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Sector 001

(369 posts)
Thu Apr 30, 2026, 08:28 PM Thursday

How Toothpaste Is Made:And What's Actually Inside the Tube - The Process

The active cleaning agent in your toothpaste is hydrated silica — a refined form of silicon dioxide, the same mineral family as sand and quartz. Regular toothpaste scores around seventy on the abrasiveness scale. Whitening versions push up to one hundred and fifty. Same ingredient, different grind. And the premium you pay for "whitening" buys you a ninety-second exposure to less than one percent peroxide — while professional treatments use forty percent for an hour.



This episode follows the full factory process — how purified silicon dioxide is precipitated into controlled particle sizes, blended with fluoride, detergent, and flavor into a paste stable enough to last two years on a shelf. How striped toothpaste actually works — no compartments, no valves, just a hidden pipe and viscosity. Why Leonard Marraffino's nineteen fifty-five patent turned a dental product into visual theater. And three things on the label that actually matter when you are standing in the toothpaste aisle deciding between the three-dollar tube and the seven-dollar one.
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How Toothpaste Is Made:And What's Actually Inside the Tube - The Process (Original Post) Sector 001 Thursday OP
1+ Norrrm Thursday #1
I learned that you can polish silver with it. BigmanPigman Thursday #2
Fascinating some_of_us_are_sane Thursday #3
... eppur_se_muova Thursday #4

BigmanPigman

(55,453 posts)
2. I learned that you can polish silver with it.
Thu Apr 30, 2026, 08:50 PM
Thursday

I saw this tip on an kld TV show "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" and I tried it. It works!

some_of_us_are_sane

(3,480 posts)
3. Fascinating
Thu Apr 30, 2026, 09:09 PM
Thursday
I'm a JUNKIE for mass manufacturing videos of ANYTHING. That was cool to watch. Thanks!
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