Vortex Featured in Dentistry Today!

Exciting news! Our Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste was featured as one of two "First Impressions" products in the July 2012 edition of Dentistry Today!

From the article:

Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste does not contain any foaming agents, nor does it require a strong minty flavor to mask the bitter taste of a foaming agent. Children will like the clean, sparkling taste, and gentle flavor of Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste. Getting children to bush effectively and long enough to make a difference is simply a matter of making the process fun and comfortable.

Check out the rest of the article here!

Thanks, Dentistry Today! 

Alton, Illinois Is Selected as the Next Vortex Test-Market City!

We've been slowly test-marketing Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste in select locations around the country, and we're pleased to add Alton, Illinois to that list! The Altonians (is that the right word?) have been incredibly friendly to us, and The Telegraph, Alton's local paper, even published an article this morning welcoming us to town and detailing for its readers how Dr. Wright brought his Vortex Toothpaste to market (check out the article here). Thanks, Telegraph! We're glad to be in Alton, too!

Vortex User Survey Results Are In!

I've just finished up the newest Vortex press release about the survey results--such exciting news!

USER SURVEY SAYS KIDS BRUSH TWICE AS LONG WITH VORTEX COLOR CHANGING TOOTHPASTE—AND MORE VIGOROUSLY, TOO

St. Louis—April 10, 2012—Getting children to brush their teeth doesn’t have to be a battle. A recent survey of Vortex customers reveals that kids are brushing longer and more vigorously with the revolutionary color changing toothpaste! With its gentle bubble-gum grape flavor, no bitter foaming agent, and fun color changing feature, kids genuinely enjoy brushing with Vortex.

69% of parents said their child brushed at least twice as long with Vortex as they did with their former toothpaste, with 8% saying that their child brushed three times longer with Vortex! When asked how vigorously the child brushed with Vortex, when compared with their former toothpaste, 69% of Vortex customers said that their child brushed more vigorously with Vortex than with their former toothpaste.

The comments were also overwhelmingly positive for Vortex. One parent wrote that, “After my kids used their first tube of toothpaste and I had to recorder, they were actually EXCITED when the refills came and rushed upstairs to brush. That was definitely the first time in the annals of brushing history that happened!” Another wrote that, “[S]he loves the flavor of the toothpaste and looks forward to teeth brushing time.”

It’s a clear victory for Vortex Toothpaste inventor Dr. Howard Wright, who specifically designed Vortex to act both as a timer to encourage children to brush for a longer amount of time, and also as a game to persuade children to brush more vigorously. And he’s thrilled that his invention is working out just as he planned.

“Parents tell me that kids will brush and brush and brush until they can make all of the red and blue toothpaste turn purple,” says Vortex toothpaste inventor Dr. Wright. “The fact that they’re in charge of the color change makes them more engaged and interested in the action of brushing their teeth, which is key.”

This new survey data comes on the heels of the news that Vortex protects young teeth two and a half times better than conventional toothpaste. It’s truly an exciting time to be in color-changing toothpaste business.

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 $5.95, and is proudly manufactured in Muskegon, Michigan.

"Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste, JWB random sampling, post-use survey results, February 2012"

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  jwbuha@vortextoothpaste.com

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

Happy Tuesday, everyone! And what better way to kick off the week than a new episode of "Dr. Wright Breaks It Down for You"?

In this week's episode (this month's, more truthfully....), Vortex Toothpaste inventor Dr. Wright and I talk about how soap works--and we even manage to integrate the video game  "Angry Birds" into the mix!

Mr. Dad and GreatDad Seals of Approval for Vortex! And our April Review Roundup!

April is finally here! That means baseball season, April showers, and an April Review Roundup!

 But first, we're so pleased to announce that Vortex has won the GreatDad Recommends and the Mr. Dad Seal of Approval for Spring 2012!

From their website:

Vortex Color Changing Toothpaste (Wright Toothpaste)
The run-up to stories and lights-out is not always the most enjoyable time of the day. A toothpaste might be a strange thing to see in this list, but when a toothpaste actually makes brushing fun, we're totally on board. And we say that anything that takes the friction out of the daily chores of making the bed, taking the dog out, and brushing the teeth means more good, fun family time.

Thanks GreatDad and Mr.Dad!

And now onto the newest blog reviews...

 

Live, Laugh, Love is written by Tara, a New Jersey mom of a five-year-old. After reviewing Vortex, she wrote:

My son, who will be 5 March 27th, loved this toothpaste because it changes color and I have gotten him to actually brush his teeth longer now because he has to wait for the color to change. My son thinks the toothpaste tastes really good, too. 

Thanks, Tara!

 Sarah, a New Zealand mum of two, is a contributing writer to Colour Me There, which showcases all things bright and colorful, with an emphasis on small, family-run businesses and "quirky/fun/colorful products"--a perfect match for Vortex!

Sarah writes:

As the kids brush, the colours mix and change into purple before their eyes, genius.My daughter thinks it’s great and has been much more interested in the whole task. She’s quite excited that she has her own magic toothpaste with a cool octopus on it… an octopus… go figure!

 Thanks to Sarah and everyone over at Colour Me There!
411 For Fathers: The Missing Manuel for Dads was started by a Virginia-based attorney to help dads like himself navigate the unpredictable waters of fatherhood. Andy reviewed a tube of Vortex for us, and while he thought the cap could be redesigned, he was overall pleased with the product, saying:

The whole, less foamy thing means the consistency is different and took my son by surprise but he really liked not ending up with a mouthful of foam. This made rinsing easier and as an added side benefit, seems to leave less mess in the sink for me to clean up.

I really like the idea that somebody is thinking about ways to get gets to enjoy brushing without just making it bubble gum flavored. I won’t say my son enjoys brushing now but it seems to be less of a battle. I think it’s well worth a try.

Thanks, Andy!

And thanks to everyone for their feedback--we really appreciate it!

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!