The Toothpaste Story

No, I am not talking about the toothpaste history, its ingredients or how its going to protect our teeth. Just some observations that I want to share.
Our pearly white, off-white teeth could be attributed to the different variant of toothpastes available in the market today. Surely customer is the king.
There are toothpastes available to cater depending on individuals oral health. Also based on their age and tastes.
The early toothpaste was invented by Egyptians as early as 3000-3500 BC. Many people in India still use home-made mixtures to clean their teeth - the ingredients range from ash, salt, mud, neem twigs...
About two decades ago, there were mainly 2 prominent brands in India. The earlier toothpaste would come in an aluminum tube, hard to squeeze out. It offered no flavours as we have today.
They started by introducing different colors to the boring white toothpaste later which came in easily squeezable plastic tube. I as a child no longer had to run to my dad to help me squeeze out the paste.

The 90s saw a lot of potential in the oral health market in India.. The market has improved, we see mouth wash, gels, teeth whiteners....You name it and we have it - Salt, Calcium fortified, Herbal, Gels, Flavours targeted for children - fruit flavour, mint, spearmint, peppermint, vanilla, chocolate, animation characters....Toothpastes specific to fight plaque, tartar, fight against cavity, for long lasting fresh breath, for tooth whitening. Each one have their own marketing strategy with an enticing name and a fitting tag line - "Cool blue", Tingly Red", Icy Blast", Oxy rich"..... .
Toothpastes also come with sparkling granular ingredients and few of them are stipred toothpaste which has more than one colored toothpaste.
The boring white paste now comes as a treat to your sleepy eyes with all its colors and tiny sparkling bits of ingredients.

The product which occupied just about 2 shelves in our neighborhood store now occupies an entire section in our super market and it is indeed tough choosing one of them..

I was curious to read the history of the toothpaste. I found a site which also had few interesting facts
http://www.toothpasteworld.com/history.htm
http://www.toothpasteworld.com/facts.htm