Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 2

The Effectiveness of Hydroxyapatite in Toothpaste In the 1960s, NASA developed toothpaste containing synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAP), a mineral composed of calcium and phosphate ions, for astronauts whose bones and teeth lost minerals in the absence of gravity. In 1970, a Japanese company bought the rights to synthetic HAP from NASA to create a remineralizing toothpaste, but it wasn’t until 2015 that it became available on the market in Canada. “H ydroxyapatite is what our teeth and bones are made from,” says Dr. Kelsey O’Hagan-Wong, a pediatric dentistry resident at the University of Toronto and lead author on a recently published review article that investigates the effectiveness of HAP in preventing dental caries. 1 “A low-pH can cause the dissolution of HAP crystals, also called demineralization, which is a factor in how dental caries can begin. Remineralization adds new calcium and phosphate ions back into the enamel structure,” she says. Dr. KelseyO’Hagan-Wong 28 | 2022 | Issue 2