International Toothpaste Museum

There's a paste specifically for tea and coffee lovers! Zact is by Lion of Tokyo. My friends Keith and Sarah brought it back from Indonesia. It is packaged and made in Jakarta, and apparently it is not even sold in Japan.

If you are a smoker, there's a Zact for you too! And as of this review, it's available via eBay worldwide.

For the rest of us, Zact is not my favorite. This white paste has a very chemically-medicinal taste. However, the pop-off lid is very convenient. If you're in Indonesia you say, "tutup," to describe the sound (or feeling) of the lid popping off.

Though I am a heavy coffee drinker, I did not use enough Zact to report on its stain-relieving qualities. I must say that I was a little scared that the same chemicals that might remove my coffee stains might remove something else that I want to keep. Every single ingredient on the package has a chemical name, except for xanthan gum, a harmless thickener.

I love packaging that features people that a product is designed to reach. In this case, Africans are featured on this Nigerian toothpaste. And of course, the models are smiling with very visible shiny bright teeth.

A very similar package is used for the rest of the world. Sadly, the Closeup Red Hot for the Philippines features Caucasian models. The same goes for India. And in the USA, it's not called, "Red Hot," but rather "Closeup Cinnamon."

This "active gel" paste is not what I would call red hot. When I think of "red hot," I think of cinnamon candy that has a much stronger flavor than this toothpaste. Maybe the American Cinnamon paste is more like the candy. This paste has a slightly medicinal flavor.

This line of toothpastes from Closeup supposedly has mouthwash built in. I'm not sure if my wife thinks my breath is much fresher after using this paste, but I do know that it is foamier than the usual paste during the brushing process…

This is the second Vicco toothpaste I've reviewed. The first was not toothpaste but rather Vicco tooth powder.

I love this one. It has a very unique flavor. A swirling mix of anise, fennel, cinnamon and mint combine to leave my mouth feeling fresh and very clean. A departure from the world of mint, mint, mint is so nice.

Interestingly, the kind people at Vicco Laboratories in Mumbai, India, also recommend that the user massages their gums with Vicco tooth powder after brushing - so I'm already primed for complete dental health. This is an Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda is "the science of life." I can't vouch for the benefits personally, but apparently millions of Indians can.

The hue of the paste is similar to flesh-color. If you remember Silly Putty on Wikipedia, it's more like Silly Putty color. I am sure no dyes are used in the manufacturing process.

Finally, you must go to Vicco's Vicco Vajradanti web page to see the thrilling one-minute video about th…

Olea Sensitive comes to us from Croatia."Olea" apparently means "olive," but not in Croatian nor in Latin. According to Bionity, the olive leaf has medicinal qualities. According to the box it came in, there might be other amazing qualities, but I can't read Croatian.

I like the flavor. It is supposed to be citrus flavored, but even though the taste is on the stronger end of the spectrum, it does not taste very citrus-y. There are overtones of saccharine, which is a bit disconcerting, but it does leave the mouth feeling clean.

Interestingly, Olea Sensitive comes from KPlus, a department store whose logo resembles Kmart. (Maybe they are cousins!) I gather the paste is this kind that would appear alongside other natural/ healthy/herbal types. In the USA, Kmart is not known for having much variety in that area.

This paste is courtesy of my friend Libby, who made a recent trip to Croatia.

This lovely paste is from Dabur, an Indian company, by way of Dallas, Texas. I bought it at the India Bazaar in Irving, to be exact. The package contained a bonus toothbrush, which was awesome, since my travel brush had long since passed what should have been its last brushing.

The paste has a very refreshing taste. The salt and lemon aspects are very subtle. I was expecting the flavor to be like drinking a margarita. But mint conquers any salt or lemon attributes. This could easily be a daily paste, if it were not for the "no flouride" aspect. I much prefer its subtlety to the in-your-face flavors of most American pastes.

The back of the tube is primarily in Arabic, as the paste was made in the U.A.E. The claim in English that I could read was that lemon is supposed to remove plaque and prevent tartar. I am not sure about how true that is, but the paste left my teeth feeling very clean.

Recommended.