NOICE Dental Gel Offers a New Toothbrushing Experience

The American toothpaste experience is archaic. At least, that's the opinion held by two French entrepreneurs named Clement Hochart and Morgane Soret, who decided to take matters into their hands and give the United States and Canada a whole new approach to tooth-brushing. As described in a press release, the pair decided to "break the norm of what toothpaste should 'taste like' and create a whole new flavor."

The result is NOICE, an unusual charcoal-based dental gel that is apparently the first on the market to combine a number of benefits: zero-waste packaging; organic active ingredients; and no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, preservatives, fluoride, or sodium lauryl sulfate. Its vegan, cruelty-free formula will clean your gums and mouth, prevent cavities and infections, whiten teeth, and offer fresh minty breath without all the waste and chemicals associated with conventional toothpaste.

The dental gel comes in a glass jar (fully recyclable) with a plastic pump. When you order refills, you transfer the pump to a fresh jar and put the jar in a curbside recycling bin. The company is working to develop refills in compostable pouches, though this is not yet available. All packaging used for shipping is plastic-free, made from FSC-certified cardboard. 

When asked if NOICE takes back the jars for reuse, the company tells Treehugger, "We are very new, so for now [they get] mostly recycled. We are also building a network of retailers for consumers to be able to drop off [empty jars]." 

Using the gel is certainly a different experience. It feels strange to squeeze black gel onto a toothbrush, and it tastes completely different from regular toothpaste—more botanical, almost earthy, with aniseed, tea tree, and sage oils. It foams less than regular toothpaste and more than solid toothpaste tabs but leaves the mouth feeling spectacularly clean. Using this gel made me realize just how much pasty residue is left by conventional toothpaste, despite repeated rinses. I much prefer the aftertaste of NOICE.

Does toothpaste in a jar make a difference to the global plastic pollution problem? A header on NOICE's sustainability page puts that question into perspective: "'It's only 1 plastic toothpaste tube,' said 8 billion people. Billions of toothpaste plastic tubes end up in the landfill yearly. That leaves a bad taste in our mouth. That's why we founded NOICE."

Small efforts spread across a large population do add up to a positive difference. I know that switching to compostable bamboo toothbrushes and plastic-free dental floss in a refillable glass "floss pot" was a minor yet satisfying swap for my household that did not compromise our dental care routine in any way. This gel is a perfect addition, as it's less of a change than solid tabs, but more pleasant to use than natural toothpaste in plastic tubes.

You can learn more about NOICE here. Free shipping to the US. Buy a single bottle (one month's supply) for $12 or get a subscription box sent every 4 months for $4.95/month.