A note on where we fit, before the details. Minvelle is a chewing gum for between brushings, one piece a day after a meal, chewed for at least 20 minutes, with 5.7 mg of nano-hydroxyapatite per 1.9 g piece printed on the box. It is an extra step, not a toothpaste and not a replacement for one. Whatever you pick from this guide, keep brushing with it twice a day.

At a glance

10 enamel repair products, label by label

Swipe sideways on mobile. US actives and purposes from each product's DailyMed Drug Facts label; claims from brand pages; all checked 26 September 2026. Oral-B wording from ASA rulings of 2018 and 2019; Bioniq formula from PMID 36496424.

Part 1

Which enamel repair toothpaste should you buy? Picks by need

The honest way to choose is to ignore the word repair, which every product in this category uses, and look at the active ingredient. The active tells you what the tube is built to do. Here is how the 10 products sort once you read the Drug Facts panel instead of the front of the box. For a guide organised by active ingredient across the whole remineralizing category, see our best remineralizing toothpaste guide. This page stays with products literally sold as enamel repair.

If your enamel is softened by acid and your teeth are sensitive

Sensodyne Pronamel Intensive Enamel Repair is the product most people mean by enamel repair toothpaste. Its US Drug Facts list potassium nitrate 5% for sensitivity and sodium fluoride 0.25% (0.15% w/v fluoride ion) as the anticavity active. The fluoride is what supports remineralization of acid-softened enamel. The potassium nitrate is a desensitizer: it calms the nerve response rather than adding mineral. If you drink a lot of acidic drinks, have been told you show signs of erosion, and your teeth twinge with cold, this is the combination built for that.

Made by Dentists Enamel Rebuilding uses the same two actives at almost the same strength (potassium nitrate 5.0%, sodium fluoride 0.24%) and adds hydroxyapatite as an inactive ingredient, with no amount stated. At $15.99 for a 2-pack on its own site, it is the only US product in this group with a price on the brand page. If you want the Pronamel formula type plus some hydroxyapatite, this is it, with the caveat that you do not know how much hydroxyapatite is in the tube.

If you want gums and cavities covered in one tube

Three products here use stannous fluoride 0.454%: Crest Pro-Health Enamel Repair and Gum, Colgate Total Enamel Strength, and Sensodyne Repair and Protect in the US. On these labels, stannous fluoride carries more than the anticavity purpose. Crest's Drug Facts list anticavity and antigingivitis. Colgate Total Enamel Strength lists all three: anticavity, antigingivitis, antisensitivity. Our guide to stannous vs sodium fluoride explains the difference in detail.

If your dentist has mentioned bleeding gums or gingivitis and you also want cavity protection, a stannous fluoride paste is the logical pick. Of the three, Colgate Total Enamel Strength has the broadest labelled purpose. Crest's product name puts repair first, but its own footnote ties its clinical claims to gingivitis, not enamel (more on that in Part 4).

If your problem is sensitivity, not enamel loss

Sensodyne Repair and Protect is a sensitivity product. In the US it uses stannous fluoride; in the UK it uses NovaMin, a calcium sodium phosphosilicate. In both markets, the brand scopes its repair wording to the dentin tubules, the tiny channels under enamel that carry the sting of cold to the nerve. If your complaint is a sharp twinge and your dentist has not mentioned erosion, this is the line built for that. It is not the line built for acid-softened enamel, and the brand does not claim it is. The UK step-up, Sensodyne Clinical Repair, discloses 5% NovaMin on its own page; the standard Repair and Protect page gives no percentage.

If you want a fluoride-free repair toothpaste

Two products here are fluoride-free and use hydroxyapatite, the calcium phosphate mineral enamel is mostly made of. Bioniq Repair-Zahncreme, sold in Germany, is the one with a published study: a 2022 in-situ trial of its 20% microcrystalline hydroxyapatite formula on teeth with molar incisor hypomineralization (Part 7). Pearlie White Optimal A.R.T., sold in Singapore at S$13.90, lists hydroxyapatite fourth on its ingredient list with no amount and no particle size.

If you have decided with your dentist to brush without fluoride, the wider hydroxyapatite category is covered in our ranking of the best hydroxyapatite toothpastes, which lists the pastes that publish a percentage. Our Bioniq toothpaste review covers the Repair paste in depth.

What to skip if repair is your reason for buying

Colgate Optic White Pro Series Enamel Renewal has enamel in the name but no repair claim. Its active is sodium monofluorophosphate 1.14%, its Drug Facts purpose is anticavity only, and its marketing is about visibly whiter teeth in 3 days (footnoted to twice-daily brushing for 2 weeks) with hydrogen peroxide and a polishing technology that Colgate says is enamel-safe. That is a fine whitening paste. It is not trying to be an enamel repair product, and we credit Colgate for not calling it one. Oral-B Gum and Enamel Repair is no longer in Oral-B's UK toothpaste range, so there is nothing to buy.

Part 2

Can toothpaste repair enamel? What the word can mean

Start with the biology, because it settles most of the argument. Enamel is made before a tooth comes through the gum, by cells called ameloblasts. Once the tooth erupts, those cells are gone. A 2014 review in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research puts it in one line: enamel "cannot regenerate itself, because it is formed by a layer of cells that are lost after the tooth eruption" (Jayasudha et al., 2014, PMID 25386548).

A 2022 review in Biomaterials Science says the same about damage: "Once enamel is damaged/altered by genetic defects, dental caries, trauma, and/or dental wear, it cannot repair itself due to the loss of enamel producing cells following the tooth eruption" (Mohabatpour et al., 2022, PMID 35543379). And a narrative review in F1000Research is blunter still: "Human enamel once formed cannot be biologically repaired or replaced" (Farooq and Bugshan, 2020, PMID 32201577).

What does happen: remineralization

The same Farooq and Bugshan review describes what toothpaste can do. When acid from food, drink or plaque bacteria softens enamel, it pulls calcium and phosphate out of the crystal structure just under the surface. That early lesion is not yet a hole. Given calcium, phosphate and, with fluoride, the building blocks of fluorapatite, mineral can be re-deposited into that existing crystal lattice. This is remineralization. It happens on enamel that is still there, in an early, non-cavitated lesion, such as a chalky white spot. Our article on white spots on teeth covers what those lesions look like.

What remineralization cannot do is rebuild enamel that has already been physically lost, whether to a cavity or to erosion that has worn the surface away. Our guide to cavities vs enamel erosion explains how to tell the two apart, and the remineralization timeline covers how long the process takes in practice.

So is the word repair wrong?

It depends on what you hear. If repair means "help early, softened enamel take mineral back", that is a fair description of what fluoride, and in some studies hydroxyapatite, can do. If repair means "grow back the enamel I have lost", no toothpaste does that, and none of the 10 products' own pages explain the difference to a shopper. That gap between the two readings is exactly what the regulators and lawsuits in Parts 5 and 6 turn on.

One more distinction matters when you compare labels. Sensodyne uses repair for two different mechanisms. On Pronamel Intensive Enamel Repair, repair means acid-weakened enamel. On Repair and Protect, repair means building a layer over exposed dentin tubules to reduce sensitivity. Same brand, same word, different job.

Part 3

What each enamel repair toothpaste contains: the labels

For US products, the most reliable source is not the box or the brand page but the Drug Facts label filed with the FDA and published on DailyMed, the National Library of Medicine's label database. It lists the active ingredients with their concentrations, the purpose of each, the uses, and the directions. We pulled each one on 26 September 2026 and read every field for the word repair. It is not there on any of them. Here is what is.

Sensodyne Pronamel Intensive Enamel Repair

Drug Facts (US, DailyMed, Haleon): potassium nitrate 5%, purpose antihypersensitivity; sodium fluoride 0.25% (0.15% w/v fluoride ion), purpose anticavity. Uses, word for word: "builds increasing protection against painful sensitivity of the teeth to cold, heat, acids, sweets, or contact" and "aids in the prevention of dental cavities." The same label covers the Clean Mint, Extra Fresh and Whitening variants.

What the brand page says:

"Twice daily brushing helps to: Actively repair acid-weakened enamel... Intensive Enamel Repair, Pronamel's most advanced enamel care formulation, is proven to help actively repair acid-weakened enamel and protect teeth from future acid erosion. It works by locking in repairing minerals that absorb deep into the surface structure of enamel to help repair microdamage and rebuild enamel strength." (pronamel.us, checked 26 September 2026)

Note the word acid-weakened. Pronamel's claim is scoped to softened enamel, not lost enamel, which is the remineralization reading from Part 2. The brand also calls Pronamel "the number 1 dentist recommended brand for protecting and strengthening enamel." In the UK the product has the same name and near-identical copy, with the dentist-recommended claim footnoted to an IPSOS survey from 2024. The UK page gives no active percentages and no ingredient list, so the 5% and 0.25% figures are known only from the US label. The UK site has no shop and no price; neither does the US one.

Crest Pro-Health Enamel Repair and Gum

Drug Facts (US, DailyMed, Procter and Gamble): stannous fluoride 0.454% (0.15% w/v fluoride ion). Purpose: "Anticavity, antigingivitis toothpaste." Uses: aids in the prevention of cavities, helps prevent gingivitis, helps interfere with the plaque effects of gingivitis, helps control plaque bacteria.

The name varies even on Crest's own page, which is titled "Gum & Enamel Repair Advanced Whitening Toothpaste" while the heading on the page reads "Crest Pro-Health Enamel Repair and Gum Toothpaste, Advanced Whitening". The copy says the paste "helps repair weakened enamel" and invites you to "Unleash the power of stannous fluoride to help remineralize weakened enamel." The bullet points read "Clinically proven to fortify gums to protect teeth" and "Helps reverse early gum damage in 2 weeks and strengthens weakened enamel", each with an asterisk. The single footnote at the bottom of the page reads: "Helps reverse gingivitis." That footnote scopes the clinically proven and 2-week language to gingivitis. The enamel sentences carry no footnote and no study reference anywhere on the page. No price on crest.com.

Oral-B Gum and Enamel Repair

This was P&G's UK version of the idea. On 26 September 2026, Oral-B's UK toothpaste catalogue listed 16 products and none of them was Gum and Enamel Repair; we found no current listing on Oral-B's German or US sites either. The closest live UK product is Oral-B Advanced Enamel Strengthening, a different, non-repair claim we did not research. Oral-B Gum and Enamel Repair's wording survives in two UK Advertising Standards Authority rulings, which quote it: "Its active repair technology helps … repair enamel in just two weeks." We cover those rulings in Part 5. With no live product page, there is no ingredient list or price to report.

Colgate Optic White Pro Series Enamel Renewal and Colgate Total Enamel Strength

Enamel Renewal (US DailyMed): sodium monofluorophosphate 1.14% (0.18% w/v fluoride ion), purpose anticavity. The brand copy, read from a 2026 snapshot because colgate.com blocks automated reading, describes hydrogen peroxide whitening and an "ActivShine Technology" that "polishes the enamel surface to reveal next-level shine", and calls the product "the enamel-safe way to get visibly whiter teeth in 3 days". Renewal here means shine. There is no repair, rebuild or restore wording on the page.

Total Enamel Strength (US DailyMed): stannous fluoride 0.454% (0.15% w/v fluoride ion), purposes anticavity, antigingivitis and antisensitivity. We could not retrieve the brand page for this product, so we quote no marketing claim for it. On its label it is one of the broadest-purpose pastes in this guide.

Made by Dentists Enamel Rebuilding

Drug Facts (US, DailyMed and the brand's own site, identical): potassium nitrate 5.0% (antisensitivity), sodium fluoride 0.24% (0.15% w/v fluoride ion) (anticavity). The inactive ingredients, in full: "Cellulose Gum, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Flavor, Hydrated Silica, Hydroxyapatite, Pentasodium Triphosphate, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Saccharin, Sorbitol, Titanium Dioxide, Water (Aqua), Xylitol." Price: $15.99 for a 2-pack.

The brand's copy reads: "Dentist-formulated for daily enamel repair. Nano-Hydroxyapatite (n-HA) is a natural compound that makes up 97% of your tooth's enamel. Its nano-sized particles penetrate deep into microscopic pores and lesions, remineralizing weakened areas from within." Here the label and the copy say different things. The copy calls the ingredient nano-hydroxyapatite; the Drug Facts panel and the DailyMed label list it as plain "Hydroxyapatite" among the inactives, with no particle size and no amount. Hydroxyapatite is not one of the three actives the US anticavity rules permit (Part 5), so on a US drug label it can only appear as an inactive. The page's meta description says "ADA Accepted"; we found no ADA Seal graphic or seal number elsewhere on the page.

The directions also differ between the two sources, which is worth knowing. The brand site recommends brushing for 2 minutes twice a day and not rinsing "so the n-HA can keep working". The DailyMed label says to brush "for at least 1 minute twice a day" and carries the warning "Do not use this product longer than 4 weeks unless recommended by a dentist or doctor."

Sensodyne Repair and Protect, US and UK

US Drug Facts (DailyMed): stannous fluoride 0.454% (0.15% w/v fluoride ion), purposes anticavity and antihypersensitivity. The brand page calls the current version "Deep Repair" and says it "helps to repair deep inside the tubules and relieves sensitivity when you brush twice a day", adding that stannous fluoride "builds a repairing layer over the vulnerable areas of your teeth." The footnote reads "With twice daily brushing."

UK: a different active. The UK page says the paste is "powered by NovaMin" and "helps to repair deep inside the dentine, helping restore a protective mineral layer over exposed dentine." The deep-repair claim is footnoted: "Forms a protective layer over the sensitive areas of the teeth." No NovaMin percentage appears on the page, and the brand's ingredients page uses only the trade name, not the chemical name calcium sodium phosphosilicate. The step-up Sensodyne Clinical Repair states "Contains 5% NovaMin" and claims superiority over standard Repair and Protect, which implies, without saying so, that the standard paste contains less.

In both countries, Repair and Protect's repair claim is about dentin and sensitivity. Our comparison of nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste and Sensodyne goes through the Sensodyne actives line by line.

Bioniq Repair-Zahncreme

This is the German toothpaste behind the "artificial enamel" headlines. In May 2023, UT Health San Antonio published a press release titled "Study shows toothpaste with 'artificial enamel' ingredient restores enamel, is more effective than fluoride". The underlying paper names the test product as "Bioniq Repair-Zahncreme" from Dr. Kurt Wolff GmbH and Co. KG in Bielefeld: 20% microcrystalline hydroxyapatite, fluoride-free (Amaechi et al., 2022, PMID 36496424). Note the word microcrystalline. The press release calls it biomimetic hydroxyapatite, and the headlines call it artificial enamel, but the paper does not describe it as nano-hydroxyapatite. We did not review Bioniq's own label or price for this guide.

Pearlie White Optimal A.R.T. Active Remineralization

A fluoride-free Singapore paste, S$13.90 for 110 g on its own site. The claim: "Meet your everyday enamel repair essential... Formulated with hydroxyapatite, a key mineral naturally found in tooth enamel, it helps restore demineralized enamel over time." The full ingredient list starts "Sorbitol, Calcium Carbonate, Water, Hydroxyapatite", followed by 12 more ingredients including xylitol and cetylpyridinium chloride. There is no amount and no nano specifier for the hydroxyapatite. It is sold as a cosmetic, so there is no Drug Facts panel.

Part 4

What do the brands cite for repair?

A repair claim is only as good as the evidence behind it, so we looked for the study each brand points to. For most of these products, the answer is thin: an unnamed study or a footnote that covers a different claim. The one product with a named, peer-reviewed study behind its repair story is the one sold under the least famous brand.

Sources: pronamel.us science page, crest.com product page, PubMed record for PMID 36496424; checked 26 September 2026.

Pronamel: an in-vitro study, and a footnote worth reading

Pronamel's science page says its regimen "drives minerals deep into acid-weakened enamel surfaces to actively repair acid weakened areas" and that the product "provides greater protection against acid damage compared to fluoride free control". Two footnotes sit on that text. The first reads "when used as directed with a fluoride toothpaste". The second, on the comparison, reads "as shown in an in-vitro study". In vitro means a lab test on enamel samples, not a trial in people. And the comparison is against a fluoride-free control, not against another fluoride toothpaste. That tells you Pronamel beats no fluoride in a lab model, which is what you would expect of a fluoride paste. It does not tell you it beats the fluoride paste already on your shelf. No journal or PMID is given, so we could not look the study up.

Crest: the footnote covers gums

Crest's product page carries one footnote for its clinical language, and it reads "Helps reverse gingivitis." The enamel sentences on the same page, "helps repair weakened enamel" and "help remineralize weakened enamel", carry no footnote and no citation. Stannous fluoride is a monograph anticavity active, and fluoride's role in remineralization is well documented, so this is not a claim without a basis. But the brand does not point you to a study on its enamel claim, and the product's own clinical footnote is about gums.

Bioniq: a real study, read in full

The Amaechi study is worth reading closely, because it is the strongest evidence in this category and it is also easy to overstate. Fifteen people wore intra-oral appliances holding 60 enamel blocks cut from 30 extracted molars affected by molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH), a developmental enamel defect. In a randomized, double-blind crossover, each person used the Bioniq Repair paste for 14 days and a fluoride paste (Colgate Komplett 8, 1450 ppm fluoride as sodium fluoride) for 14 days, with a one-week washout between. Mineral density was measured by micro-CT.

Both pastes increased mineral density from baseline (p<0.001 for both). The hydroxyapatite paste went from 1.716 to 1.901; the fluoride paste from 1.962 to 2.072. Expressed as percent remineralization, hydroxyapatite reached 26.02% on average and fluoride 14.64%, a difference the authors call "practically significant". Their conclusion: "The tested toothpaste based on hydroxyapatite can remineralize MIH lesions."

Three limits to keep in mind. It is one study with 15 people and 14 days per phase. It tested MIH enamel, a specific defect, not general erosion or everyday cavities. And PubMed's conflict-of-interest statement reads: "FM and JE are staff of Dr. Kurt Wolff GmbH & Co. KG." Two of the eight authors work for the paste's maker. None of this makes the result wrong. It makes it one solid data point, and the press release headline that it "restores enamel" is a broader statement than the paper's own conclusion.

Part 5

Is enamel repair a legal claim? What US and UK rules allow

United States: the anticavity monograph

In the US, a fluoride toothpaste is an over-the-counter drug governed by the FDA's anticaries monograph, 21 CFR Part 355, which the FDA now numbers M021. It allows exactly three active ingredients for an anticavity claim: sodium fluoride, sodium monofluorophosphate and stannous fluoride, each at a set concentration. Hydroxyapatite, bioactive glass, NovaMin and potassium nitrate are not on that list. Potassium nitrate is a desensitizer, not an anticavity active, which is why it appears with its own purpose on Pronamel's panel.

The claim the monograph recognizes is one sentence, verbatim: "Aids in the prevention of dental (select one of the following: 'cavities,' 'decay,' 'caries (decay),' or 'caries (cavities)')." It also allows other truthful statements that describe only that indication. It contains no repair, rebuild, restore or remineralize wording anywhere. So when a fluoride monograph toothpaste says it repairs enamel, that is marketing language sitting on top of the drug claim, not the drug claim itself. That is why every Drug Facts panel in Part 3 says anticavity and none says repair.

FDA warning letters on repair and restore claims

The FDA has used this theory against smaller brands. None of the three letters below concern the 10 products in this guide, but they show how the agency reads the words.

• Dr. Brite, LLC, warning letter dated November 21, 2024. The FDA quoted the brand's copy, "Hydroxyapatite helps restore and strengthen the tooth enamel and fight plaque while preventing cavities," and wrote that "hydroxyapatite is not a permitted active ingredient under M021" and that the products were "unapproved new drugs."
• Health and Natural Beauty USA Corp. (SprinJene Natural), warning letter dated July 28, 2025, citing "Remineralizes Enamel" and "Helps to strengthen and protect enamel" as evidence that a black seed oil and zinc formula was an unapproved drug.
• PureChemPros LLC, warning letter dated September 1, 2023, citing a hydrogen peroxide product page that claimed to attack discoloration of enamel and dentin "before repairing both."

The pattern: a repair or remineralize claim on a product without a monograph active is treated by the FDA as a drug claim the product is not allowed to make. The big-brand products in this guide avoid that problem because they do contain a monograph fluoride.

United Kingdom: the ASA rulings

In the UK and the EU, toothpaste is a cosmetic. The EU Cosmetics Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, retained in UK law, defines cosmetics to include products for the teeth used "with a view exclusively or mainly to cleaning them, perfuming them, changing their appearance, protecting them, keeping them in good condition". A claim to treat a damaged tooth can tip a cosmetic into medicine territory, which needs a licence. The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled on exactly this, three times, as quoted on its own advice pages checked on 26 September 2026.

• Procter and Gamble, Oral-B Gum and Enamel Repair, 4 July 2018. The ad claimed "Its active repair technology helps … repair enamel in just two weeks." The ASA: "Though the advertiser stated the toothpaste was purely cosmetic (and therefore did not need a licence), the ASA concluded that the product was claiming to treat an adverse condition (damaged enamel), and therefore they required a licence to make medicinal claims." The ad breached the Code.
• Procter and Gamble, same product, 9 January 2019. A revised ad. The ASA "still concluded that claims including 'it's active repair technology actively protects gums and strengthens enamel' were medicinal in nature due to the context of the ad."
• Colgate Palmolive UK, Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief, 19 December 2018. A TV ad claimed the paste "repairs teeth instantly." The ASA accepted that the paste delivered a surface coating, and Colgate had provided clinical studies to that effect, but "concluded that the overall impression from the ad was that the product had a restorative effect on sensitive teeth, which was not the case, and the ad was therefore misleading," in the ASA's words.

Oral-B Gum and Enamel Repair no longer appears in Oral-B's UK range. Sensodyne Pronamel Intensive Enamel Repair is sold in the UK today with the claim "proven to help actively repair acid-weakened enamel". We found no ASA ruling on that product. The difference in wording may matter: Pronamel ties repair to acid-weakened enamel, and the Oral-B ads promised repair of enamel in a set time.

The EU claims criteria

Cosmetic claims in the EU and UK must also meet the six common criteria in Regulation (EU) No 655/2013: legal compliance, truthfulness, evidential support, honesty, fairness and informed decision-making. Two are directly relevant to repair claims. Evidential support: claims must be "supported by adequate and verifiable evidence", and studies used must be "relevant to the product and to the benefit claimed". Honesty: "Presentations of a product's performance shall not go beyond the available supporting evidence." These are the tests any repair claim on a UK or EU shelf has to meet.

Part 6

Enamel repair toothpaste lawsuits: what the dockets show

US consumers have sued over repair wording on these exact products. A complaint is a set of allegations made by one side; it is not a finding. Below is what each case alleged and its status as the docket shows it, taken from CourtListener's federal court records on 26 September 2026.

Source: CourtListener RECAP dockets and filings, checked 26 September 2026.

Nieves v. Procter and Gamble, filed 2021: the name itself

The plaintiffs challenged the product name directly. Their amended complaint alleged: "Defendant... sells toothpaste represented as being for GUM & ENAMEL REPAIR, under the Crest brand... This representation leads reasonable consumers to believe that the Product will 'repair' their gums as well as their enamel. This is false." The product named was Crest Gum and Enamel Repair with stannous fluoride 0.454%. The case, consolidated with others, ended when the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed it with prejudice by stipulation on March 9, 2022. There was no ruling on the merits and no admission of liability by P&G.

Silva v. Haleon, filed 2024: dismissed, but not because the claim was found true

This case named the Sensodyne Pronamel line, including Pronamel Intensive Enamel Repair. The complaint alleged: "'Rebuilds,' 'Restores,' and 'Repairs' enamel. Reasonable consumers understand this to mean that the Products are capable of rebuilding, restoring, and repairing lost tooth enamel. However... it is impossible to rebuild, restore, or repair enamel with fluoride."

Judge Trina L. Thompson granted Haleon's motion to dismiss with prejudice. The reason matters. The court did not decide whether the repair claims are true. It held that the claims could not be challenged under state consumer law at all, because the products' active is sodium fluoride, governed by the federal monograph, and federal law (21 U.S.C. § 379r) preempts state requirements that are "not identical with" federal labeling rules. The order says the FDA "has determined that the fluoride in the Products enhances remineralization, which is what the labeling shows." It followed two earlier dismissals on the same ground: Wiltz v. Chattem (C.D. Cal. 2015), over a "Rebuilds Tooth Enamel" claim, and Bowling v. Johnson and Johnson (S.D.N.Y. 2014), over a mouthwash "Restores Enamel" claim.

So the accurate summary is narrow. A federal court held that a state-law challenge to repair and rebuild wording on a fluoride monograph toothpaste is preempted. That is a ruling about who gets to regulate the label, not a finding that the enamel was repaired. It is also not a finding against Haleon.

Oliver v. Procter and Gamble, filed 2026: open, and about gums

This is the newest case, filed on July 2, 2026 in the Southern District of California, before Judge Jinsook Ohta. It was filed under the Class Action Fairness Act. Footnote 1 of the complaint lists the products at issue: "Advanced Gum Protection, Advanced Gum Restore, Enamel Repair and Gum, Gum Detoxify Plus, Gum and Enamel Restore, Gum and Sensitive, Gum Recession, and Gum and Whitening." Paragraph 14 lists the label statements on Enamel Repair and Gum, including "Helps reverse early gum damage in 2 weeks" and "Clinically proven to fortify gums".

The theory is different from the earlier cases. The complaint does not argue about enamel mineral. It alleges that the gum-health claims conflict with the formula because the products contain sodium lauryl sulfate, which the complaint describes as "a harsh detergent and known irritant" that it alleges "can damage gum and mouth tissue, inhibit wound healing, trigger inflammation". Those are the plaintiffs' allegations. As of 26 September 2026 the docket shows no termination date. If you are buying this paste, the case tells you nothing yet about the product; it tells you a claim has been filed.

Part 7

How to check an enamel repair label in five steps

You can do the whole check from this guide in the shop aisle or on a product page in about a minute.

• Turn the box over and find the active ingredients. On a US tube that is the Drug Facts panel. Look for sodium fluoride, stannous fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate (the three anticavity actives), potassium nitrate (sensitivity), or, on a fluoride-free paste, hydroxyapatite in the ingredient list.
• Read the purpose line. Anticavity, antigingivitis, antihypersensitivity: that is what the product is regulated to do. You will not find repair there. If the purpose matches your problem, you have the right tube, whatever the front says.
• Check for a number. Fluoride pastes state a percentage and the w/v fluoride ion (0.15% on most tubes here). For hydroxyapatite, see whether a percentage or an amount is stated at all. Of the three hydroxyapatite products in this guide, only Bioniq's formula has a published figure (20%), and that figure comes from a study.
• Look at what repair is attached to. Acid-weakened enamel (Pronamel), dentin tubules and sensitivity (Repair and Protect), gums (Crest's footnote), or whitening shine (Enamel Renewal). The object of the word tells you the claim.
• Find the footnote. An asterisk on a clinical claim should lead somewhere. "As shown in an in-vitro study" means a lab test. "Helps reverse gingivitis" means the clinical claim is about gums. No footnote on the enamel sentence means the brand is not pointing you to evidence for it.

If a patch of enamel already looks chalky, brown or pitted, or a tooth hurts, skip the label and book a dentist. A toothpaste is maintenance. It is not a diagnosis and not a filling.

Part 8

Where a remineralizing gum fits: between brushings

A toothpaste works for the two or three minutes you brush, twice a day. Most acid exposure happens in between, after meals, snacks and drinks. That is the gap a remineralizing gum is designed for, and it is the only place we would suggest one. It is an addition to the toothpaste you pick from this guide, not an alternative.

Minvelle is a sugar-free chewing gum with xylitol and nano-hydroxyapatite: 5.7 mg of nano-hydroxyapatite per 1.9 g piece, printed on the box. You chew one piece a day after a meal for at least 20 minutes. Chewing increases saliva flow, and saliva is the mouth's own supply of calcium and phosphate. The gum adds a stated amount of hydroxyapatite during that time. That is a different claim from repair, and we keep it that way. Our article on whether an enamel repair gum can rebuild tooth enamel answers the same question this guide asks about toothpaste, for gum.

What the gum cannot do

• It does not repair enamel you have lost. The biology in Part 2 applies to a gum exactly as it applies to a toothpaste.
• It does not replace brushing or your toothpaste. Keep your fluoride or hydroxyapatite paste, twice a day.
• It does not fill a cavity. That is a job for a dentist.
• It does not bleach teeth. There is no peroxide in it; at most it helps with surface stains between brushings.
• It has not been in a clinical trial. There is no clinical trial on the finished Minvelle gum. What we publish is the dose, the full ingredient list and a batch certificate from lab testing of the finished gum.

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

In fairness

What these products do well

A guide built on labels and court records reads as critical, so here is the other side, from the same records. Every US product in this guide that carries a repair or rebuild claim contains a fluoride the FDA recognizes for cavity prevention, at the concentrations its monograph sets. That is the best-supported active in home care, and it is on every one of those tubes. The Silva order records the FDA's view that the fluoride in these products "enhances remineralization". The repair wording overstates what that means, but the fluoride underneath it does real work.

The brands also scope their claims more carefully than the headlines suggest. Pronamel says acid-weakened enamel, not lost enamel, and footnotes its comparison as an in-vitro result. Sensodyne ties Repair and Protect's claim to dentin tubules and sensitivity. Crest's footnote limits its clinical claim to gingivitis. Colgate's Enamel Renewal makes no repair claim at all. Made by Dentists publishes its full Drug Facts and ingredient list on its own site and prices the product. Bioniq's formula was tested in a randomized, double-blind in-situ study that disclosed its conflicts. None of the three lawsuits in this guide has ended in a finding against any brand: one was withdrawn, one dismissed, one is open.

The verdict

Enamel repair toothpaste, in one paragraph

No toothpaste regrows enamel, and in the US the word repair does not appear on any of these products' Drug Facts. What you are buying is a fluoride anticavity paste, sometimes with potassium nitrate for sensitivity or stannous fluoride for gums, or a fluoride-free hydroxyapatite paste. Pick by the active: Pronamel Intensive Enamel Repair or Made by Dentists for acid erosion with sensitivity; a stannous fluoride paste such as Crest Pro-Health Enamel Repair and Gum or Colgate Total Enamel Strength for gums and cavities; Sensodyne Repair and Protect for sensitive dentin; Bioniq Repair if you want fluoride-free with a published study. The UK regulator has twice ruled Oral-B's repair wording medicinal, a US court has dismissed a challenge to Pronamel's wording on preemption grounds, and a new case naming Crest's Enamel Repair and Gum is open. Use repair as a signal to read the back of the box, not as a promise.

Facts checked on 26 September 2026 from the sources below. If a brand changes its label or a docket changes status, tell us and we will update this guide.

Questions, answered

The things people actually ask