GAMATOP, Pasta Gigi Herbal Inovasi Mahasiswa UGM
GAMATOP, Pasta Gigi Herbal Inovasi Mahasiswa UGM
Having healthy, white, clean teeth could be everyone's dream. Therefore, the onset of discoloration of teeth often bothers everyone because of its aesthetic reason. Tooth discoloration is often caused by consuming beverages. One of them is the habit of drinking tea.
"Tooth discoloration (extrinsic stain) often bothers the community and people using denture due to drinking tea," said Annisa Mutiara, students of the Faculty of Dentistry UGM on Friday (29/7) at UGM.
Mutiara said that currently toothpaste has been developed to address the discoloration of the teeth but most products on the market are made of chemicals. Therefore, she along with two dentistry colleagues, namely Puteri Aulia Rizqi Kanina and Nur Liyana binti Hamid, tried to create a new toothpaste formula made of herbs to overcome this problem. The toothpaste was named as Gadjah Mada Tooth Paste or GAMATOP.
They utilize local natural ingredients which could be found in the market. They used green tea leaves, bay leaves and lime peel as the main ingredient to overcome discoloration due to consumption of tea.
"So we have made three variants which are green tea leaves, bay leaves, and lime peel," she explained.
Mutiara said that the green tea leaves contains epigallocatechin gallate compounds known as anti-oxidants. That is the reason why they use green tea leaves as a major component of the toothpaste. Meanwhile, the bay leaves contain a compound called eugenol which serve to maintain the health of oral mucosa. While, lime peel contains naringin compound that serves as bleach.
"This toothpaste is made of herbs that are able to clean stains or plaque on the tooth surface, dental elements, and acrylic resin," she said.
Mutiara said that their research had advanced to the National Student Science Week at IPB this August.
Puteri added that the toothpaste they develop are safer to use because it comes from herbal ingredients. In addition, the toothpaste would not erode tooth enamel like other toothpaste on the market.
"Another advantage, this toothpaste not only could be used on the real tooth, but also on the denture," she explained.
This research provides information to the public about the benefits of using green tea leaf extract, bay leaves and lemon peel to clean stains on the teeth that could cause discoloration of the teeth. Moreover, the future of this formula can be developed as a herbal toothpaste, an alternative product to address the discoloration of the teeth. (UGM/adelily)