
How  Toothpaste Became a Mainstream Product - jkuria
https://capitalandgrowth.org/articles/859/book-summary-the-power-of-habit.html
======
gumby
There are some unconvincing examples here!

> The most famous and widespread case of a successful habit change is perhaps
> the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program

It's a reach to call it a "successful habit change" given that actual study
show a success rate of less than 3%.

> We also know that we all have a limited supply of willpower.

Actually it looks like that isn't the case after all.

Etc.

~~~
erikb
> > We also know that we all have a limited supply of willpower.

> Actually it looks like that isn't the case after all.

Huh? You mean you've read an article, or there are several independent studies
showing what you say?

I really doubt that this would be untrue because I can apply it to my life and
it makes things better.

~~~
gumby
There have been several studies that have failed to support that now 20-year-
old hypothesis: [https://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/24/new-research-
challenges...](https://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/24/new-research-challenges-
the-idea-that-willpower-is-a-limited-resource/) [https://hbr.org/2016/11/have-
we-been-thinking-about-willpowe...](https://hbr.org/2016/11/have-we-been-
thinking-about-willpower-the-wrong-way-for-30-years)

------
throwaway5752
"The last claim was outright untrue as the 'film' he alluded to in the
advertisement is a naturally occurring membrane which cannot be removed by
toothpaste"

Is that true? I think the outermost layer of a tooth is just enamel. Open to
being wrong (not a dentist) but I think it somewhat detracts from credibility
(even though toothpaste is not actually the thrust of the article).

~~~
moftz
There is plaque build up which the "fuzzy" feeling that you might have after
waking up in the morning or just after not brushing for awhile. It's a biofilm
but it's easily removed by brushing.

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tritium
The social mechanisms and agents operating business channels to broadly affect
change in behavioral norms through obtuse, distributed influence and produce
widely held beliefs with financial results for large companies and economic
outcomes across an entire industry, doesn't interest me as much as other
aspects surrounding the story of twentieth century medical and cosmetic
products.

Namely, what toothpaste is, how it works, and the prevailing clues offered as
bellwethers for its effectiveness as a preventative treatment.

This is the story of how to make something happen, whether it's useful and
valuable to the individual or not. I'd rather see that story prefaced or
intermingled with the details of a product's true utility, before hearing
about the complicated and concerted effort to bring such a product to market
(warts and all). I don't feel that such details are beyond the scope of a
story of commercial success. Far from it. The mechanics of genuine utility are
of paramount relevance, at least eye-to-eye with the behind-the-scenes
schmoozings of success.

Missing from the story are the odd details that reveal flouride's role in
dental health, and its hazards and side effects as a medication. Also missing,
is the detail regarding the industrial scale source of flouride's precursors,
glossed over, even with the mention of at least one aluminum company, and
hints implying a nod to the war effort, prior to the start of the second world
war.

It's also short on specific dates, skipping across broad periods, mentioning
mostly decades as eras of activity or progress.

Flouride and dentistry are weird topics with a lot of trivia, but this article
only explains the activities of businessmen operating from advantageous
positions, which for the most part, given the hindsight of the article lend an
almost obvious and deterministic view of the outcome of their success. It
reads like the musings of an amateur hunter relishing the idea of a canned
hunt.

Without including the low-level hard science of why toothpaste is effective,
this story casts toothpaste in a role as seemingly empty as perhaps the
Juicero juicer [0], or any number of other hollow products sold via
infommercial or trumpeted alongside buzz words like _Internet of Things_.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juicero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juicero)

~~~
thatcat
>the low level hard science

The science is pretty basic. CaCO3 powder made into a paste form provides a
source of calcium and alkalinity - protecting the teeth from acid created by
bacteria. The rest is marketing. The effective way to deliver flouride is a
higher concentration that only touches your teeth, which is how it is used at
the dentist after a cleaning.

If toothpaste's success was based on utility there would be brands offering
probiotic paste that colonizes your mouth and uses glucose with out making
biofilms or having acid as an end product of metabolism. Then you wouldn't
even really need to constantly brush your teeth or buy more toothpaste. The
maximum utility product would cost a lot to develop and ruin the business
model.

~~~
tritium
That science isn’t basic, considering the period in which the product was
introduced. The manner of action is pretty subtle, and an impatient person
seeking immediate results would not be inclined to believe in mechanisms that
lack readily observable results.

This is _why_ toothpaste’s marketing relies heavily on peer pressure and
establishing trust in habitual use. Habitual use also carries the obviously
juicy benefit of boosting volume and revenue.

------
violetchahcki
Right now there are no effective hygiene products for nasal area. Something
like a harmless mist that instantly drains all the mucus from the sinuses
(along with all the bacterial/viral load that cause health problems and bad
breath) would be real nice. Again, some sort of mouthwash that instantly
dissolves tonsil stones would be even better :) But such items are currently
absent from the roster of hygienic products. Safe products like these would
make someone an overnight billionaire or make stocks of Johnson & Johnson /
Colgate - Palmolive jump higher:)

~~~
vanderZwan
> Something like a harmless mist that instantly drains all the mucus from the
> sinuses (along with all the bacterial/viral load that cause health problems
> and bad breath) would be real nice.

This might sounds too low-tech (and can't be patented), but simple nasal
irrigation with a lukewarm isotonic saline solution works pretty well for me
in this department.

~~~
naravara
>This might sounds too low-tech (and can't be patented), but simple nasal
irrigation with a lukewarm isotonic saline solution works pretty well for me
in this department

In terms of building habits and routines, I think the trouble with nasal
irrigation is that it takes too much work to prep the water. I do it during
allergy season, but only because my hay fever is bad enough that the relief is
a big help. If you want people to make a habit out of it in the absence of
having their sinuses assaulted by trees, it would be good if there was a way
to have water for your neti pot as easily available as toothpaste is.

You'd need a gizmo that can quickly and easily take an adequate quantity of
water, sanitize it, bring it to temperature, and add the appropriate quantity
of salt to make it isotonic without too much effort on the part of the user.

~~~
bradyd
Check out Arm & Hammer Simply Saline. It's basically exactly what you are
looking for. The water is room temperature, but I have not found any issue
with that.

~~~
naravara
Seems about right, but that I imagine that would wind up being really
expensive if you make a habit out of it. It's showing up as $15-$20 for 12oz.
. .

~~~
ivanche
I'm shocked by this price. In Serbia you can buy prepared 0.9% NaCl solution
for $1 for 18oz.

~~~
vanderZwan
Maybe in the US it has to have medical certification, and in Serbia the seller
is allowed/smart enough to just get it through _food_ certification?

~~~
ivanche
Excellent question! I am definitely not an expert in medical and food
certification. I might be wrong in this case (and I'm often wrong anyway). Yet
I believe the manufacturer has medical certification because I've seen the
same NaCl solution bottles used in infusion therapy in hospitals, on the label
is printed "medicine" at least twice and the manufacturer is one of the
largest domestic producer and exporter of medicines in Serbia.

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mgv11
Just finished this book last week actually. Though it was interesting and
helpful to identify what habits are really are and how to change.

------
rapfaria
TL;DR: Cliff Notes of "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg, with a
clickbaity title.

~~~
yesenadam
Ah thanks, yes it is, and extremely badly written. I couldn't stand the style
for long.

------
Overtonwindow
There's a better discussion of this with the author on Fresh Aire.

~~~
dredmorbius
From 2012?

[https://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-
for...](https://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-
to-break-them)

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tobyhinloopen
thank you for reminding me I need to buy toothpaste

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Untit1ed
Interesting content, but it really needs a proof-read. There's entire repeated
sentences that have evidently been copy-pasted during a rewrite and never
deleted from their original location :/.

~~~
jkuria
Thanks for the feedback. We've now hired an editor and the next book summaries
should be higher quality.

