Luxury is coming for our teeth – but should we really be paying £20 for a tube of toothpaste? | Fashion

First it came for handwash. Then deodorant. Now, the fancification trend has claimed its next victim: dental products. From £20 toothpastes to bottles of mouthwash that sound more like a perfume than a breath freshener, a new wave of oral care is blurring the lines between function and fashion.

Rather than being shoved in an old tumbler on the back of the shelf, today’s iterations of toothbrushes and pastes are at the forefront of social media sink shots, proudly displayed alongside a three-wick candle and curated pile of skincare.

A recent report from the marketing insights firm VLM described the mouth in grander terms than we’re perhaps, used to, calling it “the new centre of gravity for beauty, longevity and self-expression”, and highlighting a shift in oral care from “a hygiene necessity into a pillar of holistic wellness”.

With the emergence of brands that treat toothpaste more like a perfume, mint is no longer the default flavour. The French brand Le Bon works with an aroma house in Grasse to create its offering, which includes everything from blackcurrant to rose and orange blossom in packaging that could be mistaken for a hand cream. The Swedish brand Selahatin even includes flavour notes in its descriptions. It recently teamed up with the fashion designer Rick Owens on a limited-edition line of products including a toothpaste with top notes of Madagascan vanilla and base of black pepper, which it describes as capturing “the quiet act of transformation”.

Unsurprisingly, what you pop your pea-size amount of toothpaste on has also become a signifier. Apirori sells brushes with asymmetric bristle pads, designed for effective cleaning of the tooth surface, but its striking colour choices and signature gold accent are just as arresting. The Swiss brand Aurezzi takes it one step further with 24k gold-plated handles, yours for £49. Elsewhere, Machete sells brushes hand-sculpted from Italian acetate, which it describes as a “design moment for your bathroom”, while vintage fans will love Acca Kappa’s retro designs. On the cheaper end of the scale, Curaprox’s £5.90 brushes come in a range of 31 different colours. Electric toothbrushes are also pivoting from harsh whites to gentle pastel shades that look soothing rather than shouty in a bathroom shelfie.

Dr Brandon Nejati, founder of the Nejati Clinic in London, says the trend shows how wellness is encroaching all parts of our daily routines. “People are no longer looking at the body in isolation,” he says. “They increasingly understand that the mouth is not separate from overall health, but one of the body’s most important protective barriers and a gateway to the rest of the body.” Along with his co-founder and wife, Dr Mahsa Nejati, the duo have developed their own range of oral products, Mahsa, that consists of toothpastes and mouthwashes that they say aim to “support the oral microbiome, reduce inflammation and promote long-term oral wellness”.

Nejati says the trend is helping to change the way people think about dental care. “People are far more likely to maintain habits that feel enjoyable, thoughtful and purposeful,” he says. Selahatin’s founder, Kristoffer Vural, meanwhile describes the brand as transforming “the most ordinary act into a rite of taste, memory and emotion”, which is certainly something to mull over during your two minutes of brushing.

The trend is also having a knock-on effect on the dentist chair with clinics offering treatments beyond the basic polish and scale. Many now provide LED light therapy and lasers that may help reduce inflammation, while others offer complementary treatments such as acupuncture that may help with jaw issues.

“For decades, oral care was largely focused on preventing cavities or whitening teeth,” Nejati says. “Today, there is growing recognition that maintaining a healthy oral microbiome, reducing chronic inflammation and preserving the integrity of the oral barrier may have implications far beyond the mouth. As the science has evolved, so too has consumer awareness.”

However, with many people in the UK struggling to even get basic dental treatment due to a scarcity of NHS dentists, the maintenance of a smile is quickly becoming an even brighter status symbol.

Not every dental expert is thrilled with this new luxury or holistic spin. Some upscale toothpaste brands, such as the US-founded label Theodent, don’t contain fluoride, which the British Dental Association cautions against. “The introduction of fluoride toothpaste in the mid-20th century has had a transformative impact on oral health in the UK by significantly reducing tooth decay rates,” says its chair, Eddie Crouch. “It achieves this by remineralising weakened enamel, slowing mineral loss, and hindering plaque bacteria acids. The BDA would not recommend any toothpaste without it.”

Crouch is also critical of the trend’s high price tags. “You can find perfectly decent toothpaste at a pound shop,” says Crouch. “Ultimately the deciding factor isn’t whether your next tube comes with ‘notes of vanilla’, but whether it has the necessary fluoride to protect your teeth.”

Nejati compares the trend to skincare where the efficacy varies widely. “Elevating the daily experience encourages consistency, but the products must also deliver genuine scientific value,” he says. “The difference should never simply be branding – it should be the underlying science, formulation and philosophy. If a product is genuinely designed to support the oral microbiome, help reduce inflammation, preserve the oral barrier and encourage healthier long-term habits, then it represents a fundamentally different proposition.”

But perhaps dental experts shouldn’t be too concerned. Just like Aesop handsoap pump bottles are often refilled with cheaper dupes, it appears some dental products may be treated as for display purposes only. In a Reddit thread dedicated to the Rick Owens x Selahatin collaboration, one user wrote: “I treat it more like a collectible.” They’re not the only one. Despite the manual toothbrush priced at £50 and toothpaste at £40, both items are now out of stock and fetching triple their original prices on resale sites. Expect to find them pride of place (and most likely unused) in the fanciest bathrooms sometime soon.

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