Better Cruelty-Free and Vegan Toothpaste Options for the Perfect Smile

If you’re looking to make a switch to a better kind of dental care regime, then a good place to start is with a cruelty-free or vegan toothpaste specifically formulated to be a more conscious substitute to conventional alternatives.

Perhaps you’re thinking of changing to a vegan toothpaste as part of a larger animal-friendly strategy in your everyday life, or maybe you simply want to find a better kind of natural and cruelty-free toothpaste for other reasons, either way, it’s now super-simple to transition to an improved vegan dental care regime that’s better for you and better for the environment.

From fluoride free vegan toothpaste options to choices which utilize organic ingredients or are formulated for specific requirements like sensitivity or fighting plaque, the best vegan and cruelty-free toothpaste choices currently on the market are well placed to meet your every dental hygiene need.

In this guide, we’ve taken a look at some of our favorite cruelty free and vegan toothpastes to help you find exactly what you’re looking for and to let you take the first steps to a better smile that looks good, feels good, and does good.

Why choose a vegan toothpaste?

You may be surprised to find out that when it comes to ethical credentials, not all toothpastes and dental hygiene products are created equal.

While there are an increasing number of animal-friendly and vegan toothpaste options out there, there are also a whole load more which contain animal-derived ingredients such as certain types of glycerin and propolis (which is derived from bees).

With this in mind, really the only way to be sure that you’re using an animal-friendly or vegan toothpaste is to check the list of ingredients and verify that they explicitly outline that any ingredients are derived from plants and not as animal by-products.

Of course, the easiest and ultimately, better way to ensure you’re getting a vegan or cruelty-free toothpaste is to go for a product or brand who outwardly state this to be the case on the product itself!

That’s where this guide comes in.

How about cruelty-free toothpaste, is there a difference?

As with other products (and particularly those within the cosmetics, hygiene, and personal-care world), there is an important difference to be aware of between vegan and cruelty-free and this effectively comes down to whether or not a product or its ingredients have been tested on animals.

If you see the term ‘cruelty-free toothpaste’ this is basically stating that the ingredients or the final product (there can be a difference here too) have not been tested on animals.

Cruelty-free does not however mean that a toothpaste is vegan – it may be made without any animal-derived ingredients or by-products but may still have been tested on animals at some stage during or after the manufacturing process.

Similarly, if a product is stated as being vegan, then it does not contain any animal-derived ingredients but it may still have been tested on animals.

Super confusing, kind of counter-intuitive, and not very helpful right?

Well, the good news is that one way to avoid this kind of misdirection is to look for products that have been certified by reputable organizations such as the Vegan Society, where the standards set, ensure that both conditions have been met before accreditation is given.

So the question remains, what’s the best choice if you’re looking for a truly animal-friendly toothpaste?

The simple answer is to look for a brand or product that explicitly states that they and their products  are both cruelty-free and vegan. This way you can be sure that if you’re looking for an ethical and animal-friendly toothpaste that checks all the boxes, you’ve covered all the bases.

This guide looks to make finding the best cruelty-free and vegan toothpastes as simple as possible, without the need for doing all of the legwork and research yourself!