Tom's of Maine Natural Antiplaque Tartar Control & Whitening Toothpaste helps to remove plaque, control tartar buildup, and gently whiten for a clean, healthy-feeling mouth. Xylitol, a natural ingredient derived from birch trees, helps to remove plaque and prevent plaque buildup, while zinc citrate, a naturally occurring mineral, interferes with the calcification of plaque into tartar. The silica cleans and whitens teeth, removing stains without harsh abrasion that can damage enamel.

Here are the things that Tom's of Maine does not put in their products:

Animal ingredients
Tom's of Maine's support of non-animal-testing models also includes the belief that they don’t need to use animal ingredients to create effective products. Just one example: glycerin, used in toothpastes and soaps, is often made from animal ingredients, but theirs is vegetable-based.

Artificial colorants
Because Tom's does not add artificial colorants, the appearance of our products may vary from batch to batch.

Artificial flavorings or scents
Tom's of Maine does not use any synthetic flavors, colorants, or scents. The customers that Tom's caters to prefer the fresh, natural taste and smell of herbs, fruits, and flowers (or no scent at all!).

Artificial preservatives (EDTA, formaldehyde, parabens, etc.)
Natural preservatives work as well or better than artificial alternatives. For example, they use rosemary to help guard freshness in our soaps.

Ethylene glycol
Ethylene glycol can be found in hair care products and facial/body washes as a fragrance ingredient, a solvent, and as an aid in controlling viscosity. Tom's of Maine uses water and ingredients derived from corn, coconut and palm kernel oils, and sea salt to control consistency in our body washes, and natural fragrances in all of Tom's products.

Gluten
Aside from Tom's of Maine liquid hand soap and body wash, which contain wheat protein, all other Tom's of Maine products are gluten-free. They do not use alcohol, casein or caseinate, MSG, wheat, oats, barley, rye, malt, spelt, kamut, HPP, or HVP. None of their flavor oils are grain-distilled. Tom's does not use flour of any kind in their manufacturing process for conveyor belts or for any other purpose, and their containers are not dusted with flour before filling.

Grapefruit seed extract
Studies have shown that natural preparations of this ingredient do not show antimicrobial activity; instead, it is commercial preparations that include synthetic antimicrobials or preservatives that show antimicrobial activity due to those artificial ingredients. Tom's instead uses hops for their natural antimicrobial action in their deodorants. (Armando, C., Maythe, S., Beatriz, N. P. Antioxidant activity of grapefruit seed extract on vegetable oils. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 1997 Dec:77(4):463-467.)

Parabens
Parabens are used as fragrance ingredients or as preservatives. Tom's of Maine relies instead on natural preservatives and ingredients.

Peroxides
Tom's of Maine does not use bleach or peroxide in our whitening toothpastes; instead they use silica from sand to clean your teeth and create a whiter appearance.

Phthalates
Phthalates are used to improve the performance of some personal care/cosmetic products (for example, to fix fragrance in a formula), but Tom's of Maine has always avoided this class of ingredient.

Saccharin or other artificial sweeteners
Many conventional toothpastes contain artificial sweeteners; our customers prefer a less-sweet natural flavor. Tom's of Maine uses natural sweeteners such as xylitol and rely on the naturally delicious tastes of fruits and herbs to flavor our toothpastes.

Triclosan
Tom's of Maine relies on naturally sourced zinc instead of triclosan to fight tartar.