Toothpaste is a semi-solid substance that we use several times a day to clean our teeth. Given the frequency of use, I wondered about its composition. In particular, I was interested in which inorganic abrasives are contained in such cosmetic products. The main objective was to learn about X-ray powder diffraction both theoretically and practically.
X-ray powder diffraction is one of the main methods for characterising solid substances. It involves irradiating samples with X-ray light of a specific wavelength and determine various characeristics of a material from its diffraction pattern.
I collected 18 samples of different toothpastes and sent them to the Institute of Chemistry, where diffractograms were collected. The resulting diffractograms were then analysed using computer software X`pert HighScore Plus and Crystallographica Search-Match. Since I couldn't explain all the peaks with the inorganic standards, I also tried using a program that calculates the diffractograms for the structures of organic compounds.
I found that most of the selected toothpaste samples contained the inorganic abrasive TiO2 in the form of anatase. I also found others like sodium bicarbonate, hydroxyapatite, potassium phosphate, etc. Sodium bicarbonate is one of the milder abrasives in terms of hardness, and I found it in one toothpaste. This one is mainly for bleeding gums, so I was expecting a lower hardness abrasive.
I have selected 3 children's toothpastes for analysis. I expected to find milder abrasives such as sodium bicarbonate or calcium carbonate. Toothpaste that is too abrasive can wear away child's tooth enamel over time. I found that two of them contain the inorganic abrasive TiO2, which is a medium-hard abrasive.
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