello to toothpaste tablets.

Gone is the messy tube.  No awkward squeezing to get the last bits of paste out is required.

Toothpaste tablets are hard, chewable alternatives.

I’ve tested a good variety of those available. In this article I give my opinions on which are best.

Video Overview

Our top 5 choices for toothpaste tablets

This list includes both tablets with and without fluoride.

Fluoride is generally recommended by dental professionals and leading governing bodies like the Canadian Dental Association.

Despite dental professionals advising fluoride be a key ingredient in toothpaste products, we understand that for some the personal choice is to opt for a fluoride free option.

The number of toothpaste tablets available that include fluoride is relatively limited at the time of writing.

1. Denttabs

Quite possibly my favorite toothpaste tablet option.

They taste good, clean well and leave a long lasting freshness.

A more practical alternative for many to regular toothpaste, they contain fluoride, so you will get the approval of most dental professionals.

They are certainly more expensive than a regular tube of toothpaste though, the price you pay for a more environmentally-friendly and convenient option.

As of late 2019, the packaging has also changed from plastic to corn starch compostable packaging.

What we like

• Environmentally considerate packaging
• Contains fluoride
• Low abrasivity
• More natural ingredients

What we dislike

• Initial taste
• Not that easy to source

Buy Denttabs here.

2. Bite toothpaste bits

Created by Lindsay McCormick, in California, USA, Bite toothpaste bits area great natural option when it comes to brushing your teeth.

Frustrated by the regular toothpaste packaging and its impact on the environment, Lindsay set out to create a more eco-friendly and ingredient-conscious product.

With no harsh chemicals and plant derived organic ingredients, these tablets are suitable for vegans and are very importantly great to use on a daily basis.

There is a nice fresh minty taste, without the dusty, chalky and clumpy texture that can come with some other products.

It is Bite who have perhaps drawn the most attention to this new type of toothpaste product thanks to gaining the attention of leading publications around the world.

Given their model of sending refills in biodegradable packaging (you re-use the original glass jar that they come in), Bite is arguably the best zero waste toothpaste currently available. 

What we like

• Environmentally considerate packaging
• Fluoride option available
• No harsh chemicals
• Plant derived organic ingredients
• More travel friendly
• Suitable for Vegans

What we dislike

• Low abrasivity
• More expensive than regular toothpaste
• Not that easy to source
• Shipping in a glass jar isn’t eco-friendly

Buy Bite Toothpaste Bits

3. Lush cosmetics toothy tabs

Lush are a very popular cosmetics brand from the UK who have gained global recognition for their more considerate approach to cosmetics.

Doing away with what many would consider the ‘unnecessary’ ingredients, their range of toothy tabs are one of, if not the largest with an array of flavors, some of which will appeal to more than others.

Fluoride free, the tabs come in small plastic bottles, which can be easily reused or recycled, in fact, the bottle is made from recycled plastic.

Each bottle offers just under 2 months supply of tabs.

What we like

• More natural ingredients and less chemicals
• Less packaging
• More eco-friendly
• More travel friendly
• Low abrasivity
• Interesting flavors
• Suitable for vegetarians and vegans

What we dislike

• Taste
• Shelf life
• More expensive than regular toothpaste
• Not that easy to source

Buy Lush Toothy Tabs

4. Chewtab by WelDental

Chewtab are catering to different user needs, offering 2 different packages.

If you are purchasing for the first time you might wish to opt for the package containing 60 tablets in a glass jar. This is enough for 1 months use.

They also offer a more cost effective, 3 month pack of 180 tablets, packaged in an environmentally considerate cardboard box.

Natural Xylitol is included and they are SLS and fluoride free whilst being available in an array of flavors, including Peppermint, Cinnamon, Bubble Gum, and Vanilla mint.

What we like

• Glass jar or cardboard box
• 1 or 3 months supply
• SLS free

What we dislike

• More expensive than regular toothpaste
• Not that easy to source

You can also purchase from Wel Dental’s own website.

5. Crush & Brush by Nelson Naturals

Fluoride free, these toothpaste tablets come in a reusable glass jar and contain 80 tablets.

A little over a months supply, there is no option to buy refills, only another glass jar containing 80 tablets.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) free, these tablets contain xylitol.

Some suggest they have a salty taste despite the mint flavor.

These are suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

What we like

• Glass jar
• Just over 1 months supply
• SLS free
• Suitable for vegetarians and vegans

What we dislike

• More expensive than regular toothpaste
• Not that easy to source
• Taste

Toothpaste Tablets Buyer’s Guide

Learn all you need to know about toothpaste tablets.  Find out what they really are, how they work and why you might want to make the switch from regular paste.

What are toothpaste tablets?

Toothpaste tablets are essentially a solid version of regular toothpaste.

They are not a liquid nor are they a paste, they are generally a compressed powder.

Often they are small, circular shaped tablets, like paracetamol or aspirin might be.

Achieving the same thing as regular toothpaste, the idea is that you chew, brush and go.

When bitten into, the tablet breaks and reacts to the moisture in your mouth, foaming up to create a paste which you can brush your teeth with.

Other names for toothpaste tablets?

Toothpaste tablets is a broader name to describe a toothpaste that is made into a small, chewable tablet.

Different companies and brands give their own names, but just some of the variations on toothpaste tablets I have seen include:

• Toothpaste Tabs
• Toothpaste Bits
• Toothy Tabs
• Toothpaste Pills
• Zero waste toothpaste (in some cases)
• Chewable toothpaste
• Solid toothpaste

Unless explicitly stated, they are essentially the same thing, just with a different name.

What do toothpaste tablets replace?

The tablets are designed to replace the regular tubes of toothpaste that most of us know and are familiar with.

According to Denttabs, one of the pioneers in toothpaste tablet production, conventional toothpastes consist of 50% water.

In order to produce a paste to stabilize it and make it preservable, you need many chemical ingredients.

In a tablet form, there is no water and less need for chemicals to stabilize and preserve them.

They are also better for the environment.

How?

A typical tube of toothpaste actually weighs around 4.8oz.

If toothpaste is around 50% water, roughly 2.8oz of that weight is water.

A pot of Lush Toothy Tabs weighs 1.7oz and you get approximate 100 tablets.

Over the course of a year, you would require 730 tablets, which would weigh in at 12.4oz.

Roughly speaking you would need 4 tubes of toothpaste a year.  At 8.4oz each that is a total weight of 33.6oz.

Therefore the tablets weigh 21.2oz less.

21oz of weight saving a year might not sound a lot, but you need to think about the scale and volumes at which toothpaste is produced.

Consider how it is made by a company, shipped to a warehouse and then to stores around the country.

Typically, the packaging for tablets tends to be smaller and made from recyclable plastics or card.  There is also no water used, saving resources, weight and volume in packaging and shipping containers.

Although squeezable toothpaste tubes are made from plastic, they are difficult to recycle and few recycling plants accept them.

There are 37 million people in Canada

If everyone used toothpaste tablets, in 1 year alone, by my calculations that is over 22023 tonnes of weight that could be saved each year.  That means fewer trucks moving products about and lower carbon emissions.

The following video is put together by Women’s Health from Cosmopolitan magazine and is dedicated to Bite, a brand of tablet toothpastes.  It gives a good overview of the situation and why they have come about.

Bite has a model whereby it ships refills to you in biodegradable packaging, thus saving on waste. Your first purchase comes as a jar filled with tablets, and from there on the idea is you simply refill the jar.

This arguably makes Bite the best zero waste toothpaste option.

Unfortunately at the moment, it is not possible to buy refills as a one-off purchase — you need to subscribe to a recurring plan, which sends them every four months.

Ideally, we would like to see an option whereby you can simply buy Bite in biodegradable packaging as a one-off purchase, thus reducing packaging further.

That being said, this model is head and shoulders above plastic toothpaste tubes going in the bin.

Benefits of toothpaste tablets

The benefits of toothpaste tablets are:

• Eco-friendly/packaging – Toothpaste in a tablet form does not contain water, making them lighter and more compact in comparison to tubes of toothpaste. The packaging tends to be recyclable unlike toothpaste tubes.
• Zero waste options – One of the brands we have mentioned, Bite, operates a model for zero waste toothpaste, reducing pollution.
• Ingredients – Although it varies from one brand of tablet to another, there tends to be less chemical ingredients, so less total ingredients. They are often more natural and better suited to vegans.
• Travel/TSA approved – Small and compact, you can take what you need, rather than what a shop bought tube limits you too. The tablets do not generally count to your in your carry on allowance, making them TSA approved.
• Abrasivity – Tend to be less abrasive and more gentle on the teeth.

Negatives of toothpaste tablets

Of course, there are some potential negatives associated with toothpaste tablets, these are:

• Availability – They are a more niche product at this time and only select retailers and online stores sell them.
• Shelf life – The shelf life of the tablets tend to be less than a regular tube of toothpaste because they are no or less preservatives included.
• Price – Tubes of toothpaste are cheaper, given the competitive and mature market. Tablets are more expensive for the benefits they bring.
• Often fluoride free – Check the packaging, but often the tablets are missing the vital tooth protecting ingredient, fluoride.

Are they better than regular toothpaste?

Whether they are better or not will be a personal opinion.

For some, they will be better because they tend to be made of more natural ingredients and more environmentally-friendly.

Others will consider them better as they are lighter and less bulky than regular tubes of toothpaste, which is particularly useful when traveling.

From a cleaning the teeth perspective, they are designed to be equivalent to regular tubes of toothpaste.

To my knowledge, no clinical studies have compared toothpaste in a tablet form against a regular tube of toothpaste.

How to use toothpaste tablets

The directions given by toothpaste tablet manufacturers will differ slightly, but most tend to suggest:

• Place a single tablet in the mouth.
• Biting/chewing the tablet to break it up (a tiny bit of water or saliva in the mouth is useful).
• Wet the head of a toothbrush.
• Brush as normal.

Ingredients

Every manufacturer of toothpaste tablets will use different ingredients to achieve the taste and results they want.

What is common, however, is there are much fewer if any chemicals used to stabilize and preserve the tablets.

In most cases, the tablets are made of natural products and will often be suitable for vegans.

Where man-made substances are used, in most cases these tend to be those that are considered ‘safe’.

For example, in Lush cosmetics Limelight toothy tabs, there are 25 ingredients.

Those natural ingredients are:

• Cream of Tartar
• Kaolin
• Lime Oil
• Lemon Oil
• Spearmint Oil
• Almond Oil
• Baobab Fruit Powder
• Gardenia Extract
• Citric Acid
• Titanium Dioxide
• Citral
• Limonene

The safe synthetic ingredients are:

• Dicalcium Phosphate Anhydrous
• Sodium Bicarbonate
• Lauroyl Sarcosine
• Sorbitol
• Silica
• Malic Acid
• Synthetic Fluorphlogopite
• Tin Oxide
• Sodium Saccharin
• Flavor
• Colour 19140:1
• Colour 42090:2
• Colour 77491

It is worth noting that many do exclude fluoride.

I am not here to discuss the pros and cons of fluoride and whether toothpaste should include it or not. There is plenty of discussion on the internet about this already.

However, fluoride within toothpaste is the recommendation of leading dental and health bodies around the world, including the Canadain Dental Association so if like me you would prefer to take the advice of dentists you will be pleased to know that there are a few tablets that do include fluoride.

Cost – Are they worth it?

Toothpaste tablets are more expensive.

As demand increases, I expect prices will fall, but for the foreseeable future, you will be expected to pay a premium.

As I have shown, most toothpaste tablets are made from more natural ingredients and more environmentally considerate.  But this is one of the biggest appeals of these toothpaste alternatives.

As it stands at the moment, you often have to pay a premium to obtain such.

Whether you feel it is worth paying this premium will be up to you, ultimately it is a personal decision, but one often justified by the benefits.

Tubes of toothpaste can range from about $2 through to $10 for those ‘special’ tubes of paste.

In most cases, a standard toothpaste will cost around $3 for a 4.8oz tube.

With 4 tubes a year you are looking at a cost of about $12.

If you were to buy a months supply (or thereabouts) of Crush & Brush toothpaste tablets (view on Amazon) they would cost you $14.

Therefore over the course of a year the cost is $126, $114 more expensive than a tube of paste.

However, if it is the more natural ingredients that appeals to you, products like Redmond Earthpaste sells for around $16 a tube.

Therefore over a year you would pay $64.

This then is $62 less than the tablets.

Where to buy toothpaste tablets

It is not all that easy to buy toothpaste tablets.  You are unlikely to find them in your local pharmacy or grocery store.

The following are a list of places from which you can buy toothpaste tablets.

I have divided the list up into 2 parts, those with fluoride and those without.

Buy toothpaste tablets with fluoride

• Denttabs – (Ecco Verde website)

Buy fluoride free toothpaste tablets

• Lush cosmetics – (Lush website)
• Bite toothpaste bits – (Bite website)
• Chewtab by WelDental (WelDental website)
• Crush & Brush by Natural Organics – (Amazon)

FAQ

The following are a number of frequently asked questions surrounding toothpaste tablets.

What do they taste like?

This depends on the individual toothpaste tablets. Some brands have designed their products to be minty, as is common with most regular toothpastes.

Other brands specifically make tablets with different flavors to make them different and appeal to different users.

Where in many tubes of toothpaste the flavoring can be artificial, with tablets, it tends not to be.

All the ones I tried have a bit of a powdery taste for the first few seconds as it reacts with water/saliva to create a paste.

Personally I have found the worst tasting tablets to be those without fluoride, with a more powder/clay like taste.

Are they messy?

No.

The tablets are not really messy. You can get a little dust from the pot or of course if a tablet is cracked/smashed when not in the mouth a small amount of mess will be created, but it is easy to clean up.

Do they foam when bitten?

Yes and no, it depends on the tablet and what it contains.

Some foam up more than others.

Foaming is not a sign of how good a toothpaste is and is, for the most part, a placebo effect that toothpaste manufacturers have used to make it look like the paste is working better.

So a tablet/paste does not need to foam, but some will more than others.

Are they suitable for vegans?

Many are yes. However, it is worth checking the specific product/company to confirm this. Lush cosmetics are an example of a company who do produce vegan toothpaste tabs.

Should I rinse after use?

No. Always spit out the excess, but do not rinse out after brushing, this removes the good left behind by the paste and brushing.

Are toothpaste tablets safe for kids?

Yes, they are.

However, you need to be aware of a few things.

Firstly, your child needs to be old enough and capable to chew and tablet and use it as a paste rather than chewing and swallowing, like they might a sweet.  They need to understand how it works. Children aged 6 years or above will likely understand this, but it will be parental discretion.

Many tablets do not contain fluoride which is the recommendation of dentists.  You should research the pros and cons of this and seek professional advice in deciding what to opt for.

How do I care for my toothpaste tablets?

Treat your tablets like you would dry food. Keep them in a cool dry place and away from moisture. A sealed bottle (like most come supplied in) is ideal.

Your Opinions

Have you used toothpaste tablets or made the switch from regular tubes of toothpaste?

Which ones do you use and why?

Are there certain things you like or dislike about using them?

Let me and other users know your opinions know, your input is valuable.

And of course, should you have any questions, just ask.