15% off Vortex! Just in Time for Spring!

Spring is finally here, and we’d love to add some bright colors to your morning routine. From now until Mother’s Day, get 15% off the list price of Vortex--that's a whole dollar off! No coupon code needed, just head over to Amazon and search for “Vortex Toothpaste.” Happy spring!

Food Dye Dilemma

St. Patrick’s Day was last weekend, and seeing all those green cupcakes and cookies everywhere made me think about food dye. I’ve heard vague rumblings about food dye being unhealthy, and there are even grocery store chains that won’t sell food with artificial dyes. But are they actually bad for you?

Obviously, everyone here at Wright Industries is very interested in the food dye question, as Vortex Toothpaste contains artificial coloring. It’s a tricky question, because on the one hand, artificial coloring is, well, artificial. On the other hand, artificial coloring have been around for over eighty years—Americans eat over 100 million pounds of the dye Brilliant Blue every year without incident.The natural dye carmine, however, can cause a severe allergic reaction in some individuals.  So just because a dye is natural, doesn’t mean it’s better for you. It’s all a bit tricky. 

While poking around the Internet, I found one study in particular that seems to be the most widely cited: “Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.”   In this British survey from 2007, children were given two kinds of drinks with a different mix of artificial dyes and preservatives.  The survey concluded that “[a]rtificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population.” 

The FDA has taken quite a critical look at this study, however, saying:

"...one particular procedural weakness relevant to regulatory application was the use of chemical mixtures as challenge materials which basically precludes identifying which specific compound(s) within the mixtures might be responsible for any treatment related effects. Consequently, there would be little, if any, utility of these findings to assess risk or to support regulatory decisions for specific compounds.”

In other words, when you don’t test chemicals individually, you get really muddy results. Who knows if it’s the just the preservatives that’s making the children hyperactive, or just the red dye, etc?

The FDA more explicitly sums up its reaction to the survey on the FAQs on its website:

Both the FDA and the European Food Safety Authority independently reviewed the results from this study and each has concluded that the study does not substantiate a link between the color additives that were tested and behavioral effects. 

So I suppose that’s the last word from the FDA about that.

I guess what you really have to do is look at each dye individually—each dye is chemically unique, and one chemical may have a different effect on a person than a different one will. This is the main problem that tripped up the 2007 British study—the whole study was basically deemed invalid since they didn’t test the food dyes separately. 

I’m going to take a closer look at specific food dyes over the next few weeks, starting with Brilliant Blue. Check back next week to see what I’ve dug up!

Vortex Now Available in Select Dierbergs Stores!

We know how expensive the shipping costs are when ordering Vortex online, and everyone here at Wright Toothpaste have been trying to make Vortex more cost-effective. The easiest way to do that is to sell our toothpaste in actual brick-and-mortar STORES, but getting a brand-new product on the shelves is a bit tricky. And so we're SO incredibly pleased to announce that...

Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste is now officially on the shelves at four Dierbergs grocery stores in the St. Louis area! Hooray!
These locations are:

Dierbergs Southroads Center

12420 Tesson Ferry Road

St. Louis MO  63128 

Dierbergs Market Place

1730 Clarkson Road

Chesterfield MO  63017

Dierbergs Heritage Place

12595 Olive Blvd

Creve Coeur   MO  63141

Dierbergs Brentwood Pointe

8450 Eager Rd.

St. Louis MO 63144


Please stop by any one of these locations and pick up a tube. It's much cheaper for you all to buy it straight from Dierbergs, instead of having to pay for shipping from us. And if Vortex sells well in those four Dierbergs stores, maybe the Dierbergs folk'll put Vortex in all of their stores! Woo-hoo!

Vortex Protects Cavities Better with Less Chemicals? Awesome!

Happy March, everyone!

I've just put the finished edits on our newest press release, which talks about the pretty astounding results that we had from the FDA testing that Vortex underwent last year. I'm sending it out on the wire service next week, but you can get an early peek at it below:

For Immediate Release:

AMAZING COLOR CHANGING TOOTHPASTE FIGHTS CAVITIES TWO AND A HALF TIMES BETTER THAN CONVENTIONAL TOOTHPASTE—AND WITH LESS CHEMICALS

                          

St. Louis –March 1, 2012 - If changing color isn’t astounding enough, the new Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste has just been proven to protect young teeth two and a half times better than conventional toothpaste, due to Vortex inventor Dr. Howard Wright’s dedication to minimal chemicals.

Fluoride, a naturally occurring chemical, has been proven to help seal teeth against cavities, and only fluoridated toothpaste may receive a seal of approval from the American Dental Association. But conventional toothpastes have a foaming agent, such as sodium lauryl sulfate, which creates foam bubbles that act like a barrier of balloons, preventing the fluoride from reaching the teeth. To compensate for this, toothpaste manufacturers must have a relatively high fluoride content in their toothpaste—around 1200 parts per million in conventional toothpaste.

However, Vortex Toothpaste inventor Dr. Howard Wright is dedicated to having a minimum amount of chemicals in his toothpaste, and has removed the sodium lauryl sulfate from Vortex. Dr. Wright also decided to lower the amount of fluoride in Vortex to 990 parts per million—the minimum amount by law that a toothpaste can contain and still call itself “fluoridated.”

“Fluoride is a natural chemical--it occurs naturally in seawater. Yet everyone here at Wright Toothpaste is dedicated to minimal chemicals in our products,” says Dr. Wright. “It was important to us to have a minimum amount of fluoride in the toothpaste.” 

But in a recent study by Indiana University, scientists found that Vortex Toothpaste imparted two and a half times more fluoride into the tooth than conventional toothpaste. This result surprised even Vortex Toothpaste inventor Dr. Wright—until he realized it was because Vortex had no foaming agent to block the fluoride.

“I knew that foaming agents from toothpastes cause 90% of canker sores in children—it’s too harsh a chemical for children's mouths,” said Dr. Wright. “But I never imagined that taking out some of the chemicals could make the toothpaste work so much better.”

Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste recently became available in forty-one Walgreens stores and four Dierbergs grocery stores in the St. Louis area. Vortex can also be bought online at Amazon.com, drugstore.com, and vortextoothpaste.com. Vortex retails for $6.95, and is proudly manufactured in Muskegon, Michigan.

“The key to invention is not being tied down to old ideas. You’ve got to open your mind to new possibilities,” says Vortex inventor Dr. Wright.  “People say that toothpaste has always had a foaming agent—it’s always been foamy. But the moment I stepped back and asked “why?”—the very moment I did things differently, I got some truly amazing results.”

ABOUT:

With a commitment to local manufacturing and continued innovation, Wright Toothpaste, Inc. is dedicated to solving poor tooth-brushing habits through their unique Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste.  For more information, visit www.vortextoothpaste.com.

CONTACT:

Jessica W. Buha,

Marketing Director, Wright Toothpaste

314-436-3332  vortex@vortextoothpaste.com

###

February Vortex Review Roundup!

With the snow (and Valentines!) of February came a few more blogger reviews of Vortex. Check em out below!

Blogger Mama2Multiples hails from Vermont, and is mom to a pair of three-year-old twins and a bouncing one-year-old. In her Vortex review, she writes:

When you first squeeze it onto the tooth brush, it comes out in streaks of blue and purple. Connor and Merasia LOVE to see these bright colors on their toothbrush, and imagine their delight that as they brush, the colors mix to form a pretty purple!... This definitely makes the kids want to brush, and want to keep brushing for the perfect amount of time to properly brush and do a great job!


...[I] was surprised by how gentle the flavor really is! It's not too strong of a delicious flavor to make kids want to eat it or consume unsafe amounts, but it's not harsh or minty and doesn't sting your mouth like other toothpaste's on the market these days...

All in all, I was very very happy with this product, and most of all, Connor and Merasia love it, and there are no more fights to brush their teeth!

Thanks, Mama2Multiples!

 
SimplyStacie blogger Gina, a mother of two from New York, reviewed Vortex Toothpaste. She loved it, saying:

Before using the toothpaste with Matthew, I decided to give it a try. Like Matthew, I was intrigued by the pink and blue streams of paste that came out of the tube. It was something I have never seen before, and even at 34, I thought it was pretty neat! I thought the grape flavoring might be too candy-like or too sweet, but it was mild and pleasant. There was no foaming, and the two colors blended together as I brushed. I knew that since I liked it so much, Matthew would too – and I was right!

Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste can add a nice, fun change to your child’s daily routine. It’s definitely going to be in Matthew’s rotation!

Thanks, Gina from SimplyStacie!

SIMPLE: Real Moms {Reviewing} Fabulous Products was founded in 2007, and is a collective of mom bloggers. Vortex was reviewed by Jaime, mother of two, who wrote:

I was recently asked to review Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste.  My son was very excited to try this toothpaste when I told him it changed colors.  He couldn’t wait to try it.  There are 2 little holes that has a blue gel and the other has red gel.  When squeezed onto your tooth brush and when you brush the colors mix and make purple.  So when you spit it out you see purple, E thinks this is the coolest part.  My son always says that regular toothpaste burns and it is spicy…he loves that this does not do that.

Thanks, Jaime from SIMPLE! Yep, we're proud that Vortex is SLS-free--no more burning or spicy feelings here!

Vortex and Kids with CP

Vortex inventor Dr. Wright recently received an email from the mother of a child with cerebral palsy, wanting to know if Vortex would be especially useful for her and her child. I thought his response was pretty interesting--check it out below!

Why Is Vortex a Good Match for Kids with Cerebral Palsy?

By Dr. Howard Wright, DMD

While I do not have any children with CP of my own, I’m very pleased to write out my thoughts on why my Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste is, in my opinion, a good choice for children with CP—specifically with those children who have impaired upper limb functions.

Though the term cerebral palsy encompasses many motor conditions that can cause physical disability, nearly 50% of children with CP have impaired upper limb function.  This causes actions requiring fine motor skills to be very tricky, such as buttoning a coat or tying ones shoes. When a parent or caregiver is performing these actions for the children, it is sometimes difficult for the caregiver to ascertain whether or not the task has been adequately completed.  This is especially true regarding the task of tooth brushing.

With typical toothpaste, the sign of adequate brushing is often equated with a certain level of foam generated by the foaming agent. However, due to the occasional heightened sensitivity of the mouth region of some children with CP,  using toothpaste with a foaming agent may not be the best choice, since too much foam can impede breathing and create a choking sensation for the child. With its lack of foaming agent (called SLS), Vortex Toothpaste fulfils this requirement nicely.

But without a foaming agent to mark where a sufficient amount of vigorous brushing has been applied, how can a parent or caregiver know that the teeth have been adequately brushed? The answer is Vortex Toothpaste’s brilliant color change, which acts as a guide in marking the places on the teeth where vigorous brushing has occurred. With no foaming agent to clog the child’s mouth, the child will likely be more relaxed in the uniquely uncomfortable situation of having one’s teeth brushed by someone else. Likewise, the color change may help to ease restlessness during the tooth brushing process, as the young child will be able to more easily track the progress of the task through the color change.

Therefore, Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste is uniquely designed to fulfill the special and specific needs of children who have impaired upper-limb functions, a group that includes many children with CP. I believe that parents and caregivers will appreciate the brilliant color change as a guide in determining adequate vigor in brushing, and that children will enjoy seeing the toothpaste gradually turn purple.

I will caution you, however, that Vortex Color Changing toothpaste does contain fluoride, and so the child must be sure to spit out any Vortex Toothpaste remaining in the mouth after brushing. If your child with CP has trouble spitting out toothpaste, then non-fluoridated toothpaste would be advisable.

Hooray! A New Episode of "Dr. Wright Breaks It Down for You!"

Well, January is certainly winding down quickly, but I can't let the month go by without sharing our newest episode of "Dr. Wright Breaks It Down for You! For those who are new to the blog, every week (or so) I have a chat with Vortex inventor Dr. Howard Wright about some sort of scientific mystery that needs unraveling.  I then edit together a short little film to go along with our recording (and occasionally add a few animations made in Microsoft Paint--they're kinda charming in an "I-clearly-made-this-in-MSPaint" way).

So enjoy our latest video podcast: "Help! I Have a Canker Sore!"