If you are comparing hydroxyapatite products, the dose is the number to ask every brand for. Sangi answers that question more honestly than most, by saying plainly that it does not disclose it. Minvelle is a chewing gum you use between brushings, not a replacement for brushing, and it publishes the weight: 5.7 mg of nano-hydroxyapatite per 1.9 g piece, printed on the box. One piece a day, 18 pieces per box, chewed for at least 20 minutes.

At a glance

Apagard and Minvelle, side by side

Swipe sideways on mobile. Apagard data from Sangi's English pages (sangi-co.com/en), checked 25 September 2026; yen prices from a Sangi promotional site for Japan, spring 2026. The products do different jobs: a toothpaste is for brushing, a gum for between brushings.

Part 1

Which Apagard? The Japanese site and the English one

Start with where the information lives, because it confuses searchers. The brand domain, apagard.com, is real and belongs to Sangi: its registry record shows it was registered on April 19, 1999, through a Japanese registrar, and it shares name servers with Sangi's corporate site. But it is a Japanese-language site. There is no English section on it; the addresses apagard.com/en and apagard.com/en/ both returned a "not found" error when we checked on 25 September 2026. The Japanese homepage links its English content out to a different domain, sangi-co.com/en, Sangi's bilingual corporate site, registered in 2004.

So if you are reading in English, Sangi's corporate site is the brand's own voice. Everything we quote from Sangi in this review comes from there: the company profile, the history timeline, the Medical Hydroxyapatite page, the mechanism page, the FAQ and the individual product pages.

The second thing to know is that Apagard is one of two Sangi toothpaste brands. The other is Apadent. They share the same active ingredient, they sit on the same product page, and they are easy to mix up. Sangi also sells a third line, Denta Apato, only in Japan, and a professional line for dentists called Renamel or APAPRO. Part 13 goes through Apagard vs Apadent in detail. For now, the practical rule: when a study or a listing names "Sangi", check which of these lines it actually means.

The third thing is region. Sangi's English product page marks some Apagard products as available only in Japan, and some Apadent products as sold only outside Japan. A tube you see in a Tokyo drugstore may simply not exist in an export version, and the other way round. Part 6 maps every Apagard product to its region flag, word for word.

Part 2

Who makes Apagard: Sangi Co., Ltd.

The company is SANGI CO., LTD. Its English company profile, checked on 25 September 2026, gives these details:

Company name SANGI CO., LTD. Established September 7, 1974. Representatives Shuji Sakuma, Chairman / Roslyn Hayman, President. Employees 116 (as of January 2025).

The head office is at 3-11-6 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, and the Central Research Center is in Kasukabe, Saitama. The same profile describes the business as "Remineralizing hydroxyapatite oral care products, in particular toothpastes APAGARD, APADENT, Denta Apato and others", alongside a soy health drink, food additives, antimicrobial agents and a skincare line. Every page of the English site carries an ISO 9001 certificate number, JQA-QMA15204.

The founder is Shuji Sakuma, who signs the company greeting as "Chairman and Founder". The greeting explains the unusual name: it is "taken from the three principles (San-Gi) of the Chinese scholar Mencius, namely 'The timing of the heavens, the riches of the earth and the harmony of men.'" It also frames hydroxyapatite as the company's core: "Our core technology is hydroxyapatite, a biomaterial essential to life."

One limit on our checks, stated openly: we tried to confirm Sangi's corporate number in Japan's national corporate registry, but its search runs as a script-driven application that our tools could not drive. The company's name, address and founding date are nonetheless consistent across three separate documents: its own profile page, the funding statement of a 2018 study that names "Sangi Co. Ltd. (Japan)", and the letterhead of a December 2025 press release.

Where the NASA story comes from

You will often read that Apagard is "NASA toothpaste". Sangi's own account is more careful, and worth reading in its own words. From its Medical Hydroxyapatite history page:

Sangi was founded as a trading company in 1974, and first came to know of hydroxyapatite via a patented technology of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) while trading patents... NASA was working on a solution to the problem of protecting astronauts' teeth and bones in a zero-gravity environment and proposed using a hydroxyapatite precursor called brushite as a filler to restore this necessary mineral... Taking a hint from the NASA patent, Sangi suggested that if hydroxyapatite... could be used in toothpaste, it would be absorbed into the surface of teeth.

And then the key sentence: Sangi "succeeded in synthesizing hydroxyapatite through its own technology and efforts." Its timeline lists the step in 1976: "NASA patent relating to tooth remineralization acquired." In 2024 Sangi received the U.S. Space Technology Hall of Fame award, per the same timeline.

So the accurate version is: Apagard was inspired by a NASA patent, and the patent concerned brushite, a precursor, not the hydroxyapatite in the tube. Sangi says it developed its own hydroxyapatite synthesis. The toothpaste is not a NASA product, and Sangi does not say it is.

Part 3

The timeline: Apadent 1980, Apagard 1985

A common mistake, including in some articles that compare hydroxyapatite toothpastes, is to call Apagard the 1980 original. Sangi's own timeline says otherwise. The first product was Apadent; Apagard came five years later as the second brand. Sangi's December 2025 press release carries a "40th APAGARD" badge, which matches a 1985 launch.

Source: sangi-co.com/en/history and Sangi press release No. 2025-02, checked 25 September 2026.

Two entries matter for buyers. Exports began only in 2011, so Apagard is a long-established brand in Japan but a relatively recent one on export shelves. And the 2013 Canada entry says "OEM brand": Canada first received a product made by Sangi for another label, not necessarily one sold under the Apagard or Apadent name. Sangi's current partner page counts 28 export countries; we come back to which ones in Part 9.

Part 4

Medical Hydroxyapatite and the 1993 approval

This is the part of the Apagard story that deserves the most credit, and it is the one most reviews skip. In Japan, toothpastes with an approved active ingredient are regulated as quasi-drugs, a category between cosmetics and medicines. Sangi's timeline records that in 1993 its "proprietary hydroxyapatite" was "approved as an active anticaries ingredient" under the name Medical Hydroxyapatite, abbreviated <mHAP>. The FAQ repeats the point in its answer on concentration: the ingredient "has been approved as effective in protecting against caries by Japanese authorities."

Each Apagard formula is registered under its own formal Japanese product name, shown on Sangi's promotional price list: Premio is サンギXLC2 (Sangi XLC2), M-plus is サンギMPC, Smokin' is サンギMSC, Serena is サンギMSR, and Soft is サンギMG. A separate registration name per formula is how Japan's quasi-drug system works.

Why this matters: most hydroxyapatite toothpastes sold in the US are cosmetics. Their makers can say what the ingredient is meant to do, but no regulator has approved it as an active for caries. Sangi's active went through that process in Japan more than thirty years ago. That is a genuine distinction, and in our reading of the category a rare one.

"Clinically approved", not "clinically proven"

Read Sangi's wording closely and you will notice it describes nano Medical Hydroxyapatite as "clinically approved", meaning approved by a government authority. It does not use the marketing phrase "clinically proven". The difference is real. An approval says a regulator accepted the evidence for an ingredient; it is not a claim that any particular tube was tested in a trial. Sangi's choice of words is the accurate one, and we will use it the same way.

Not the same as "hydroxyapatite" on other labels

Sangi also draws a line between its active and the hydroxyapatite you see on other ingredient lists. From its mechanism page:

As Medical Hydroxyapatite, it is also distinguished from other hydroxyapatites used as a base material or abrasive in toothpastes and is formulated only in Sangi's own products and a number of OEM products supplied by Sangi.

In plain terms: "hydroxyapatite" on a label is a chemical name, not a specification. Particle size, purity and the amount in the tube all vary between suppliers. Sangi says its approved ingredient is only in its own products and the OEM products it makes. You cannot check that from outside, but it is a clear, quotable position, and it explains why Sangi treats its active as a named material rather than a generic one.

Part 5

The percentage: what Sangi says, in its own words

The most searched Apagard question is some version of "Apagard Premio hydroxyapatite percentage". Here is Sangi's answer, from its English FAQ, checked on 25 September 2026:

Q5 What is the percentage of nano<mHAP> in your toothpaste? The percentage of nano<mHAP> in Sangi's toothpastes is not disclosed, but has been approved as effective in protecting against caries by Japanese authorities.

That is the complete answer. We checked the ingredient lists on twelve Sangi product pages: Premio, Premio XtraMint, M-plus, Royal, Smokin', Soft, Deep-Care, Apakid's, Apakid's Gel, Apadent Total Care, Apadent Sensitive and Apadent Perio. Each lists "HYDROXYAPATITE (NANO)" and none gives a percentage next to it. The concentration of hydroxyapatite in Apagard Premio, or in any other Sangi toothpaste, is not published by Sangi. If you see a specific percentage quoted for Premio or for any other Sangi toothpaste, it does not come from Sangi's FAQ or product pages, and you should ask the source where it did come from.

What Sangi does say: a ranking

Sangi does not give absolute numbers, but it does compare its own products. The FAQ says Premio is the "Premium care type, containing 1.4 times as much nano<mHAP> as the other two types, for greater whitening and anti-caries protection", the other two being M-plus and Smokin'. And on Royal: "Apagard Royal has the highest content of nano<mHAP> in Sangi's Apagard series. Compared to Apagard M-plus, Apagard Royal contains 2 times as much nano<mHAP>."

That gives a usable order even without a percentage: Royal (2x M-plus), then Premio (1.4x M-plus), then M-plus and Smokin'. It does not tell you how much any of them contains, and it would be a mistake to invent a number by multiplying from a figure found somewhere else. We do not, and neither should a buyer.

Particle size: a 2003 milestone, not a spec

Sangi also does not publish a current particle size in nanometers. The closest statement is historical. The Medical Hydroxyapatite page says that in 2003 Sangi "succeeded in reducing the particle size of its Medical Hydroxyapatite from the three-digit nano level to the finer two-digit level", which it credits with better enamel penetration and whiteness, "making Sangi's toothpastes the world's first nanotech oral care products." That describes an order of magnitude in 2003. It is not a current specification sheet.

Credit for saying so

It is easy to read "not disclosed" as a criticism, and for a buyer who wants a number it is a real gap. But Sangi deserves credit for answering the question on its own FAQ instead of staying silent or implying a figure. The brand is open about what it does not publish, and it points to its regulatory approval instead. Our Boka toothpaste review found Boka also keeps its percentage private, while our Davids toothpaste review and NOBS toothpaste review show how differently brands handle the same question.

Part 6

Which Apagard to buy: every product, mapped

This is the table most Apagard shoppers are looking for. It lists every Apagard product on Sangi's English product page, what Sangi says about it, how much nano Medical Hydroxyapatite it has relative to M-plus where Sangi states it, the ingredients worth knowing, and whether Sangi sells it outside Japan. The region flags are quoted word for word.

Source: sangi-co.com/en/products and each product's English page, checked 25 September 2026. "Nano-mHAP vs M-plus" is from Sangi's FAQ; Sangi publishes no absolute percentage for any product.

Every Apagard product in the table is marked "No fluoride" on Sangi's page. Sangi also sells toothbrushes and travel sets under the Apagard name; those contain no hydroxyapatite and are left out.

Premio vs Royal vs M-plus: the short answer

If you can buy in Japan, Royal is the top of the range by Sangi's own numbers: twice the nano Medical Hydroxyapatite of M-plus. But the FAQ is explicit that it is hard to get: "Apagard Royal is available only from Sangi's online-shop... Products from Sangi's domestic online-shop are only delivered within Japan." Unless you are in Japan or know someone who is, Royal is out of reach through official channels.

For everyone else, Premio is the highest-content Apagard that Sangi sells for export: 1.4 times the content of M-plus, with xylitol added, in a 105 g tube. That is why it is the Apagard most often recommended outside Japan, and it is where most shoppers should start. Premio XtraMint has the same ingredient list in a different mint flavor.

M-plus is the value choice. It comes in the biggest tube, 130 g, and on Sangi's Japanese price list it costs less per gram than Premio: ¥1,463 for 130 g, about ¥11.3 per gram, against ¥1,683 for 105 g of Premio, about ¥16.0 per gram. It has less hydroxyapatite than Premio and no xylitol. It is also the one Apagard toothpaste named in a published human in situ study, used together with the Deep-Care lotion (Part 8).

Smokin', Serena, Soft and the kids' pastes

Smokin' sits in the same tier as M-plus in Sangi's FAQ, with PVP added to its formula. Sangi's English page does not give a separate type description that we could quote. Serena is the newest Apagard. Sangi's December 2025 press release says it "combines this nano<mHAP> with two stain-care ingredients to help reduce discoloration from daily coffee, tea, wine, and more", naming them as sodium metaphosphate, a cleaning agent, and sodium citrate, a cleaning aid. It won Hall of Fame status at Japan's @cosme awards in 2025. Its English product page returned a "not found" error when we checked, so we cannot give its full ingredient list.

Soft is the only adult Apagard paste without sodium lauryl sulfate, dicalcium phosphate or conchiolin. It is a non-foaming gel, and it is sold only in Japan. For children, Apakid's is exported and has been tested in an independent lab study (Part 8); Apakid's Gel has no SLS but is sold only in Japan.

Which Apagard for which buyer

• You want the most hydroxyapatite you can buy outside Japan: Premio.
• You want the most hydroxyapatite, full stop, and can order within Japan: Royal.
• You want the best price per gram, or the paste that was actually studied: M-plus.
• You mostly care about coffee and tea stains: Serena, by Sangi's description.
• You want to avoid SLS: in adult Apagard pastes, only Soft, and it is Japan-only. Look at other brands.
• You want a vegan paste: skip Premio, M-plus, Royal and Smokin', which contain conchiolin.
• You are buying for a child abroad: Apakid's, which is exported; the gel version is Japan-only.

Part 7

Apagard ingredients: the full Premio list

Sangi publishes plain-text ingredient lists in INCI style on each English product page. Here is Apagard Premio, verbatim:

AQUA, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, GLYCERIN, XYLITOL, HYDROXYAPATITE (NANO), SILICA, PEG-8, SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE, CELLULOSE GUM, AROMA, SODIUM SILICATE, TRIMAGNESIUM PHOSPHATE, HYDROLYZED CONCHIOLIN PROTEIN, SODIUM SACCHARIN, GLYCYRRHETINIC ACID, CETYLPYRIDINIUM CHLORIDE, LAURYL DIETHYLENEDIAMINOGLYCINE HCL

M-plus is almost the same list without xylitol and sodium silicate. Royal and Smokin' add PVP. Read as a formula, Premio is a conventional paste built around nano-hydroxyapatite: water and glycerin as the base, dicalcium phosphate and silica as cleaning agents, sodium lauryl sulfate for foam, cellulose gum to hold it together, saccharin to sweeten it, and cetylpyridinium chloride plus glycyrrhetinic acid, a compound from licorice root, which appear in almost every Sangi formula.

Source: individual product pages at sangi-co.com/en/products, checked 25 September 2026.

Not vegan: conchiolin, not carmine

If you shop vegan, the ingredient to look for is hydrolyzed conchiolin protein, a protein derived from pearl shell. It appears in Premio, Premio XtraMint, M-plus, Royal and Smokin', and in Apadent Total Care. Sangi's own US distributor describes it this way on its brand page: "They also contain the pearl shell ingredient conchiolin, for added luster and gloss." We found no carmine or cochineal in any Sangi ingredient list we read.

"No abrasive ingredient" and the label

One point where Sangi's wording and its ingredient lists pull in different directions. The FAQ asks, "Do your toothpastes contain abrasive ingredients?" and answers: "No abrasive ingredient is contained." Yet nine of the twelve Sangi pastes and lotions we checked list dicalcium phosphate, silica or hydrated silica, ingredients that are usually described in toothpaste formulation as polishing or cleaning agents. Sangi also publishes no RDA, the standard lab score for abrasivity, on any page we checked. We present both statements side by side and leave the reading to you and your dentist; a low-abrasion formula and a formula with no polishing agents are not the same thing, and only an RDA figure would settle how gentle a paste is.

SLS

Sodium lauryl sulfate is in most Apagard pastes. Among Sangi's products, it is absent only from Apagard Soft, the Deep-Care lotion and Apakid's Gel. Two of those three are Japan-only. If you want an SLS-free hydroxyapatite paste outside Japan, Apagard is not the simplest route, and our ranking of the best fluoride-free toothpastes lists alternatives.

Part 8

Does Apagard work? The studies, and who paid

Apagard has a better research record than most hydroxyapatite brands: several peer-reviewed papers test a named Sangi product rather than hydroxyapatite in general. But the papers test different Sangi lines, they use different designs, and the funding differs from paper to paper. We resolved each one in PubMed and, where the full text is free, read it. Here they are, one row per study.

Sources: PubMed records for each PMID and the free full texts at PMC6142669 and PMC8352058, read 25 September 2026.

What the record supports

Credit where it is due. Two published studies test an actual Apagard product by name. The Mahidol University study is the strongest independent point: a university team with no sponsor named put Apagard Apakid's next to a 1000 ppm fluoride toothpaste in a lab model on baby teeth, and found no significant difference in how much surface hardness the teeth regained. The authors concluded that non-fluoridated toothpastes with nano-hydroxyapatite or CPP-ACP "had efficacy in remineralizing effect on primary teeth comparable with 1000 ppm fluoridated toothpaste."

The University of Texas in situ study goes a step closer to real life: enamel was worn in volunteers' mouths. People brushed with Apagard M-plus, then applied either Apagard Deep Care lotion or a placebo lotion. The lotion group showed significantly more remineralization. Note what was compared: the lotion against a placebo lotion, with the same toothpaste in both arms.

The limits, which are in the papers themselves

• Most of the evidence is not about Apagard. The 2018, 2012 and 2016 studies tested Apadent Pro, Renamel and Apadent Total Care. They share Sangi's active, but they are different products.
• No study is a long-term caries trial on an Apagard paste. The Apagard studies are one lab study and one in situ study. Neither counts cavities in people over years.
• One confirmed Sangi-funded study had a mixed result. The 2018 Apadent Pro trial was paid for by Sangi, and on one of its two pain scales the silica control did better. Publishing that is to the researchers' and the sponsor's credit, but it is not a win for the product.
• Funding is unknown for three papers. For the 2021 in situ study, the 2012 Renamel study and the 2016 Moscow study, no funding statement was available to us.
• One of Sangi's own citations cannot be checked. Its mechanism page cites Kondo et al., J Dent Hlth 1999, in Japanese. It returns no result in PubMed.

So, does Apagard work? The fair answer: its active is approved in Japan as an anticaries ingredient, one independent lab study found an Apagard kids' paste comparable to a 1000 ppm fluoride paste on baby teeth, and one in situ study supports the M-plus and Deep Care routine against a placebo lotion. That is more product-specific evidence than most hydroxyapatite brands can show. It is not proof that one tube prevents cavities in you. For the wider picture, read our review of the hydroxyapatite toothpaste studies, the comparison of nano-hydroxyapatite vs fluoride, and why many dentists still default to fluoride.

Minvelle prints the dose on the box: 5.7 mg nano-hydroxyapatite per piece. See the gum.

Part 9

Where to buy Apagard: the official map

Sangi's FAQ is direct about how it sells: "Sangi does not sell directly to retail stores and consumers (except via its online-shop for consumers in Japan)." In Japan, it says, its toothpastes "are available in most drugstores and also in variety stores such as Tokyu Hands and Loft", and through its own online shop, sangishop.jp, which delivers only within Japan. Outside Japan, everything goes through distributors. Sangi's partner page says it "currently exports its brands to 28 countries" and names the partners. Here is what that page showed on 25 September 2026 for the markets most English-speaking searchers are in.

Source: sangi-co.com/en/partners and sangi-co.com/en/faq, checked 25 September 2026. Oceana USA wholesale terms from its own wholesale page, same date.

For the markets behind most English searches, then: in the US there is one official distributor, and it sells to stores, not to you. In the UK, Canada and Australia, Sangi lists no official partner at all. Sangi's own FAQ acknowledges where most overseas buyers end up: "Our products may also be found on sites such as Amazon or eBay internationally." We do not link to marketplaces, and Sangi does not name any specific marketplace seller as authorized.

How to buy with care

• Check the name and size. Premio is 105 g or 53 g; M-plus is 130 g or 63 g. A size Sangi does not list is worth a question to the seller.
• Check the region. If a listing sells Royal, Soft or Apakid's Gel outside Japan, it is an import of a product Sangi marks as Japan-only, not an export version.
• Compare the ingredient list. Sangi publishes each formula in English. A tube whose list differs from the product page is worth asking about.
• Know that returns depend on the seller. Sangi publishes no consumer return policy outside Japan (Part 10).

Part 10

Apagard price, subscription and returns

Sangi publishes no price for the US, UK, Australia or Canada, because it does not sell there directly. The only brand-linked prices we found are in yen, on a Sangi promotional site for Japan tied to a spring 2026 campaign:

Source: apagardpre.com, a Sangi promotional site linked from apagard.com, campaign dated 1 March to 18 May 2026. Japanese domestic prices, for context only.

Prices you see outside Japan are set by importers and resellers, not by Sangi, so they will be higher than these and will vary. We do not quote a dollar or pound price, because there is no brand-published one to quote.

Subscription: none. We found no subscribe-and-save option on Sangi's sites or on its US distributor's site, which fits a brand with no direct shop outside Japan.

Returns and guarantee: none published in English. Sangi's English pages mention no refund, return or satisfaction guarantee. Its US distributor's refund policy page exists but, when we checked its data on 25 September 2026, the policy text itself was empty. There is also no guarantee claim in Sangi's marketing, so there is nothing to compare against a policy. In practice, your return rights are whatever the shop you buy from offers.

Part 11

Is Apagard safe? Regulators, reviews and the ADA Seal

We checked the public safety databases on 25 September 2026:

• FDA: no matches for Sangi or Apagard in the openFDA drug enforcement, food enforcement and cosmetic event databases, no listing in the NDC directory, and none in DailyMed. That fits a fluoride-free toothpaste sold in the US as a cosmetic rather than an over-the-counter drug.
• Health Canada: the official recalls search returned "No results found for your search 'apagard'."
• United Kingdom: the GOV.UK product safety alerts, reports and recalls search returned zero results for Apagard.
• Australia (TGA): we could not check. The TGA site did not respond to our requests across several attempts, so we have no result either way.

Reviews: there is no Trustpilot profile for apagard.com, sangi-co.com or Sangi's US distributor, and the BBB search found no matching business. That means there is no visible pile of unresolved complaints, and also no independent satisfaction score to cite. We would rather say that than invent a star rating.

The ADA Seal: Sangi does not mention the American Dental Association or its Seal of Acceptance anywhere on its English pages that we read. Apagard's approval is Japanese, not American. We are not aware of any nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste that carries the ADA Seal, so its absence is not specific to Apagard.

Advertising review: we tried to search the decisions of the National Advertising Division, but its public search did not return a working results page. We cannot say either way whether any decision concerns Apagard.

On the ingredients: people who react to SLS may prefer Soft, which is sold only in Japan, and anyone avoiding animal-derived ingredients should note the conchiolin. If you have a specific condition, ask your dentist before switching.

Part 12

Apagard lawsuits: what the dockets show

We searched CourtListener's federal docket database on 25 September 2026. A search for "Apagard" returned no cases. A search for Sangi returned one unrelated case in which the word appears incidentally. We found no federal lawsuit naming Sangi Co., Ltd. or Apagard as a party.

A search for Sangi's US distributor, Oceana USA, found two cases that name it as a defendant:

Source: CourtListener dockets 69517014 and 69712511. A complaint states the filing party's position; it is not a finding.

What we can and cannot say. Neither case names Sangi or Apagard; both name only the distributor, and the second also names Amazon. The docket entries we read do not show what either plaintiff claimed, and we did not obtain the complaints, so we do not know whether either case concerned Apagard products at all. Both are marked terminated, within about three months of filing. We do not know whether they ended in a settlement, a dismissal or a judgment. CourtListener's coverage is broad but not complete, so read our result as "none found against Sangi" rather than a certificate.

Part 13

Apagard vs Apadent: same active, different jobs

Apagard and Apadent are both Sangi brands, and both contain nano Medical Hydroxyapatite with no fluoride. The difference is what each line is built for, according to Sangi's own product page headings.

Source: sangi-co.com/en/products and product pages, checked 25 September 2026.

How to choose: if your main goal is cavity protection and a whiter look, Apagard is the line Sangi designed for it, and Premio is its export flagship. If your concern is gums or sensitivity, look at Apadent: Apadent Sensitive is the only Sangi paste with potassium nitrate, the desensitizing agent common in sensitivity toothpastes, and it is made specifically for markets outside Japan. Apadent Total Care is the all-round option and contains the same conchiolin protein as most Apagard pastes.

Part 14

Apagard vs Boka: an old approval vs a US shop

Boka is the brand many US shoppers compare Apagard with. Both are fluoride-free pastes with nano-hydroxyapatite, and, notably, neither publishes a percentage. Our Boka toothpaste review quotes Boka's help center saying it is "unable to share the exact % of nHA" for proprietary reasons. The differences are elsewhere.

Boka facts as documented in our Boka review, checked 25 September 2026.

How to choose: if the regulatory history and Sangi's decades of research on its own products matter most to you, and SLS does not bother you, Apagard Premio is the stronger pick on paper. If you want an SLS-free paste that is easy to buy in the US with a subscription, Boka is the simpler purchase. For more options ranked side by side, see our best fluoride-free toothpaste 2026 guide.

Part 15

Apagard vs Sensodyne: different tools

People who search "Apagard vs Sensodyne" usually have sensitive teeth and want to know if the Japanese paste can replace the one their dentist mentioned. The two are built on different ideas. Sensodyne is best known as a fluoride toothpaste line for sensitive teeth. Apagard is fluoride-free, and none of the Apagard ingredient lists we read contains potassium nitrate. Sangi's anti-sensitivity claims for Apagard rest on its hydroxyapatite; its mechanism page describes the mineral filling the tiny tubules in exposed dentin.

On evidence, the Sangi-funded 2018 trial is the most relevant paper, and it tested Apadent Pro cream, not Apagard. Both it and a silica cream relieved sensitivity; on one of two pain scales the silica cream did significantly better with cold. The 2012 Indiana study found fewer days of sensitivity during bleaching with Sangi's professional Renamel paste than with a placebo. Neither is a test of an Apagard toothpaste against Sensodyne.

How to choose: if sensitivity is the problem, the Sangi product designed for it is Apadent Sensitive, which adds potassium nitrate, not an Apagard paste. Whether you need fluoride as well is a question for your dentist, who knows your caries risk. If you want to remain fluoride-free, our fluoride-free toothpaste ranking compares the options.

Part 16

Paste or gum: where each fits

A toothpaste and a remineralizing gum sometimes end up in the same comparison because both carry hydroxyapatite. They do different jobs, and it helps to be exact about it.

Apagard is a toothpaste. You brush with it for two minutes, twice a day, and its hydroxyapatite is on your teeth for the length of a brush before you spit. That is the brushing window, and it is the core of any routine.

A gum works in the time between brushings: after lunch, after coffee, on a commute, when there is no sink. Minvelle is one piece a day, chewed for at least 20 minutes, with 5.7 mg of nano-hydroxyapatite in each 1.9 g piece and 817 mg of xylitol. The box states the weight of the active per piece, which is the number Sangi chooses not to publish for its pastes. There is no clinical trial on our finished gum, and we say that for the same reason we quoted Sangi's FAQ word for word. What we publish is the dose, the supplier-stated particle size and a batch certificate on the transparency page.

So the honest framing is not Apagard or Minvelle. If Apagard Premio suits you, keep brushing with it. A gum is an add-on for the part of the day a toothpaste does not reach. Our comparison of hydroxyapatite paste vs anti-cavity gum goes further into how the two fit together.

In fairness

What Apagard does well

A review built on documents owes the brand the documents in its favor, and Sangi has a lot of them. Its active ingredient was approved in Japan in 1993 as an anticaries ingredient, a regulatory step that very few hydroxyapatite toothpastes can point to. Sangi has made hydroxyapatite toothpaste since 1980, when it launched what it calls the world's first hydroxyapatite remineralizing toothpaste, and the company has existed since 1974. It describes its active precisely as "clinically approved" rather than "clinically proven".

On disclosure, Sangi publishes full ingredient lists for each product in English, states the relative content between Royal, Premio and M-plus, marks every product with its region, and answers the percentage question openly on its FAQ instead of dodging it. Named Sangi products have been tested by university teams in the US, Thailand and Russia, including one independent lab study with a result comparable to a fluoride paste, and the one confirmed Sangi-funded trial was published with a mixed result intact. We found no FDA, Health Canada or UK recall, and no lawsuit naming Sangi or Apagard. And it does all this without leaning on the NASA story; its own account of that link is more modest than much of the marketing written about it.

None of that changes the undisclosed percentage, the SLS, the conchiolin, or how hard it is to buy officially outside Japan, and those do not cancel this. Both are the record.

Who it suits

Who should buy Apagard, and who should skip it

Apagard fits you if you want a fluoride-free toothpaste whose active has a real regulatory approval behind it and a long research history on named products. It suits you if you value a company that has built its business around hydroxyapatite for fifty years. Premio is the model to buy outside Japan; M-plus if you care more about price per gram or want the paste that was studied.

Consider skipping it if you want to know the percentage or the milligrams of hydroxyapatite, since Sangi does not publish either. Skip most of the range if you avoid SLS or animal-derived ingredients. Skip it if you want a brand-run shop, a subscription or a written refund policy in the US, UK, Canada or Australia; none exists. And if sensitivity is your main issue, Apadent Sensitive is the Sangi product built for that, and your dentist is the right person to ask. For alternatives that do publish a figure, our comparison of 11 hydroxyapatite toothpastes lays the brands side by side.

If fluoride is part of your plan, Sangi has no fluoride product. Many dentists recommend fluoride toothpaste, and your dentist can tell you which fits your teeth.

The verdict

Apagard toothpaste, in one paragraph

Apagard is a genuine, long-established, fluoride-free nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste from Sangi Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, launched in 1985, five years after Sangi's first brand, Apadent. Its active, Medical Hydroxyapatite, was approved in Japan in 1993 as an anticaries ingredient, and named Apagard products have been tested in an independent lab study and a university in situ study. Against that: Sangi does not disclose the percentage of hydroxyapatite in any toothpaste, most Apagard pastes contain SLS and pearl-shell conchiolin, its FAQ says no abrasive is contained while most labels list cleaning agents like dicalcium phosphate and silica, and outside Japan there is no brand shop, no published price and no written return policy. For most buyers outside Japan the answer to "which Apagard" is Premio; in Japan, Royal. We found no lawsuit naming Sangi or Apagard; two closed 2025 cases name its US distributor, and their substance is not shown in the dockets.

Where Minvelle fits, briefly. A gum does not replace a toothpaste, and we would not suggest swapping one for the other. Minvelle is an add-on for between brushings: one piece a day, chewed for at least 20 minutes, with 5.7 mg of nano-hydroxyapatite per piece printed on the box and a published batch certificate. There is no clinical trial on the gum itself, and we say that plainly for the same reason we asked Sangi for its numbers.

Facts checked on 25 September 2026 from the sources below; if Sangi changes its pages or the dockets move, tell us and we will update.

Questions, answered

The things people actually ask