I kept an old toothpaste screw top too. I wash it out ever so often. Overall, I think they overdid the flip tops! For heavens sake, do we really need them on vitamins?

Moni

Single use plastic is horrible. I switched to natural ingredient tooth powder in a recyclable jar. There are many alternatives.

I don't buy toothpaste by looking at how it comes out of the tube. I buy what my teeth needs and go from there.

I have not noticed flip tops on toothpaste -- the idea does not thrill me.

How do you keep your tooth-care stuff? My electric toothbrush sits on the right side of the sink, because it's close to the electric outlet. On the left side, I have a "crystal" pedestal flower vase that holds my toothbrush, tube of toothpaste, dental floss, tweezer and fingernail clipper. I don't have a medicine cabinet.

I hate the flip tops, especially the large flat top type. A max 4.6 ounce tube is all I can manage with my limited hand strength and finding toothpaste in the smaller size can be difficult. So I buy what I can find in that smaller size, no matter the cap type. I remove the flip tops and replace with a small screw on cap that I keep on hand. For starters, the flip tops make it impossible to get the last inch or so of toothpaste out of the tube.... for me at least.

Although the dentifrice was not the best, DH and I liked the (discontinued) Mentadent for the free-standing container. Flip open with your thumb, then press down on the container top to dispense. No need to hold anything or unscrew anything. You could do this with one hand while holding your toothbrush in the other.

I hate the flip tops on anything. And I hate the "child proof" tops on medicine bottles, so we always ask for the non-childproof.

My kids use Toms toothpaste (floride free). They don't complain about the cap but refuse to share a tube. I don't blame them I won't share mine either which I find gross. I use the tiny tubes of Colgate which empties quickly before the opening has time to gunk up which is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to toothpaste. We keep our oral care products in a disposable cup in our bedrooms. I don't trust things that go in our mouth to be kept in the bathroom. As for flip tops. I never thought about it, but it sure makes dispensing ketchup and mustard easier. I do really like squeeze top Mayo. Keeps people from using a knife, spreading it on their sandwiche maybe not getting enough and putting the knife back in after it touched whatevers on the sandwich which than introduces bacteria into the jar of mayo. OCD huh. Lol

Can’t stand the flip tops on toothpaste, they either don’t close properly or they break off about half way through the tube use. So I make sure I buy the toothpaste with the screw-off cap, and it is usually the cheapest in my brand anyway.

I really preferred the old glass mustard and mayo bottles. I don’t even use much of either now except when I use a little for a recipe. And I still buy small jars of mayo. DH uses mustard and we usually have an upside down bottle in the refrigerator so he can get the last bit out. It was so much easier when you could scrape it out of a jar.

So glad you posted this. Flip tops are my pet peeve . They always end up a sticky mess and I can’t get them closed again. I definitely prefer the screw tops. I sometimes unscrew the flip tops but that doesn’t always work so well. I never thought of saving a small screw top. What a good idea. Hope I can still find one.

I too hate the big flat flip tops and always buy the smaller top. I also hate the green gel and always look for white paste. The gel gets gummy.

If it were just me, either. Two kids, flip all the way.

Two thumbs down for flip tops!

mamapinky, just curious. Why no fluoride? Prior to that, we all had a lot of cavities.

Louise, Floride treatments scare me so non floride toothpaste and no trea tments at the dentist. The dentist is quite impressed with my boys dental exams. For instance my oldest will be 11 in September and although he's never had a floride treatment he's also never had a cavity. He brushes at least twice a day and always flosses. There is floride in our tap water but we drink bottled. I do use tap for cooking though. When the boys started getting baby teeth I chose Toms brcause I know toddlers will swallow not spit and as time went by with great dental exams and the dentist saying whatever your doing keep it up so I never found a reason to change the toothpaste.

We like the flip tops on toothpaste and condiments.

Flip tops are much easier for people who have arthritic fingers or trouble gripping things.

I bought a tube for the grandsons to use when they are here. Lo and behold, it was even messier than a screw cap. Finally I took it into my bathroom to use up and discovered that the flat flip top is quite difficult to use. Won't buy one again.

My toothpaste has a small flip top which I ignore. I use the twist off feature.

The brand I use has the small flip top, and I like it like that! I've occasionally had the big flat flip tops, when I get a different brand, and I like them okay, too. My grandson has a tube on the shelf now with the large flat flip top, and he stands it up so it takes up a lot less shelf space. That's a plus in my book. I don't care for the screw tops because I find them awkward and inconvenient for my semi-dysfunctional fingers to use.

Rusty

The ingredients in drugstore toothpaste are bad: fluoride, artificial sugar, triclosclan. All things I will not eat. Grew up with fluoride and had lots of cavities. I stopped using fluoride and no more cavities. So for me the packaging is less important than the ingredients.

Flip top. I too stand it up so it uses less space.

flip, easier for me.

Although the dentifrice was not the best, DH and I liked the (discontinued) Mentadent for the free-standing container.

Mentadent was discontinued? Who knew?!

Like Debby and maybe others have stated, I use whatever cap I have to to dispense the product of my choice.

As for the assertions on here that some or all of the ingredients in toothpastes are bad, including fluoride, I disagree.

I always twist off even if the tube has a flip top. I find the flip tops tend to get gunky faster than twist off. I also always keep the toilet cover closed when not in use so no danger of flipping a cap into the toilet. ;)

I avoid generic toothpaste with flip tops because the flip can be difficult for me to open.

OT: Why do you suppose toilets have lids? Yes...they are meant to be closed before the toilet is flushed, and to remain closed until the next use.

If both genders routinely closed toilet *lids*, women could stop complaining when a seat is left up.

Men and women both sit down to go number two and women sit down to go number one. The seat needs to be left down. And keeping your woman from falling in is the gentlemanly thing to do lol

My MIL lost her right hand on a homemade table saw. She was a young girl at the time. She raised four children, milked cows, planted a garden, crocheted (the only time she used her extremely awkward leather prosthesis) , sewed and cooked. And learned to write beautifully with her left hand :)

She once sat for 3 hours at her sewing machine, waiting for my FIL to come home, with the needle through her index finger, unable to crank the wheel with her stump.

She said her stump was the best thing for punching down dough and the only thing she couldn’t do was hold a nail and hammer it in.

I think she would have liked the flip lids.

Well I just learned another thing from all of you. I thought those fat lids were part of the tube, and not removable. Checked this am, and learned that it was a cap after all. Who knew? Not me till now.

FWIW, search Amazon for "Mentadent" and it appears several times - someone above said it was discontinued.

Just this morning I was so happy to open a new tube of Colgate toothpaste, the baking soda and peroxide variety, and it has the small flip top! Silly how happy I am after this discovery. We normally buy the Colgate Sensitive(with big flat flip top) but had a coupon and got this one instead. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!!! :P

Apparently the more expensive ones must have the flat tops to set them upright on a shelf. The cheapy ones just have a small top which I like the best.

The safety of fluoride in water or via dental treatments and its amazing effectiveness in preventing tooth decay were long ago established and are uncontroversial. There's nothing comparable. It's so easy to use and benefit from. mama p, a dentist won't push the issue with reluctant patients because it's not worth it to trigger a disagreement but you shouldn't interpret what's not said to you (a recommendation to always use fluoride in one form or another) to be a concurrence with your view because it's unlikely that's the case.

I've never understood why women think their gripe about the inconvenience of lowering a toilet seat should trump the male inconvenience of having to raise one. I think there are better things for people to be concerned with. When it isn't where you want it to be, the solution is simple.

Our city put a vote to the residents whether to keep flouride in the city water or not. For some reason it was voted not to. So we haven't had flouride for a number of years.

But we have chlorine as well as chloramine, which from everything I've been reading is much much worse.

Fluoride is controversial and most of western Europe has
rejected, banned or stopped fluoridating their own water supplies. Other countries including Israel, Japan and China have also banned it. Fluoride does not naturally occur in the body and competes with Iodine (Iodine is necessary for every cell).

The ADA recommends it and considers it safe, based on rigorous scientific research done over many decades. And that's what's taught in dental schools. I believe more real medical and dental research is done in the US than in most of the rest of the world combined. That's good enough for me if not for you.

Elmer, I don't just accept "experts" opinions. I do my own research and consider who stands to gain from certain opinions/research results i.e. follow the money.

How many "experts" have made terrible recommendations that go against logic? Here are a few examples: physicians telling patients to smoke to lose weight, margarine & crisco are better than butter & eggs, the oil supply will be gone by 1980.

joyfulguy makes sense to me :)

" I don't just accept "experts" opinions"

Sure you do. I'm not going to waste time to produce a list of what we all encounter and are affected by in everyday life that results from the work of experts but it's most things.

"I do my own research "

If you do this in fields you're untrained for, you're only outsmarting and fooling yourself.

Are you an expert in some field? Many people are. If yes, how would you feel about an unqualified person suggesting they know more about your technical area than you do and are better able to make decisions about available information?

If not, then that may be partially why you don't respect those who are experts. You're not being cautious or skeptical, you're being unwise.

Yes, I have a medical degree

Your lack of understanding of the importance of tested and demonstrated evidence in science strongly suggests otherwise. I doubt the truthfulness of your comment.

Meow :-)

Elmer, seriously-is this forum called "how to insult people"? I seem to remember a maxim of "if you can't say something constructive keep your mouth shut".

Medical science is frequently changing, use logic and question what experts say. If a doctor gives you a prescription do you just fill and take it or do you check to assure that it isn't contraindicated with any conditions or other medications that you might have?

If you distrust experts and rely only on yourself, you're basing your health care (in this instance) on an uneducated and inexperienced amateur with access only to unauthoritative information. Tell me how that could possibly be sensible? Do you do the same in other areas too? You'd do better to stop tormenting and fooling yourself - find qualified expert providers with whom you can discuss and ask questions of when seen, and then follow their advice.

I don't take many prescription drugs but when I do, the prescriber has full knowledge of my health and what else I take. As does the pharmacy where I always go. I have zero concern about taking anything incompatible, there are more than enough knowledgeable eyes looking out for a potential problem.

As an aside, I dislike people who play fast and loose with the truth. There was no element of kidding or irony in your comment above and I found that to be insulting to me and other readers.

Will not buy toothpaste with a flip cap of any kind. Do not like them at all.

Elmer, here's some food for thought:

"A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine says medical errors
should rank as the third leading cause of death in the United States —
and highlights how shortcomings in tracking vital statistics may hinder
research and keep the problem out of the public eye.

Medical mistakes that can lead to death range from surgical
complications that go unrecognized to mix-ups with the doses or types of
medications patients receive."

Source https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476636183/death-certificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors

I don't find this either new nor worthy of thought, it's been long known. I've read that the highest incidence of problems tends to be found in small towns, smaller community hospitals, and larger understaffed public hospitals. A contributing problem is that the medical boards of many states don't allow public access to complaints, investigations, and disciplinary actions against physicians. Such information could be most useful to know which ones to avoid because of past problems. The secrecy is beginning to change in many places due to public pressure for sunshine on these records.

The best thing for patients to do isn't to fool themselves into thinking they can become an amateur physician for themselves, that's folly and probably the worst approach. A much better thought is to try to be seen by the best physicians at the best institutions available in one's region and that often means becoming a patient of docs practicing at medical schools. Find great docs, learn from them the wherefores and the whys and then follow their advice. Or don't, that's everyone's choice.

Even the best physician is human and can/will make an error. A good physician expects their patients to be involved and informed about their health care. An example of a proactive patient is when my father filled a prescription from a major pharmacy(in a major city), looked at the pills and realized that the pharmacist had filled it with the wrong dosage of medication.

So if a fluff post about flip-tops reminds someone to look at their medication or encourages them to research and learn about their health that's good and could save a life, thanks Jasdip :)

I had a patty melt at a diner yesterday, and asked for mustard (not pertinent, but I hate catsup, due to the non-needed sugars). The lid was flip top. It felt disgusting, with old caked on mustard.

I am not sure that a screw off top would have felt more sanitary. Or not.

On my own toothpaste, that I just use myself? I don't care what type of lid or cap it has.