The Last of The Toothpaste

TLDR at the bottom.

I always see people talking about how to recover the last of the toothpaste from a tube - cutting it open, using a toothpaste squeezer, buying special pumps, etc. I decided to see whether it's actually worth it to go through those steps. This started out as a shower-thought (that's usually where I brush my teeth).

My Google Worksheet | Excel Version with Formulas

Adjust the values in Column E to suit your own toothpaste using habits

Method

I first researched the average price and weight of toothpaste tubes. I used Amazon's best seller's list (see footnote #1 in the google spreadsheet). I had to remove one because it was actually a mouthwash miscategorized as a toothpaste - go figure. I chose to use Amazon because the price does not vary on a regional basis within the US. I'm sure you can find better deals at Sam's, Kroger, Costco, or CVS.

The average toothpaste tube contains 150.83g of product and costs $4.04 USD. Your mileage may vary. A breakdown of the toothpastes I sampled is in the Google Spreadsheet at the top of the post.

Next, I did some research on what the American Dental Association actually recommends in terms of usage. Surprisingly, I couldn't find any ADA or CDC sources that specified how much toothpaste an adult should use - only what children should use. Most dentist and dental health websites I found recommended a "pea sized" blob.

I measured 5 blobs of toothpaste that looked (to me) like "pea sized blobs" - on average they weighed 0.85g. I also measured some larger blobs like you see in commercials - these larger ones measured 1.45g each.

The ADA also recommends brushing 2 times per day.

From there, it was all just a matter of making some excel formulas. Here's what I found...

Some numbers

I found that with the recommended "pea sized" (0.85g) blob of toothpaste, the average tube of toothpaste (150.83g), and brushing twice per day, you'll be able to get approximately 88.72 days per tube.

If you divide that over the average cost of a tube ($4.04USD) you'll get about 4.5c per use and about 9c per day. From there, it's easy.

Per year, you'll use $32.91 of toothpaste. Per lifetime it's $2,590.11.

Savings?

I use the term "recovered" or "recoverable" toothpaste to mean, "toothpaste which could only be removed from the tube with the aid of a device other than the edge of the bathroom counter." This can be scissors (to open the tube up), a rolling squeezer, a sliding squeezer, or some other mechanical device. The "recoverable" toothpaste is the toothpaste that you can NOT get out manually.

In my experience with these devices, I'm usually only able to recover 2 to 4 extra uses (1-2 days) of product. Using the same formulas that I did above, we can scale this up:

Savings per tube: $0.09 to $0.18

Savings per year: $0.56

Savings over a lifetime: $43.79

TLDR / Conclusion

The 56 cents per year doesn't really seem to be worth the investment of a 2-3 dollar toothpaste squeezer. It'll take you several years to realize the return on investment and by then it may have broken or become lost. You're better off spending your efforts elsewhere.

Final Thoughts

Not everybody is doing this for the monetary savings. Some folks are doing this for environmental reasons - that's fine, just make sure that whatever squeezer you're using is recyclable or biodegradable.

But if you're like me, you just hate the idea of losing something that you've paid for! I get a lot of satisfaction out of getting the last few bits of a product from its tube. It may be a stretch to call that "entertainment" but I've spent money on sillier things.

Do what makes you happy! Just don't be tricked into thinking that you're somehow saving hundreds of dollars in toothpaste.