This page explains what to look for when searching for a vegan toothpaste, where you can buy them in the UK, and which are the best toothpastes to buy as a vegan.
Unfortunately, not all toothpastes are vegan. Some contain animal derived ingredients and many are sadly tested on animals.
There are so many toothpastes available, it can be hard to choose which to buy. The vegan market is currently exploding with new products with confusing labelling and marketing hoping to make a quick buck from the growing support for the vegan movement.
I hope this page will equip you with the information you need to cut through the marketing and find a safe and effective vegan toothpaste for you and your family to use.
Of course everything vegan is also vegetarian, so this advice applies for vegetarians searching for vegetarian toothpaste in the UK too!
What to look for in a vegan toothpaste
From my point of view as a vegan dentist, a basic fluoride toothpaste is all that is required for most patients.
Ignore packaging and marketing that play “natural” ingredients against “chemicals”. Its a common meaningless ploy, used in attempt to differentiate products in a crowded market. Chemicals are not inherently bad. Water and oxygen are technically chemicals. Instead the poison is in the dose – meaning too much of anything can be bad. Even too much water can kill you.
Fluoride is often thought to be a “bad chemical”, perhaps “artificial”, “man-made” or an “additive”. Yet we only know about the benefits of fluoride for teeth because it naturally occurs in some water supplies.
Fluoride, fluoride, fluoride
The basic science behind toothpaste is well understood: Fluoride is the key ingredient.
Fluoride in toothpaste works mainly by strengthening tooth enamel and dentine to make them more resistant to plaque acid. This reduces the risk of tooth decay, slows down existing decay, and even helps to reverse very early decay.
No other ingredient will be as effective in preventing tooth decay, including charcoal, bicarbonate of soda, aloe vera and coconut oil.
Worryingly though, most vegan toothpastes are fluoride free.
Its important that toothpaste contains an effective but safe level of fluoride at 1000-1500ppm for children and 1400-1500ppm for adults.
Is fluoride vegan?
Yes. Fluoride is vegan.
Is fluoride toothpaste safe?
Yes. At the levels used in toothpaste, fluoride is very safe to brush your teeth with. Don’t eat a tube of toothpaste.
The Best Vegan Toothpastes
Cruelty-free vegan fluoride toothpastes available in the UK, offering good protection against tooth decay with the correct level of fluoride:
- Coop Toothpaste
- Freshmint
- Sensitive and Total Care
- Whitening Totalcare
- Colgate Smile for Good Toothpaste * (see discussion)
- Protection Eco
- Whitening Eco
- Ecodenta Toothpaste
- Brilliant Whitening (with Mint essential oil, Sage extract and Kalident)
- Enamel Strengthening Melon Flavor (with mineral calcium salts and fluoride)
- Exceptional Whitening (with Bergamot essential oil, Lemon essential oil and Kalident)
- Tartar Eliminating (with Cranberry extract, Mint essential oil and Kalident)
- Humble Natural Toothpaste
- Ordo Toothpaste
- Superdrug ProCare
- Tesco
- Kingfisher Natural Toothpaste
- Fennel / Mint with fluoride
- Waken *Recyclable metal tubes
- Wisdom toothpaste
Where to buy vegan toothpastes
Coop, Superdrug and Tesco own brand toothpastes are obviously only available to buy in their own stores. Ecodenta and Kingfisher toothpastes are available to buy in many health and vegan orientated stores, as well as Holland and Barrett, Boots and many chemists. Colgate Smile for Good range is available to buy in most big supermarkets. Humble toothpaste is available direct, at Ocado, Holland and Barrett and other websites. Waken toothpastes are available direct, from Ocado, Boots and other websites.
This page is continually under development. Please give a 5 star rating if you found it useful, share any useful reviews and suggestions by leaving a comment, and follow me on Instagram.
Next: Should you switch to a bamboo toothbrush?
OK (but not great) Vegan Toothpastes
These toothpastes are cruelty free vegan toothpastes containing some fluoride, but the fluoride is below the recommended levels for adults. They might help reduce your risk of dental decay but they don’t offer the same protection as the good toothpastes with fluoride at the correct levels (above).
- BioMin Toothpaste
- BioMin F Toothpaste (with fluoride)
- Ecodenta Toothpaste
- Multifunctional (with 7 herbs [linden, horsetail, birch, yarrow, rosemary, sage, and nettle] and Kalident)
- Minty Moisturising (with hyaluronic acid, mint essential oil and kalident)
- Organic Whitening (with papaya extract)
- Pineapple mornings and Bilberry nights (Pinnapple mornings with pineapple enzyme and kalident, Blueberry nights with bilberry extract and minerals)
- Sensitivity Relief (with chamomile, clove extracts and Kalident)
- UltraDEX Toothpaste
- Low-Abrasion
- Whitening
Bad Vegan Toothpastes
These toothpastes are marketed as vegan and/or “natural” toothpastes, but do not contain fluoride and so might help freshen your breath but will not provide any protection against tooth decay:
- Biomin Toothpaste
- Biomin C Toothpaste
- Biomed Toothpaste
- Superwhite Coconut
- Dr. Bronner’s Organic Toothpaste
- Peppermint All in One
- Ecodenta Toothpaste
- Black Whitening (with Black Charcoal and Teavigo)
- Caries Fighting (with xylitol, lime and coriander leaves essential oils)
- Certified Organic Multifunctional (with hemp oil)
- Juicy Fruit Kids (with Aloe Vera juice and Xylitol)
- Organic Anti-plaque (with coconut oil)
- Organic Sensitivity Relief (with natural salt)
- Triple Force (with White clay, Propolis and Teavigo)
- Wild Strawberry Flavoured Kids (with Carrot extracts and Kalident)
- Euthymol Original Toothpaste
- Georganics Natural Toothpaste
- Activated Charcoal
- English Peppermint
- Eucalyptus
- Orange
- Spearmint
- Tea Tree
- Green People Organic Toothpaste
- Mint, Vegan
- Jason Vegan Toothpaste
- Coconut Strengthening, Coconut Mint
- Healthy Mouth
- Powersmile
- Sea Fresh Fluoride Free
- Kingfisher Natural Toothpaste
- Fennel / Mint without fluoride
- Lush Toothy Tabs
- BOOM!
- LIMELIGHT
- MILES OF SMILES
This page is continually under development.
Please give a 5 star rating if you found it useful, share any useful reviews and suggestions by leaving a comment, and follow me on Instagram.
Thank you vegan dentist! Very useful.
Hello Vegan dentist! Which kids toothpaste would you recommend please? It has been impossible to get hold of the Co-op kids for a while now and Superdrug seem to have stopped their version as well. Are you aware of any reasonably priced options for under 10’s?
Good question! If you live in an area without fluoridated water, then kids can use adult strength toothpaste straight away from as soon as their teeth erupt …so any of the toothpastes on the good list! However, if you are lucky enough to live in an area where your water is fluoridated, then you should instead buy a fluoridated toothpaste with just 1000ppm of fluoride, such as Green People’s Organic Children Mandarin & Aloe Vera Toothpaste – With Fluoride. At £5 for a 50ml tube, it’s debatable whether its reasonably priced …when I get chance I will try to find some more and make a list…
The Humble Co Natural Toothpaste Kids Strawberry with fluoride has 1000ppm fluoride and is £4 for a 75ml tube at Holland and Barrett
Colgate is not cruelty free…?
Hi George
You are correct that the brand “Colgate” and its parent company “Colgate-Palmolive” still do test on animals. My understanding is however that their “Smile for Good” range has not been tested on animals.
I don’t want to defend Colgate specifically – but they are a big company that has been around for a long time. They make health products and medicines. The sad reality is that it was historically in the nature of that industry that they had to test on animals, and still is the case that new medicines must be tested on animals.
You will also note that Tesco, Coop, Superdrug etc all make and sell non vegan products and so are certainly not cruelty free. Toothpastes which have not been tested on animals are using data gained from ingredients previously tested on animals (as well as humans).
Its a complicated issue and there isn’t necessarily the single right answer for everyone.
I don’t feel you can say a product is not vegan because it is made or sold by a non vegan company.
I definitely see value in encouraging big companies to make more vegan products – to make vegan ingredient options more readily available, make vegan production lines and processes easier and cheaper to access – and to hopefully change industry norms. So credit where credit is due – Colgate making a vegan toothpaste is BIG NEWS and great for the vegan movement!
That being said, its nice to support small businesses with great ethics built into everything they do.
Your personal choice must ultimately be based on the options available to you at the time of your choice.
Vegan Colgate toothpaste is happily now an option for your consideration – amazingly available in most big supermarkets.
Hi, have you looked into Biomin? They have told me their toothpastes are vegan and cruelty free, very good for sensitive teeth
Hi Calista. Thanks for the tip!
Following your recommendation I have checked the website for Biomin and completed their training on treating tooth sensitivity with their toothpastes.
My initial observation is that their toothpastes unfortunately do not contain the recommended level of fluoride! Although they suggest a mechanism for their technology of slow releasing fluoride, they provide no data on how this compares to normal toothpaste for reducing tooth decay and make no claim of its equivalence or superiority. I have emailed them in hope of opening a dialogue but so far not had a response.
I would therefore not recommend swapping a 1450ppm fluoride tooth paste for Biomin in fear of the likely higher risk of developing tooth decay. To my patients I would instead suggest trying some of the other vegan sensitive toothpastes available above, and consider alternative dental treatment such as applying a fluoride varnish during dental appointments. The most important action with tooth sensitivity is to identify and treat the issues causing the sensitivity. You can read more about some of the causes of tooth sensitivity on the Dental Choices website, and I would suggest definitely asking your dentist for more advice for your specific circumstances.
This is a great article, thank you for sharing your expertise! I’m a bit stuck with one thing though and wondering if you (or anyone else with more knowledge than me!) can help. I was told by my dentist that not all fluoride is created equally and that toothpaste with stannous fluoride is the best. I can only find stannous fluoride in Oral-B and in some Sensodyne toothpaste. I won’t buy these as they aren’t cruelty-free and vegan. I’m currently using the Kingfisher with fluoride – it doesn’t state which kind of fluoride they use. But I’m wondering A – if stannous fluoride is much better and B – if it is are there any cruelty-free and vegan toothpaste with stannous fluoride? Thanks in advance for any wisdom shared 🙂
Yes there is some evidence that stannous fluoride is better than sodium fluoride at preventing tooth decay, but yes only Oral B toothpastes currently contain stannous fluoride – and my understanding is they are sadly not cruelty free.
For most patients however, using any toothpaste with normal sodium fluoride is perfectly adequate.
If your dentist has assessed your “caries risk” level to be “high” or “moderate/medium” and so feels you need extra protection, beyond normal toothpaste, then usually she or he would prescribe a high fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash that are even more effective than the Oral B stannous fluoride toothpastes, and/or consider applying a fluoride varnish during your dental appointment.
Prescription toothpastes are considered medicines – and so unfortunately, as with most medicines, not cruelty free. Vegans should however, follow healthcare advice to use any medicines prescribed by their healthcare professionals, accepting when there are simply no alternative better or kinder options to choose.
If you are unsure of your “caries risk” level, I would suggest calling your dentist and checking.
I hope this helps answers your question?
Hi,
thank you so much for this information.
I’ve been using the eco denta charcoal no fluoride toothpaste for almost a year, after receiving it as a present and loving it. But I have lately been finding my teeth a little sensitive and twinging so I thought I would read up on fluoride. I’m so glad I found your info as I will now be getting a fluoride toothpaste straight away and hope I’ve not damaged my teeth too much in the meantime :-/
Hi, this was fab to read, very helpful thanks. I notice that Ultradex and arm and hammer (vegan) are not listed. Do you have any opinion on those? thanks. Lucy
Hi Lucy, thanks for your suggestions!
I’ve added Ultradex to the “OK but not good” list since the fluoride level is lower than recommended (1000ppm).
Arm and Hammer does have the correct level of fluoride but I am hesitant to add it to the good list because in my experience Arm and Hammer toothpastes are very abrasive …I’ve seen many patients with toothwear caused by their efforts in scrubbing away stains with Arm and Hammer – my usual advice to these patients is to throw away their Arm and Hammer! If you want to remove stains from your teeth try one of the other (gentler) vegan whitening toothpastes on the good list.
I found out that the Ben & Anna Orange Fluoride Toothpaste has just 350ppm of fluoride. I contacted the company and they provided this information.
Thank you so much for this! It’s so frustrating that the majority of toothpastes targeted towards vegans are fluoride-free when it’s so important for the maintenance of healthy teeth. I quickly found this out after a brief foray into these products and have since switched to a toothpaste on your ‘good’ list which seems to be doing a good job to date!
This might have changed since you wrote it but the Ecodenta Sensitive has fluoride in it. I have sicca syndrome so need fluoride but I react very badly to SLS. It’s hard to find a toothpaste with fluoride but without SLS but the Ecodenta Sensitive fits the bill.
Hi Caroline, thanks for your comment! You’re right – it looks like Ecodenta have updated their range …I’ve just been through all the Ecodenta toothpastes and updated the list. The Ecodenta Sensitivity Relief Toothpaste does now contain some fluoride but only 1131ppm for some reason. Perhaps you could next try the Brilliant Whitening version which does have fluoride in the correct range (1448ppm) but still no SLS?
This was really helpful thank you so much! I just wondered about Colgate’s new vegan toothpaste?
Also, if you’ve got a list/ would consider making one for mouthwash?
So pleased you wrote this list, thank you vegan dentist! All I want from my toothpaste is for it to be vegan AND contain fluoride. I love fluoride! It has been misunderstood. Thanks for explaining why it’s essential for happy teeth.
This is really useful, thank you for posting. Do you happen to know any good toothpastes that are good for anyone following a zero waste lifestyle? I’ve seen a few in glass jars from peace with the wild
Hi Alex …zero waste dental products are something I’m actively looking into but I’ve not found the perfect solution yet. Did you find any good ones? I see the “Natural Toothpaste” in jars on Peace with the Wild are all fluoride free, and the Hydrophil and Denttabs toothpaste tablets both have fluoride options but neither neither state the fluoride concentration. I’ve tried Brush Fresh Co and Eco Living toothpaste tablets (both with fluoride at 1450ppm – within correct range) but find the flavours aren’t minty enough for me. Tooth Tabs from Lush taste great but are disappointingly fluoride free, and I worry the charcoal ones seem very abrasive so might cause toothwear. My search continues…
I tried the ‘truth paste’ which comes in little glass jars. I cant recall the ingredients but the texture was like clay and it wasn’t a pleasant experience, I wouldn’t buy it again personally. The search continues!