The benefits for adding pentasodium triphosphate as an ingredient in toothpaste is for stain removal and prevention. It's basically an anti-plaque and anti-tartar agent, making it similar to pyrophosphates. Overall, you can expect whiter teeth and healthier gums with consistent use of this ingredient.
Pentasodium triphosphate in toothpaste: Overview
Description: Sodium salt
Benefits: Stain removal & prevention; Anti-plaque & Anti-tartar
Side effects: Soft tissue irritation
Safety: Safe for use in food products
What is pentasodium triphosphate?
Pentasodium triphosphate is a sodium salt in the form of a white crystalline powder that is odorless. It is commonly used as a detergent, food preservative, and of course in toothpaste!
Other synonyms:
Sodium triphosphate (STP)
Sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP)
Tripolyphosphate (TPP)
Essentially, it is a highly charged chelating agent (TPP5-) which makes it bind very tightly to dications and prevents them from interfering with other substances.
What pentasodium triphosphate does in toothpaste
The primary toothpaste benefits for pentasodium triphosphate are stain removal/prevention and also anti-tartar/plaque. These are both quintessential effects necessary for the making of a good toothpaste.
Stain removal & prevention: Brushing with this toothpaste can help remove stains and also prevent new ones from forming. This effect when coupled with whitening abrasives in toothpastes, help make whitening toothpastes whiten teeth!
Studies have shown that this ingredient has a binding affinity to calcium phosphate in the enamel and dentin. That allows it to desorb biofilms which contributes to its ability to remove existing surface stains. This action also inhibits new stains/chromogens from being adsorbed onto the tooth structure.
Anti-tartar & Anti-plaque: Since plaque and tartar consist of mostly calcium and phosphate, the strong binding affinity of STP, will facilitate its removal from the teeth. Consequently this also prevents them from adhering to the teeth which means you should have less plaque and tartar buildup while using it.
Whitening efficacy
Whitening toothpastes often include pentasodium triphosphate due to its stain removal and prevention capabilities. It is certainly more helpful to have an ingredient that facilitates the removal of stains and its future occurrence.
However, studies have shown that toothpastes with STP often did have an adequate whitening effect but its efficacy wasn't that different from toothpastes with only whitening abrasives.
Another study found that there was no significant whitening effect from the chemical agent pentasodium triphosphate.
Despite these results from research studies, we would still say that it is probably more helpful to have it in whitening toothpaste than to not have it. The difference it makes may not be as big as we wished it to be.
Side effects
Excessive exposure can lead to irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory system. The irritation is due to its alkalinity, which is similar to how lye causes irritation.
In the mouth, it can be drying since it does possess attributes of a detergent. That means it should be similar to how SLS can affect your teeth and gums. There is a potential it could also be a canker sore irritant as well.
Safety
Sodium tripolyphosphate is generally recognized as safe to use in food products when manufactured according to guidelines. After all, it is commonly used as a food preservative especially in seafood. That means we've all probably ingested some of it at least a couple of times in our lifetime.
As of the moment there have been no reports of it being a carcinogen, mutagenic, reproductive, teratogenic, and developmental effects.
Takeaway
Our dentists in Long Island City often see this ingredient in a lot of toothpastes which state that it is meant for whitening. We see no harm in using it since it is often used in food as a preservative so it is by no means dangerous. However, we wouldn't expect supremely white teeth after using it since research studies have been lukewarm about its efficacy.
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