Toothpaste Manufacturing Process - a Step by Step Guide - Jochamp (2025)

Toothpaste manufacturing is a relatively straightforward procedure which you should have few problems with. However, there are specific steps to follow to enable you to create a successful product. This guide will take you through the process step by step so let’s dive right in.

Source The Raw Ingredients

The first step is for you to source the ingredients needed to make the toothpaste. Not all toothpastes contain exactly the same ingredients, but most contain the following:

• Liquid Humectant: A humectant stops the toothpaste from drying out. Common humectants include polyols, in particular, sorbitol and glycerin, as well as water.
• Abrasives: Abrasives aid in the removal of plaque from your teeth. These include calcium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and calcium pyrophosphate.
• Rheology Modifiers: These are added to aid the flow of the toothpaste out of the tube. They include xanthan gum and cellulose gum.
• Flavors: Toothpaste can have an unpleasant taste if left natural, so flavorings are usually added. Mint is the most popular flavor.
• Preservatives: Preservatives allow you to keep your toothpaste at room temperature and include ethyl paraben and methyl paraben.
• Colorings: Natural toothpaste is often not a pleasant color. Because of this, colorings such as titanium dioxide are added to the mixture.
• Sweeteners: Saccharin, aspartame, or xylitol are added to make the toothpaste taste more pleasant.
• Detergent: To make the toothpaste foam when used in the home, a detergent is added. This is usually SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate).
• Active Ingredient: The only active ingredient in toothpaste is fluoride, which slows down tooth decay.

Test The Raw Ingredients For Quality

All of the raw ingredients need to be checked for quality when they come into your factory. They have to be tested for hazardous and substandard substances to make sure that they are safe to use.

The ingredients are then placed in separate silos for storage. Being in different silos reduces the risk of cross contamination. Silos also help protect the ingredients from spoilage. In addition, because the ingredients are stacked vertically, less space is taken up in your factory as would be if they were stored horizontally.

Accurately Weigh The Ingredients

Before you start making the toothpaste, you need to accurately weigh the ingredients. Exact weights are essential for producing the correct formula.

Weighing is usually done both manually and mechanically to ensure that you get the most accurate results. A checkweigher is sometimes used as it is more precise than normal scales. A target weight is set and then the scales compare it to the weight of the ingredients, ensuring that they are exactly the same.

There are two types of checkweighers, static and moving. For raw ingredients, a static checkweigher would be used as the moving checkweigher is for smaller items. A checkweigher rejects any item that is not of the correct weight. By using a checkweigher, you will know that the toothpaste will have the correct amount of the ingredients and that it will be effective when used.

MIx Together The Liquid Ingredients

The first step in the mixing process is to put the liquid ingredients, such as sorbitol, glycerin, and water into a large stainless steel vat and mix. As it mixes, you need to monitor the temperature and humidity inside the equipment to ensure that the mixture binds together properly.

A useful piece of equipment for the mixing process is a vacuum emulsifier homogenizer. Air bubbles cannot be present in toothpaste and a homogenizer stops aeration and distributes the ingredients evenly.

A vacuum emulsifier homogenizer pushes the mixture through a narrow corridor, and this, combined with high pressure and turbulence, ensures even mixing and disperses the air bubbles.

Vacuum emulsifier homognizers have speed control and vacuum degassing attributes. Additives can be put directly into the dispensing chamber which stops lumps forming.

Add The Dry Ingredients

Add the dry ingredients to the mix, such as the abrasives and rheology modifiers.

An in-line mixer is an asset to the production process when mixing wet and dry ingredients. It is both speedy and efficient.

The way that the mixer works is by the rotor blades producing suction. These blades work at such a high speed that the wet and dry ingredients mix and blend together quickly and then move onto the rotor/stator assembly. From here the mixture is pushed to the edges of the workhead , through the perforations, and into the pipework.

The process is continuous. As the prepared toothpaste moves out of the chamber, more ingredients are automatically added to the mixer.

A great advantage of the mixing procedure is conducted in one vat, which is a closed vacuum system. This prevents the toothpaste from becoming contaminated and also lessens production time. This means that you can make more of the product in a shorter time. A typical vat can produce a batch of 10,000 118 ml (4-ounce) tubes at a time, which will increase your profit margin.

Add The Flavors, Sweeteners, and Fluoride

The next step is to add any sweeteners, preservatives, flavorings, and colorings to the mix. If the toothpaste is to have fluoride, now is the time to add it.

Add The Detergent

Another word for the detergent used in toothpaste is surfactant. It is added so that when you come to use the toothpaste, it foams in your mouth. Foaming aids in the distribution of the paste.

Detergents are mixed in slowly which is why it is added last. The slow movement ensures that it doesn’t foam too much when you are brushing your teeth. You need a certain amount of foam to clean your teeth, but over foaming is not a pleasant experience.

Test For Quality

Before the toothpaste is put in the tubes, it is vigorously checked for quality. Samples from the batches are taken and checked for consistency, ph levels, taste, and texture. If it doesn’t meet standards, it is discarded.

Sophisticated laboratory equipment is used for quality control such as viscometers and ph meters.

Label The Tubes

Before the toothpaste tubes are filled, they go through a series of rollers to label and shape them. The brand, date of manufacture, and coation are stamped onto the tubes.

Fill The Tubes

Filling tubes with the toothpaste is an intricate procedure and needs various pieces of equipment. The system works on a conveyor belt and the process of filling the tubes is as follows in this order:

1. Blowers and vacuum systems for cleaning the toothpaste tubes: This is the first step before filling the tubes with toothpaste. It is important that the tubes are clean so as to avoid infections and illnesses when using the toothpaste. These vacuum systems suck dust and dirt from inside the tubes.
2. Capping machine: Once the tubes are clean, one end is capped and the other opened so that each can be filled with the toothpaste. You can purchase high-speed cappers which are capable of capping up to 2.600 tubes of toothpaste in one hour.
3. Filling machine: The tubes are rotated and filled with a pump from above. When they are full, the ends are crimped and sealed. There are high speed tube feeders on the market which can feed up to 220 tubes a minute and can even be worked without an operator.
4. Nozzles for adding stripes: You may have tried toothpaste with colored stripes and perhaps wondered how it is made. However, it isn’t hard to produce. The different colored toothpastes are made in separate batches, each of which goes into its own nozzle. The nozzles inject the different colors into the tubes at the same time, leading to the striping effect.

Package The Tubes

Before the tubes are packaged, there is generally some quality control on the seals to ensure that they are secure.

The tubes of toothpaste then go onto a conveyor belt to be packaged into open cardboard boxes which are then sealed automatically.

Ship The Toothpaste

The boxes of toothpaste are put into larger boxes ready for shipping. Many companies will do this by hand.

Conclusion

Knowledge of the step by step process involved in manufacturing toothpaste allows you to produce an excellent product. It will enable you to compete with the top toothpaste manufacturers in the market.

Remember, however, to follow the procedure exactly for optimum results and success.