A Conversation for Orange Juice and Toothpaste
it's all in the foam
Researcher 94760 Started conversation Sep 24, 1999
From someone much more learned than I on the newscientist site:
The nasty flavour is caused quite simply by the detergent used in the toothpaste--generally sodium laurylsulphate--to produce the foam that we are used to when brushing our teeth. This foaming serves no useful function except to provide the user with a visual signal that the toothpaste is doing a good cleaning job. If one could persuade the user to do without a foam and so omit the detergent, the orange juice effect would disappear.
it's all in the foam
Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here Posted Sep 24, 1999
Soldiers used salt to clean their teeth in World War 2 - effective, cheap and no side effects
it's all in the foam
Mustapha Posted Sep 25, 1999
Apart from hardening of the arteries and raising of blood pressure?
Mind you, if you're in a warzone you have have other more pressing concerns...
it's all in the foam
Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here Posted Sep 25, 1999
Mustapho, you spit it out. Deary, deary me. Shakes head.
....or maybe spit it on your vegetables. It is a war zone as you so rightly observe 
it's all in the foam
Mustapha Posted Sep 25, 1999
Oops! Must be that baking soda toothpaste addling my brain!
Key: Complain about this post
it's all in the foam
More Conversations for Orange Juice and Toothpaste
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."