◆  A LABEL-READER'S GUIDE

The number almost no gum brand will print

You can learn everything about this category from one missing line of text.

Here is an exercise that costs nothing. Pick up any gum or lozenge that promises something for your teeth, turn it over, and look for one specific line: how many milligrams of the active ingredient are in one piece.

Take your time. It is usually not there.

You will find the marketing words on the front. You will find an ingredient list in descending order, which tells you the active ingredient exists but not how much of it you get. And on many labels you will meet the category's favorite phrase: proprietary blend. Two words that translate to: there is a number, and you are not getting it.

In most industries, hiding the dose would be disqualifying. In oral care it is Tuesday.

Why does the number matter? Because with any functional ingredient, the dose is the difference between an ingredient that is present and an ingredient that is doing something. A trace of hydroxyapatite lets a brand print the word on the front. A real, measured amount is what the research on remineralization is actually about. Without the milligrams, you cannot tell which one you are buying, and that is not an accident.

This article is by Minvelle, and yes, we are the brand equivalent of the person who read the terms and conditions. Our gum contains 5.7 mg of nano-hydroxyapatite per piece, at a particle size of 200 nanometers, and both numbers are printed where they belong: on the label. The batch certificate sits on a public transparency page, next to all 14 ingredients. Not because we are saints, but because a category that hides its numbers is a category waiting for one brand that does not.

We will also print the unfashionable part: this is a gum, not a dental treatment. It does not replace brushing and it does not fix a cavity. It supports the enamel surface with the mineral it is built from, in the hours after coffee and meals when saliva does its quiet repair work.

The next time a label says trust me instead of a number, believe it. It is telling you something.

Published by Minvelle (MaxLife Trading GmbH). Every claim above is sourced on our transparency page. This page is editorial from the maker of the product it describes.