Trials of the new product were launched in the 1950s at Indiana University (IU), in Bloomington. There, a dentist instructed children to brush their teeth — in whichever way they normally did — with a new kind of paste. After six months, the kids came back for a checkup. These local children were not just dental patients, they were participants in one of the biggest clinical trials ever run on toothpaste. The main investigator in this endeavor was Dr. Joseph Muhler, a dentist and assistant professor in the university’s chemistry department. And it was his dream to take a bite out of one of the most pressing dental conditions in the U.S.: tooth decay.
P&G was happy to fund Muhler’s work. In return, the company would produce and distribute the final product — if an effective fluoride chemistry could ever be discovered. The deal would share the patent proceeds with Muhler, his team, and IU.
The study was so massive that by 1955, P&G had supplied more than 100,000 tubes of toothpaste. More than 9,000 mouths were examined and over 60,000 X-rays taken. Statisticians at Ohio State University, overseen by professor and P&G researcher Arthur Radike, counted the cavities — or lack thereof — and crunched the data. In the end, the evidence showed that stannous fluoride, combined with compatible abrasives, was a wonder-compound that reduced the number of cavities by one-third compared with the control group.
Now P&G had a new toothpaste, one that used chemistry to reduce cavities and positively impact consumer’s lives. But adding fluoride to prevent disease created a therapeutic agent rather than just a cosmetic one. To move forward, P&G needed the okay from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, and that came in 1955. The company named the new product Crest - with Fluoristan, and then set out to convince people of the benefits of fluoride in toothpaste. Crest promised more than a clean and dazzling smile. It promised healthy teeth too.
