Pronamel Toothpaste Ingredients

There are many toothpastes available that promise to care for your whole mouth, whiten your teeth, wax your car, and do your taxes. Maybe not those last two, but it can be hard to know what you’re looking at when you check out the toothpaste ingredients on the packaging. There’s no plain language, only scientific names that look hard to pronounce.

Read on to learn about the active and inactive ingredients in Pronamel toothpastes, what they’re for and how they work.

Key Takeaways

• Pronamel toothpastes may include one or both of these active ingredients: potassium nitrate and sodium fluoride.
• Inactive ingredients may include humectants—which minimize water loss—thickening agents, foaming surfactants and abrasive agents.
• Each formulation is different and no two are the same. Pronamel Kids toothpastes have fewer ingredients and none that address sensitivity because children under 12 do not often have dentin hypersensitivity.

What’s in Toothpaste: Active Ingredients

Pronamel toothpastes may contain up to two active ingredients: potassium nitrate and sodium fluoride.

Pronamel Kids toothpastes are not formulated with potassium nitrate.

What is Potassium Nitrate?

Potassium nitrate is commonly used in toothpastes for sensitive teeth. It’s an ingredient in toothpaste that is used as a desensitizing agent to manage dentin hypersensitivity¹ 

What’s Dentin Hypersensitivity?

Dentin hypersensitivity is characterized by short, sharp pains that are experienced when the tubules within a tooth’s exposed dentin are exposed to a stimulus like heat, cold, chemical or pressure.^1,2 These stimuli move fluid within the tubules and affect the nerves within the pulp of the tooth, leading to pain that may potentially affect a person’s quality of life.²

This sensitivity is often caused by enamel loss due to acid erosion or gum abrasion.²

How Does Potassium Nitrate Work?

Potassium nitrate works by numbing nerves.⁸ This reduced nerve activity within the tooth’s pulp means that it won’t transmit the same pain signals to the brain and should reduce a person’s sensitivity to a stimulus.²

Sodium Fluoride

Sodium fluoride is a common anticavity ingredient in toothpaste.^3,4 Fluoride strengthens teeth to help prevent tooth decay and helps to remineralize the enamel of your teeth in the early stages of tooth decay.³

The fluoride ions in toothpaste can be incorporated with other ions that make up the structure of your enamel, making it more resistant to the acids produced by plaque bacteria.⁴

How Does Sodium Fluoride Work?

Sodium fluoride works by incorporating minerals like phosphate and calcium into the tooth’s surface.⁷ This helps harden and strengthen your teeth.⁷ Some toothpastes contain calcium phosphate along with sodium fluoride to further help rebuild and protect teeth.⁷

This process helps to minimize the loss of minerals from the enamel and increase its strength and resistance to acid attacks.⁴

Inactive Ingredients in Pronamel Toothpastes

While most of the ingredients in Pronamel toothpastes are considered “inactive,” that doesn’t mean that they don’t serve a purpose. Don’t let the scientific terms throw you off; learn about the different roles that these inactive ingredients serve in Pronamel toothpastes.

Humectants

These inactive ingredients help to minimize water loss in toothpaste and keep it from drying out in the tube or when it’s exposed to air.^2,3 Humectants in Pronamel toothpastes include:

• Glycerine
• Sorbitol
• PEG-8 (Polyethylene Glycol 8)

Surfactants

A surfactant in toothpaste is responsible for the foaming action that helps spread the toothpaste around the mouth and clean away any debris.⁴ The foaming effect also lowers the surface tension of the liquid environment within the mouth so that the active ingredients in toothpaste can more easily come in contact with the teeth.⁴ The most common surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), but Pronamel toothpastes are SLS-free.^4,5 SLS may cause skin and mouth irritation.⁴ Instead, these ingredients are responsible for the foaming action in Pronamel toothpastes:

• Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB)
• Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate

What’s more, Pronamel Kids Bubble Twist and Pronamel Kids Berry Twist toothpastes have fewer ingredients than the formulations intended for adults. Most notably, they don’t contain any ingredients that help to manage sensitivity, because children under 12 do not often experience dentin hypersensitivity.

Hydrated Silica

Silica is an abrasive agent, which helps to clean teeth by removing surface stains and plaque.^3,5

Sodium Lactate

Sodium lactate helps to regulate the pH levels in your mouth, which is helpful during an acid attack.⁵ It’s considered an anti-erosive ingredient because it helps protect your enamel.⁵

Xanthan Gum

Xanthan gum is a stabilizer and thickening agent that helps toothpaste maintain its form and consistency.⁵

Titanium Dioxide

Titanium dioxide simply provides a white hue in the toothpaste.⁵

Sodium Saccharin

Flavoring agents and non-caloric sweeteners, like sodium saccharin, are common in toothpaste.³ Sodium saccharin is 300 times sweeter than sucrose and, in small amounts, can give toothpaste a pleasant flavor.⁵

Sodium Hydroxide

Sodium hydroxide is included in toothpaste to help balance the pH.⁵

Understanding Toothpaste Ingredients

It’s important to understand that not all Pronamel toothpaste formulations are identical. They don’t all contain the same ingredients in the same amounts, which is what helps to set them apart. Each one is carefully formulated with a precise blend of active and inactive ingredients that are designed to promote overall oral health. Each component plays a role in helping to maintain a healthy smile.

 

Source Citations:

1. Evaluation of the clinical efficacy of potassium nitrate desensitizing mouthwash and a toothpaste in the treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3908806/. Accessed 6/26/25.

2. Efficacy of a 3% potassium nitrate mouthrinse for the relief of dentinal hypersensitivity. Journal of the American Dental Association. https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177%2818%2930802-X/fulltext. Accessed 6/26/25.

3. Toothpastes. American Dental Association. https://www.ada.org/resources/ada-library/oral-health-topics/toothpastes. Accessed 6/26/25.

4. Formulation Ingredients for Toothpastes and Mouthwashes. Journal of the Association of Basic Medical Sciences. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7245492/. Accessed 6/26/25.

5. Investigation of the constituents of commercially available toothpastes. International Journal of Dental Hygiene. https://doi.org/10.1111/idh.12805. Accessed 6/26/25.

6. Is there evidence for Novamin application in remineralization?: A Systematic review. Journal of Oral Biology and Craniofacial Research. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7068624/. Accessed 6/26/25.

7. Dentin Hypersensitivity: Etiology, Diagnosis and Contemporary Therapeutic Approaches—A Review in Literature. Applied Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/app132111632. Accessed 8/20/2025.