My Toothpaste Or Yours; Can You Tell The Difference?
Jen B.
The purpose of this project was to see if Germantown Academy students could tell the difference between a homemade toothpaste and a supermarket brand. The homemade toothpaste was prepared from pharmaceutical grade chemicals, using ingredients present in most of the brand name toothpastes. All glassware and equipment used to make the toothpaste was sterilized.
The brand name and homemade toothpaste were placed in snap-top vials and labeled with letters A through E. One hundred students participated in the testing of the toothpaste. Every student brushed his/her teeth with each of the five toothpastes in the same way as if they were brushing their teeth at home. They recorded their choices of the homemade toothpaste on a "Subject Data Sheet"
The data show that only 23 out of 100 students who participated in the study were able to tell the difference between the homemade toothpaste and brand name toothpastes. Three out of every four students were not able to identify which toothpaste sample was the homemade type. This study shows that a toothpaste made using similar ingredients to those in well-known toothpaste is difficult to distinguish from the brand name toothpaste.