Today I went to the toothpaste dust-free workshops as usual, here is everything I saw in the factory and I will describe to you how toothpaste is made.
Henry, the founder of the factory, told me that toothpaste is a colloidal suspension of various ingredients, each of which must be rationed and mixed by professional engineers to provide effective, safe, and consumer-friendly toothpaste.
In henry’s office, I realized that this company is certified under ISO and GMP, and they offer clients a one-stop service that includes everything from conception, toothpaste formulation, sampling, brand packaging to delivery.
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I first visited the laboratory, then the raw material storage room and production plant, and finally the warehouse.
Laboratory
Firstly, I visited the laboratory.
Mr. Wang, a chemist in the company, has more than ten years of experience in the toothpaste industry/cosmetics industry and has formulated three toothpaste formulas that have been selected by many of their clients, who have since told me that they all have received good response from their local market.
Choose from their existing toothpaste formulas
The three toothpaste formulas are anti-cavity fluoride toothpaste, an anti-allergy sensitive toothpaste, and foam toothpaste for children. You can also choose these three toothpaste formulas and make them into your own branded toothpaste, would you like to try them?
Customize your toothpaste
The chemists can also customize your toothpaste formulation to your needs. What is your toothpaste requirement?
Make the copies
You can also send us the best-selling toothpaste in your market, and the chemists are able to make an almost identical sample for you in the lab, only the flavor is a little different because it is hard to imitate the flavor, but the texture and appearance of the toothpaste are almost the same.
Then, the sample will be sent to you by courier for testing. If you are not satisfied with the sample, the chemists are willing to make improvements according to your requirements. Which toothpaste is the best seller in your market?
Raw Material Storage Room
Secondly, with Mr. Wang’s guidance, we went to the raw material storage room.
There are many different types of toothpaste on the market, each brand with a slightly different formulation, but most kinds of toothpaste contain the same basic ingredients.
The basic ingredients of toothpaste are as follows:
water, abrasives, humectants, sweeteners, binders/thickeners, surfactants/foaming agents, preservatives, flavor/fragrance, and pigments/coloring agents.
Mr. Wang introduced the basic ingredients of the toothpaste to me one by one.
Water
- Used for dilution purposes.
- It is water in which the cations of elements such as sodium, calcium, iron, copper, and the anions of elements such as chlorine and bromine have been removed.
- The water used for toothpaste production must be treated as deionized water with the following quality indicators: a total number of bacteria ≤ 80 bacteria/g; conductivity ≤ 15μs/cm.
Abrasives – Powder
- Cleaning and polishing.
- Regular Toothpaste is alkaline and Gel Toothpaste is acidic, so they should NOT be mixed together, as this will result in water separation.
- Abrasives can also affect the appearance of a paste or gel, some look transparent, with some appearing transparent and others opaque.
- Common abrasives include calcium carbonate and hydrated silica.
Humectants – Liquid
- Prevents water loss and hardening of the toothpaste after exposure to air.
- Humectants keep the solid and liquid phases of the toothpaste together.
- They also add coolness and/or sweetness to the toothpaste, which makes the toothpaste feel pleasant in the mouth.
- A common humectant is sorbitol.
Sweeteners – White crystalline powder
- For improved taste, delivers a pleasant taste.
- A common sweetener is sodium saccharin.
Binders/Thickeners – Powder
- Thicken toothpaste.
- Prevent the separation of solid and liquid components, especially during storage.
- CMC, which stands for Carboxymethyl Cellulose, is the most common binder used in toothpaste in China, thickens and stabilizes the paste.
Surfactants/foaming agents – powders
- Help remove stains/particles from the surface of the teeth.
- Produce foam to help remove food debris from teeth.
- The foam produced by surfactants also prevents toothpaste from dripping out of the mouth when brushing.
- A common surfactant/foaming agent is sodium lauryl sulfate.
Preservatives – Powders
- Prevent the growth of microorganisms in toothpaste.
- Commonly used preservatives are methylparaben and propylparaben.
Flavors/Fragrances – Liquids
- Improves the taste of toothpaste.
- It also covers the taste of surfactant/foaming agent components, especially SLS.
- Mint is the most commonly used flavor because of its ability to give a refreshing sensation.
- Commonly used flavors are peppermint, spearmint, wintergreen, menthol, and cinnamon.
Pigment/coloring agents – Powder
- Increases the visual appeal of toothpaste.
- Titanium dioxide(CI 77891) acts as a shade, turning transparent Gel Toothpaste into white.
- Common pigments are blue(FD&C Blue#1 / CI 42090), yellow(FD&C Yellow#5 / CI 19140), and green(FD&C Blue#1 / CI 42090, FD&C Yellow#5 / CI 19140).
Extra ingredients
Mr. Wang also added that there are extra ingredients, such as whiteners, and fluoride, that are added to toothpaste to increase its effectiveness of the toothpaste or to make it marketable.
Whitening agents
- It does not actually whiten the teeth. Instead, whiteners work by reducing stains on the teeth.
- For example, peroxides, citrulline, and certain abrasives.
- Ultra-fine abrasive silica is one of the certain abrasives, the particles of silica are microscopic and do not damage the tooth surface. The silica aids in the mechanical cleaning of teeth.
Fluoride
- Fluoride prevents cavities by incorporating itself into tooth enamel.
- Makes teeth more resistant to acids produced by plaque bacteria.
- Soluble fluoride ions are necessary for activity.
- Common fluorides are sodium fluoride, and sodium monofluorophosphate.
- There are two common types of fluoride toothpaste, one containing 1000ppm fluoride ions and the other containing 1450ppm fluoride ions.
There are a few examples:
- Toothpaste with hydrogen peroxide has a whitening effect, toothpaste with baking soda has a whitening effect as well,
- Toothpaste with fluoride has a cavity-preventing effect,
- Toothpaste with potassium nitrate has an anti-allergic effect,
- Toothpaste with bamboo charcoal powder effectively removes bad breath, and so on.
Production Workshops
Thirdly, I followed Henry to the production workshops.
Before entering the production workshops, Henry told me that a clean workshop is a clean, dust-free area where the air is filtered to meet Class 100,000 (ISO 8) standards for production needs, but the cleanliness varies with the number of personnel, process operations, and other factors.
In order to reduce the number of contaminants brought into the clean workshop from the outside, it is required that personnel entering the clean workshop take the following cleaning measures necessary to prevent contamination.
Washing – hands disinfection room
Washing hands, face, and even the entire body with water and sanitizer to remove temporary skin adhesions and accumulated body excretions.
This is to reduce the number of pollutants brought into the cleanroom from outside.
Change clothes and shoes – changing room
Wear purified dust-free disposable clothes, caps, masks, and gloves.
General requirements for work clothes are not only a high degree of surface cleanliness and easy to remove pollutants, but also like a filter to cover most of the human body so that the dust bacteria emitted by the human body is filtered to stay on the side of the body, but also not easy to generate static electricity.
Air shower – air shower room
Pull the stainless steel air shower door personnel into the air shower room, air shower door immediately and automatically closes the outer door, infrared (voice control / human body heat) sensing, air shower automatically starts, blowing 20 seconds (this has been set by the factory).
Air showers are used to sweep temporary attachments from full-body garments and bare surfaces with high-velocity clean air.
After the air shower is finished, the door is pushed open by us and we then went to a clean and sterile workshop.
Henry then told me that the main steps in producing toothpaste are:
weighing – paste-making (blending & cooling) – filling – packaging.
Toothpaste is a product that directly enters the human mouth, there should be no bacterial contamination, and the toothpaste production facilities should have a smooth interior and no residue, and the facilities should be kept clean, disinfected, and cleaned regularly.
I also found that most of the space on the factory floor was taken up by large vats, which were about as tall as an adult.
Production Process
Weighing
After the raw materials are brought into the factory, they are stored in a storage room.
All raw materials are manually and mechanically weighed according to a chemist’s formulation, which ensures the accuracy of the ratio of each raw material/ingredient.
Each ingredient is put into the vat in the proportions required by the chemist.
A large vat is commonly used in the toothpaste industry to blend a batch equivalent to 20,000 four-ounce (100 g or more) tubes.
Paste-making
The paste-making process includes gluing, kneading, grinding, vacuum degassing, aging, and other steps, these steps are done in the same vat.
Gluing – vacuum emulsifying
The humectant sorbitol is first put into the vat, this will wet the adhesive/thickener CMC or HEC particles and make them dissolved evenly.
The adhesive/thickener CMC is swollen into a colloid by adding water with high-speed stirring. Continue stirring until the colloid is even and transparent, without particles, and the colloid needs another period of time to further homogenize.
Kneading – vacuum kneading
The colloid is pumped into the kneader and the abrasive calcium carbonate or/and hydrated silica, powder surfactant/foaming agent sodium lauryl sulfate, sweetener sodium saccharin, and other water-soluble powder additives are added. After all powder materials are added, the flavor will be then added.
Scraper stirring, homogenizing, and kneading are carried out.
If the kneading time is too short, the paste will be uneven; if the time is too long, too much air will be pumped into the paste, and the paste will be loose and difficult to discharge.
Kneading makes the paste blend well and evenly.
Grinding
The kneaded paste is sent to the colloid grinder for grinding by a gear pump or reciprocating pump. Under the mechanical shearing force, the colloid or powder aggregates are further homogeneously dispersed to make the particles in the paste uniformly distributed.
The purpose of grinding is to make the paste fine.
In the process of making the paste, because the kneading and grinding process will rub and be exothermic, it is necessary to use jacketed cooling water to control the temperature ≤ 45 ℃ in summer.
Vacuum degassing
Since air bubbles are generated in the paste during the kneading and grinding process, it is necessary to evacuate at the same time until the vacuum level reaches -0.096Mpa, which takes about 50 minutes.
This is to improve the forming condition of the paste. After vacuum degassing, the paste is smooth and fine, with good “strip formation”.
Aging
After kneading and grinding, a small amount of paste is taken out for inspection.
The chemist carefully inspects the paste for relative density, appearance, pH, viscosity, microbiology, salinity, etc.
All materials are mixed together in a mixing vat, and the chemist pays close attention to the temperature and humidity of the vat, which is important to ensure that the mixture is properly mixed together.
Once qualified, the paste is then pumped into the paste storage vat for aging, allowing the paste to cool naturally to room temperature while it expands sufficiently to form a homogeneous matter and increase its elasticity, with an aging time of approximately 120 minutes.
If not qualified, the entire paste has to be discarded.
It is worth noting that the above is how toothpaste was produced many years ago. In the old days, we used to make the colloid first, and then other powder raw materials were put in separately in a sequence.
Nowadays, with advanced machines, all the ingredients are put together and then automatically mixed, heated, and cooled in a large vat for about 50 minutes and vacuumed at the same time.
In the old days, the flavors were usually added last, but now with advanced machines, the flavors can be put into the vat either first or last, and the final paste will be the same if the flavors are put into the vat in a different order.
Filling
Henry told me, that when the paste-making and filling workshop is not separated, there must be air sterilization facilities in the workshop. Usually, UV disinfection is used, and the UV lamps are set at 30 watts/10-15 square meters.
Henry also added, that the filling of toothpaste is done on an automatic filling line and introduced me to several machine devices that helped me understand the whole process of filling toothpaste.
Air Blowing Device
Blowing inert gas before and after filling ensures that the quality of the paste is not affected by the presence of air in the toothpaste tube..
In addition, the tubes are irradiated with a UV lamp to sterilize them before filling.
Before the toothpaste is filled into the tube, the tube is placed under a blower where dust and particles are blown out.
The tube is capped and the other end of the tube is opened so that the filling machine can fill the tube with toothpaste.
Positioning device
One by one, tubes of toothpaste are inserted into the cup holders.
Alignment device
Each toothpaste tube has two color marks on its end, usually 2 green color marks, or 2 blue color marks, or 2 black color marks.
To ensure proper tube alignment, an optical device rotates the tube to the correct position based on the color marks.
This ensures that the patterns/printing on the front side of the tube is on one side and the patterns/printing on the backside of the tube is all on the other side when sealing the tube end.
Filling Device
Adjust the filling volume and machine speed during the filling process.
The tubes are then filled by a descending pump.
Sealing Device
Adjusting the seal temperature.
The end of the tube is heated and sealed, at the same time, the excess is cut off, ensuring uniform length for all tubes.
When sealing the end of the tube, the lot number is usually printed on one side and the expiration date on the other.
Regularly check the quality of each tube weight and tube end.
Discharge Devices
After filling, the rest of the paste in the vat needs to be discharged, and all vats and pipes need to be cleaned. Then the next batch of toothpaste is produced, and the production cycle begins again.
Packaging/encasement
The finished tubes will be automatically or manually individually boxed, shrink-wrapped, heat-sealed, cased, and other commercial packaging processes, this makes them easier to count, carrier, packing/shipping.
- normally 1 piece 1 individual box,
- shrink wrap outside the individual boxes, 12 pcs of boxes will be heated by Shrink Wrapper machine, making them tighter and easier for final packing.
- Finally, shrink-wrapped boxes are packed in appropriate brown cases.
- For example, if it is 100 grams, 72 pcs per case, 6 x 12 pcs shrink-wrapped, or if it is 150 grams, 48 pcs per case, 4 x 12 pcs shrink-wrapped.
The finished tubes can also be inserted directly into the brown case/master carton, but the brown case/master carton must be with separating gratings.
During the packing process, the temperature of the shrink film and the speed of the machine conveyor should be adjusted correctly, and special attention should be paid to checking the quality of the packing material and to prevent empty tubes and empty boxes.
After the packing is finished, the QC needs to check all final toothpaste, and only the qualified toothpaste can go to storage. In addition, toothpaste should be sorted and stacked according to the variety and date of production.
Quality Control
Each batch of raw materials is tested for quality and recorded when they enter the factory.
After kneading and grinding, a small amount of paste is taken out for inspection. If everything is good, the paste is put into a storage vat/pot for aging.
The laboratory also performs sample testing of the final product.
Warehouse/Storage
The factory warehouse is clean, dry, well ventilated, with a smooth floor and no cracks.
Toothpaste should be stored in the warehouse where the temperature is not higher than 40℃ and not lower than -8℃, not near water and heating, and should be stacked 10cm above the ground and 50cm away from the wall to ensure that the toothpaste is not damp and the master cartons/cases are not softened.
In addition, raw materials and packaging materials are stored separately and clearly identified.
Shipping abroad:
- About 1 week before the final toothpaste enter the warehouse, the sales reps need to inform the clients to arrange the booking or the sales reps contact the forwarder directly to make the booking.
- After the carrier releases the shipping space to us, the driver will be asked to go to the quay and pick up the 20 or 40 feet container. If the number of toothpaste is less than a full container, the factory asks the forwarder to collect the toothpaste at the factory warehouse and deliver them to the warehouse at the quay, where they will be put together with other cargo into a full container.
- When loading containers in the warehouse, the goods can be on pallets or without pallets. If the goods are on pallets, the number of goods in one container will be less, but this will be easier to load and unload with a forklift. If there are no pallets, the number of goods in one container will be more, which is more economical.
Henry added that the factory was established in 2013. When the factory started operating, he had already been working in the manufacturing industry for 10 years.
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