Colgate Optic White Pro Series Toothpaste Dentist Review

This is my personal review of the Colgate optic white pro series toothpaste after having used and tested it. I’ll give you my subjective thoughts as well as the hard objective scientific facts about this whitening toothpaste.

Is it worth a try? Let’s find out.

Disclaimer: Yes, I am a dentist and no, I do not have any financial affiliations with Colgate.

Overview

The optic white pro series toothpaste is a part of Colgate’s new line of whitening products which they’ve branded as “Optic White”. Typically, all of the optic white products come in bright red packaging and that includes this particular toothpaste.

The pro series toothpaste is the crown jewel of the entire optic white product line.

Colgate markets it as the most potent whitening toothpaste because it has the highest concentration of hydrogen peroxide (5%) in any toothpaste. To our current knowledge, that claim is true… Crest has a product that has 4% and that is the second most potent.

I was eager to give this toothpaste a try because based on the ingredients, it did seem like it was the most effective whitening toothpaste. It literally holds the title for the highest concentration of hydrogen peroxide out of any OTC whitening toothpaste.

Unboxing

You can purchase the optic white pro series toothpaste directly from their website, amazon, or any other online distributor.

The toothpaste comes in an hourglass shaped box that is mostly black and red in color. The wording is peppered onto the dark color with white font so it does stand out.

The color and packaging gives off a bold and aggressive feel to this product.

Upon opening the box, I did like how the tube was nestled into the packaging. There were cardboard cutouts that kind of cradle and protect the toothpaste.

Only the exterior box came with tamper-proof packaging. The actual tube of toothpaste itself did not have any seal on it. Although most toothpastes don’t except the hydroxyapatite ones which do.

It’s not an issue that there is no interior seal but it’s just a detail that I’ve noticed since I recently reviewed 3 different hydroxyapatite toothpastes. Those all came with a seal.

Appearance

My initial impression was that this is a very small tube of toothpaste! It’s literally 3 oz which is quite small in comparison to this gargantuan sized colgate peroxide toothpaste that is 8 oz.

Although what I do really like about it is that the entire tube of toothpaste stands upright. That is a big welcome change from conventional toothpaste which often lay flat on the counter. The fact that it stands vertically does help you save space and it gives it a cleaner look.

Tube texture

The texture of the tube feels like any run of the mill plastic. If I had to compare it to one of the fancy toothpastes out there, the plastic quality doesn’t feel as luxe. The most luxe feeling toothpaste tube that I’ve ever laid my hands on was the Boka Ela Mint.

Nonetheless, a perk for having the tube stand upright is that it allows gravity to pull the paste down on its own. You don’t have to go squeezing it to milk every last drop of it when you get close to finishing. This toothpaste is on the pricier side so you definitely do want to get as much as you can out of it.

Ingredients

We’ve provided a full list of the ingredients in the optic white pro series toothpaste. Fairly standard ingredients for regular toothpaste. The one thing that stands out is the high percentage of peroxide.

Whitening agent:

• Hydrogen peroxide (5%) – used for chemical bleaching of the teeth.

Remineralization agent:

• Sodium Monofluorophosphate (0.76%) – for cavity prevention and repairing enamel.

Whitening abrasives:

• Silica – mild natural whitening abrasive.

Stain and tartar prevention:

• PVP – prevents staining by preventing stain molecules from adhering onto teeth.
• Calcium pyrophosphate – tartar control agent but also prevents stains.
• Tetrasodium pyrophosphate – tartar and stain prevention
• Disodium pyrophosphate – anti-tartar agent

Flavoring:

• Flavor – yes this is the actual listed ingredient…
• Sucralose – sweetener
• Sodium saccharin – sweetener for flavoring

Others:

• Poloxamer 105 – surfactant/emulsifier
• PEG/PPG-116/66 copolymer – humectant which prevents toothpaste from drying.
• Sodium lauryl sulfate – foaming and surfactant
• BHT – synthetic antioxidant that is used as a preservative

What it’s like using optic white pro series toothpaste

After using the colgate optic white pro series toothpaste, the most prominent sensations are the texture and sensation. It was a very gritty or sandy feeling toothpaste that had a lot of foaming. It also does make your gums tingle a bit from sensitivity.

Overall, it does give you the feeling that it is whitening your teeth.

Color Smell Taste Consistency

The color of the optic white toothpaste is an opaque white. Color seems on par with all of the other whitening toothpastes.

This toothpaste smells like mint and menthol although it doesn’t list it as one of the ingredients. The mintiness isn’t overpowering in my opinion and its definitely not a singe your nose hair kind of product.

This toothpaste does taste fairly minty.

During the first time that I used it, I had a slightly familiar taste which I couldn’t quite point out. It tasted sort of like a type of candy that I knew. After a minute, I realized that it tasted like a root beer flavored jelly bean.

However, upon consecutive uses of this product I didn’t pick up that root beer flavor again. Perhaps it was a fluke of some sort?

Nonetheless, it’s a fairly standard minty tasting breath freshening toothpaste that also whitens your teeth.

Immediately after brushing your teeth with the optic white pro series, you’ll notice how incredibly gritty the texture of the toothpaste is. To me it felt like a slurry of pumice while I was brushing my teeth.

It is very textured which is quite unlike most toothpastes which have a smooth consistency. Despite the texture-ness of this product, it didn’t feel like it was abrasive on my teeth though strangely enough.

It was also very foamy as well since it does contain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). It foamed a lot more than the colgate baking soda peroxide toothpaste that I had.

Last but not least, I like to do the upside down toothbrush test to evaluate the consistency and how it holds up. When I turned the toothbrush upside down, it did not drip off the toothbrush head so it’s fairly stable shape wise.

Does it work?

Yes, the colgate optic white pro series works in whitening your teeth because it contains a legitimate whitening agent, hydrogen peroxide. It has the highest concentration of peroxide (5%) out of any OTC whitening toothpaste.

I can tell you first hand that it does because upon my second use of this toothpaste, it actually bleached my gums white. Yes, you read that correctly, it was potent enough to whiten my gums and here is a photo to prove it.

Sorry, I forgot to shave (: But yes you can see the edge of my gums there looks white.

When I brushed with it again the next morning, a different spot on my gums turned white. I’m going to anticipate this happening to random spots each time I use this toothpaste.

But yes, this is the first time in my life that I’ve had a whitening toothpaste bleach my gums white. You usually ONLY get bleached gums if you use a professional take home whitening kit from your dentist. Alternatively it also happens during professional in-office whitening sessions.

Never has a whitening toothpaste been potent enough to do this!

In case you were concerned, my gums weren’t painful. I was feeling a tingling sensation as I was brushing with it. The gum color returned to pink after about 1-2 hours and I didn’t need to do anything to heal it. Although there are ways to treat it at home if it gets bad.

Disclaimer: The instructions say to use twice daily… However, I did brush with this two times within the span of two hours. I opened it at 11 am so I brushed with it to test it out. Then I had lunch and brushed again at 12:45 am with it, which is when it turned my gums white.

Objective scientific facts

Objectively speaking, this toothpaste does possess the potential to chemically bleach or whiten your teeth because it contains hydrogen peroxide.

The fact that there is peroxide in it already puts it head and shoulders above the rest of whitening toothpastes. Most generic whitening toothpastes do NOT contain hydrogen peroxide and only whiten your teeth by using abrasives.

There is a difference between abrasive vs chemical teeth whitening.

Abrasive whitening in toothpastes

Toothpastes that use abrasives for whitening typically contain silica, baking soda, or charcoal. These “whiten” your teeth by scrubbing away stains that may be on your teeth. Essentially it whitens by mechanically abrading away extrinsic stains.

Chemical whitening in toothpastes

Toothpastes that use hydrogen peroxide will chemically whiten your teeth. When we say chemically whiten, we mean that the peroxide can diffuse through the tooth enamel to bleach away the intrinsic stains. This is the type of whitening you think of when you get your teeth whitened at the dentist.

Most whitening toothpastes do not actually contain hydrogen peroxide so they can only whiten with abrasives. That means it won’t remove intrinsic tooth staining.

However, for the optic white pro series, it contains both abrasives AND peroxide in it. That means it can remove extrinsic stains and intrinsic stains.

• Contains silica which is a whitening abrasive.
• Contains 5% hydrogen peroxide which is a chemical whitener.

Is it safe to use?

According to Colgate, the optic white pro series toothpaste is enamel safe.

Yes, I understand that excessive teeth whitening can make your teeth extremely sensitive and it can also demineralize your enamel. That is true if you’re using the whitening strips, pens, or any type of gel.

However, the reason why the optic white toothpaste is safer is because it also happens to contain fluoride in it. Yes, the peroxide will slightly weaken the enamel but at the same time, the fluoride will repair and re-strengthen it.

Due to the fact that whitening with a toothpaste has concurrent fluoride in it, I would personally say that it is safer than using the strips. The whitening strips do not contain fluoride so it is missing out on the enamel strengthening.

Potential side effects

While the pro series toothpaste is probably one of the safer whitening products out there, that does not preclude it from side effects.

Adverse effects:

• Teeth sensitivity
• Gums bleaching

Personally for me, my enamel didn’t really get that sensitive using it but the toothpaste does occasionally turn my gums a little white.

If your teeth feel too sensitive from this, you can alternate it with your normal toothpaste.

How often am I supposed to use it?

The directions on the box say to use the optic white pro series toothpaste twice daily and you should see results within 14 days.

However, in my opinion… due to the high concentration of peroxide and the small size of the toothpaste, I don’t believe you should be using this daily for an entire year. I think you’re supposed to use it as more of a whitening treatment.

If you feel your teeth getting yellow, you should use it for 2 weeks straight. Then you can can probably use it once a day or every other day for awhile. Then every so often perhaps you should do another twice daily 2 week session.

Another reason why I say that is because it can make your teeth sensitive. It would be good to alternate it with your regular fluoride toothpaste during MOST of the year. You can do small spurts or bursts of whitening with this toothpaste to help ward off stains.

The Verdict

It is of my opinion that this is the most effective whitening toothpaste on the market. It actually contains a chemical bleaching agent, hydrogen peroxide which most whitening toothpastes do not have.

If you were in doubt of its whitening efficacy, look no further than the fact that this toothpaste actually whitened my gums. I’ve never had a whitening toothpaste that was potent enough to do that!

Therefore if you were looking to get whiter teeth, I think you should give the colgate optic white pro series toothpaste a try.

Would I recommend it for everyone?

Despite saying that it’s the best whitening toothpaste in the market, it’s not for everyone.

Who it’s for:

• If your teeth aren’t prone to sensitivity but you want whiter teeth.
• You’ve tried other whitening toothpastes but they haven’t worked.

Who I don’t think is suitable for it:

• Your teeth feel sensitive when you drink cold water.
• You’ve had bad sensitivity when whitening with other products.

Essentially if you’ve dentinal hyper sensitivity, this may not be the best toothpaste for you because it is so potent. The good news is that Colgate has anticipated this and does make products with less hydrogen peroxide.

• Optic white renewal toothpaste – 3% hydrogen peroxide
• Optic white advanced toothpaste – 2% hydrogen peroxide

Give one of the above two alternatives a try if you’re too sensitive to the pro series toothpaste.