I remember my mom buying me bubblegum-flavored toothpaste just to get me into the toothbrushing habit. I guess she figured mint was too harsh for my childhood choppers and decided to get me something sweet instead. Her plan didn’t work, by the way. I ended up swallowing more of it instead of brushing with it, and I soon grew to like the taste of mint as I got older anyway.

Still, if chocolate toothpaste existed back then, I might have begged Mom to get it for me. Researchers at Tulane University discovered that a compound in chocolate can prevent tooth decay better than fluoride. According to a Science News article, the compound, known as theobromine, strengthens teeth and protects the enamel from acid erosion.

Good news, right? Just eat a Hershey’s Kiss instead of trudging into the bathroom twice a day to brush? Not entirely. The sugars in your average hunk of chocolate can feed plaque-causing bacteria, which cancels out any benefit from the theobromine. Still, if they can create toothpaste out of chocolate, it might make one heck of a marketing campaign.

• Chocolate Toothpaste – Medical News Today
• Food for Thought: Chocolate Constituent Bests Fluoride – Science News
• BBC article mentioning chocolate toothpaste
• Chocolate toothpaste at Amazon.com
• Chocolate toothpaste and toothbrush mold

chocolate, tooth, teeth, healthy