Most Popular Toothpaste Brands In 2026

A handful of toothpaste brands dominate US shelves, and most sit under just a few parent companies. This guide breaks down the most popular brands by history, market position, and what sets each one apart, without repeating a product-by-product ingredient list.

TL;DR

• Colgate and Crest together hold well over half the US toothpaste market.

• Sensodyne leads globally in the sensitivity category and carries the top dentist recommendation for that need.

• Most mainstream brands, including Colgate, Crest, and Sensodyne, are not certified cruelty-free.

• Tom's of Maine, Hello, and Dr. Bronner's offer certified cruelty-free alternatives with real market presence.

What Makes A Toothpaste Brand Popular

Popularity in this category comes down to three things: market share, dentist recommendation, and shelf presence built over decades. A brand earns space in nearly every US drugstore by staying consistent, not by chasing trends.

Among popular brands of toothpaste, most trace back to just a few parent companies. Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, Haleon, and Church & Dwight collectively own the brands that fill most of the toothpaste aisle. Newer or natural brands compete for the remaining shelf space, often building trust through a single specialty, sensitivity, whitening, or clean ingredient lists, rather than broad coverage.

The American Dental Association Seal of Acceptance remains the most reliable signal of effectiveness, independent of brand size. A toothpaste can be popular and still lack the seal, and a smaller brand can carry it. Popularity and clinical performance are not the same measurement.

Distribution plays a bigger role in brand popularity than most buyers realize. Mainstream brands negotiate shelf space directly with national retail chains, which puts Colgate, Crest, and Sensodyne within arm's reach in nearly every US pharmacy, grocery store, and big-box retailer. Newer and natural brands often start online through direct-to-consumer subscription models before building any physical retail presence, which means a brand can have loyal customers and strong online reviews while still holding a tiny fraction of total market share.

Price point also shapes which brands people consider first. Mainstream tubes typically run $3 to $6, sensitivity and whitening formulas push toward $6 to $9, and natural or fluoride-free pastes often land above $10. That pricing gap explains why private label toothpaste has grown into a meaningful share of the category on its own, since a portion of buyers default to the store brand once the name on the tube stops mattering as much as the price.

Colgate

Among toothpaste brands, Colgate is the one most Americans grew up with. Founded in 1873 by William Colgate, the company started as an aromatic paste sold in jars, decades before the collapsible tube became standard packaging.

Colgate now sits under Colgate-Palmolive, a company that reported $20.4 billion in net sales for 2025, the first time it crossed the $20 billion mark. Colgate products reach over 200 countries and territories, and the brand consistently holds roughly a third of the US retail toothpaste market, though the exact figure shifts month to month depending on the tracker.

The brand's product range spans daily cavity protection, whitening lines like Optic White, sensitivity formulas, and a full children's lineup. That breadth, one name covering nearly every need, is a large part of why Colgate stays a household default rather than a specialty pick. Colgate is not a cruelty-free brand, covered in more detail further down.

Colgate Total, introduced in the US in 1997, became the brand's flagship multi-benefit formula and quickly took over as its top seller. The line uses stannous fluoride to target plaque, gingivitis, and bad breath in a single formula rather than requiring a separate product for each concern. That single-tube approach became the template Colgate has applied across most of its later product launches, including Optic White's whitening-plus-cavity-protection combination.

Colgate's scale also shows up in categories outside plain toothpaste. The brand covers kids' formulas, orthodontic-specific pastes, and prescription-strength fluoride options through its professional line, giving dentists a single manufacturer to point to across a patient's entire treatment. For patients wearing braces, Dental Reviewed's guide to the best toothbrush for braces covers how paste choice, including Colgate's orthodontic formulas, pairs with brush selection during treatment.

Crest

Crest, made by Procter & Gamble, launched in 1955 as the first clinically proven fluoride toothpaste on the US market. The American Dental Association recognized its cavity-fighting claims in 1960, a milestone that shaped how the entire category markets itself today.

Crest now runs neck and neck with Colgate for the top US market share position. Recent retail tracking puts Crest at roughly 34 to 35 percent of the US toothpaste market, narrowly ahead of Colgate in some months and slightly behind in others. The two brands have effectively split the mainstream US market between them for decades.

Crest's current lineup covers eight product lines, including Pro-Health, 3D White, Gum Health, and Sensitivity. Procter & Gamble continues investing in new formulations, including Crest Densify, a re-mineralizing paste built around rebuilding tooth density rather than just preventing decay.

Crest Pro-Health, launched in 2006, marked the brand's shift toward stannous fluoride as its primary active ingredient, matching the direction Colgate Total had already taken. The formula targets cavities, gingivitis, plaque, and sensitivity in a single tube, positioning Pro-Health as Crest's answer to Colgate's multi-benefit approach rather than a separate specialty product.

Crest also holds a distinct advantage in the whitening category through Crest Whitestrips, a separate product line that extended the brand well beyond toothpaste. That crossover into standalone whitening treatments gives Crest a foothold in a category where Colgate competes mainly through toothpaste formulas alone. Buyers comparing whitening options specifically can find more detail in Dental Reviewed's roundup of over-the-counter teeth whitening products.

Sensodyne

For toothpaste brands, Sensodyne occupies a different lane entirely. Block Drug launched it in 1961 as a dedicated sensitivity toothpaste, and it has stayed focused on that single problem ever since, rather than expanding into a general-purpose brand.

Sensodyne now belongs to Haleon, the consumer health company spun out of GSK. Haleon's own investor filings describe Sensodyne as the number two toothpaste brand globally and the top dentist-recommended brand worldwide for sensitivity. Roughly a third of adults experience some form of tooth sensitivity, and Sensodyne has built its entire market position around that specific need.

The formulas rely on potassium nitrate to calm nerve activity inside the tooth and stannous fluoride to block exposed dentin tubules. Dental Reviewed's toothpaste buying guide by need breaks down specific Sensodyne formulas for readers comparing sensitivity products directly.

Sensodyne's narrow focus is unusual for a brand this large. Where Colgate and Crest expanded into whitening, kids' formulas, and general cavity prevention, Sensodyne mostly stayed within sensitivity and closely related concerns like enamel erosion. Sensodyne Pronamel, one of the brand's best-known extensions, targets acid erosion from diet rather than nerve sensitivity directly, but it still sits within the same broad category of protecting compromised tooth structure.

That specialization is likely why Sensodyne earns the dentist recommendation it does. A brand that solves one problem consistently, rather than spreading across a dozen product lines, tends to build stronger clinical trust within that specific category, even while holding a smaller overall market share than Colgate or Crest.

Parodontax

Parodontax started in Germany in 1937 as Para-Dentax, a herbal anti-inflammatory paste, and took its current name in the early 1960s. Like Sensodyne, it now sits under Haleon, and it occupies a similarly narrow lane, gum health specifically, rather than sensitivity or whitening.

The brand's positioning centers on bleeding gums and early gingivitis, using stannous fluoride to target the bacteria responsible for gum inflammation. Parodontax rarely tops overall market share rankings, but it holds a strong position within the gum health segment specifically, a smaller but loyal customer base built around one clinical concern.

Sharing a parent company with Sensodyne gives Parodontax access to the same research infrastructure and clinical trial pipeline that supports Haleon's broader oral health portfolio. That connection helps explain why two brands with such different focus areas, sensitivity and gum health, can both maintain strong clinical credibility despite neither one competing directly with Colgate or Crest on overall volume.

Parodontax markets its distinctive taste as proof the formula is working rather than treating it as a drawback, an unusual positioning choice that sets it apart from the mint-forward flavor profile nearly every other mainstream brand defaults to.

Arm & Hammer

Arm & Hammer, owned by Church & Dwight, built its toothpaste identity around baking soda long before natural ingredients became a marketing trend. The brand positions itself as a value option without sacrificing the basics, fluoride protection alongside gentle, natural-leaning cleaning.

Baking soda neutralizes acid and provides mild polishing action, which appeals to buyers who want a straightforward formula without paying a premium price. Arm & Hammer sits in the middle ground between fully mainstream brands and dedicated natural brands, familiar enough to trust, simple enough to feel different from Colgate or Crest.

Church & Dwight, the parent company, built its entire consumer identity around baking soda decades before entering oral care, which gave Arm & Hammer instant credibility when it launched toothpaste under the same name. That existing brand trust let the toothpaste line skip years of the awareness-building most new entrants need.

The brand has also expanded into whitening formulas that pair baking soda with peroxide, an approach that keeps the familiar mild-abrasive base while adding a chemical whitening component. It remains a smaller player than Colgate or Crest by total share, but a consistent one within the value and natural-adjacent segment of the market.

Tom's Of Maine

Tom's of Maine built its reputation on naturally sourced ingredients and transparent labeling starting in the 1970s. Colgate-Palmolive acquired the brand in 2006, entering the natural oral care segment through an established name rather than launching one from scratch.

What sets Tom's apart from other natural brands is ADA acceptance on several of its fluoride formulas, a rare combination of natural marketing and independent clinical validation. Many natural competitors skip fluoride entirely and never submit for ADA review, leaving Tom's as a bridge between the natural aisle and the pharmacy aisle.

The acquisition also illustrates a pattern common across this category. Rather than building a competing natural line from scratch, Colgate-Palmolive bought an already-trusted independent brand and largely left its formulation and marketing identity intact. The same pattern shows up across the industry, where a handful of large parent companies own brands that market themselves as each other's alternative.

Tom's of Maine also offers fluoride-free options for buyers who want to avoid it entirely, sold alongside its ADA-accepted fluoride lines rather than replacing them. That dual approach lets the brand serve both traditional cavity-prevention buyers and those specifically seeking a fluoride-free alternative under one label.

Newer Challenger Brands Worth Knowing

Alongside the legacy names, a wave of direct-to-consumer brands has carved out real market share since the mid-2010s. These brands typically launched online first, built a following through subscription models, and only later moved into physical retail.

Hello Products, now owned by Church & Dwight, built its identity around clean ingredient lists, playful packaging, and cruelty-free certification from the start rather than adding it later. Burst Oral Care took a similar direct-to-consumer path, expanding from electric toothbrushes into toothpaste and whitening strips through a subscription model that recruits dental professionals as brand advocates.

These challenger brands rarely compete with Colgate or Crest on total volume, but they compete effectively for a specific type of buyer, someone shopping by ingredient transparency or subscription convenience rather than by shelf familiarity. Their growth has pushed even the largest legacy brands to publish more detailed ingredient information and expand their own natural-leaning product lines in response. Anyone building a full oral care routine around a newer brand should still check the toothpaste against a reliable electric toothbrush and brushing technique, since the paste is only one part of the routine.

Market Share Snapshot

Market share figures shift by month and by tracker, so treat the numbers below as a general picture rather than a fixed ranking. Sourced from recent US retail tracking data.

Private label toothpaste has grown into a meaningful share of the category on its own, a signal that price sensitivity affects this purchase more than brand loyalty for a growing share of buyers. Specialty and natural brands remain smaller individually but are gaining share collectively as more buyers shop by ingredient list rather than by name recognition. Buyers weighing broader oral care spending, toothpaste alongside an electric toothbrush upgrade, often find the brush matters more for gum health than which paste brand sits next to it in the cart.

Toothpaste Brands That Don't Test On Animals

For toothpaste brands that don't test on animals, certification matters more than a company's own marketing claim. Two independent programs verify cruelty-free status: Leaping Bunny, run by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, and PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies. A brand without either certification has not been independently verified, regardless of what its packaging implies.

Colgate, Crest, Sensodyne, and Parodontax are not certified cruelty-free. Their parent companies, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, and Haleon, permit animal testing in markets where local law requires it for certain product claims, most notably China. That single regulatory requirement, not a global testing policy, is usually the reason a large multinational brand cannot claim cruelty-free status everywhere it sells.

Several certified alternatives carry real market presence rather than sitting only in niche health stores.

• Tom's of Maine markets itself as natural, though it is worth confirming current Leaping Bunny or PETA status directly, since certification can change even for long-standing natural brands

• Hello, owned by Church & Dwight, is Leaping Bunny certified and PETA-recognized, and sells in mainstream retailers rather than only specialty shops

• Dr. Bronner's is Leaping Bunny certified and extends the same standard across its full personal care line, not toothpaste alone

The clearest way to confirm a brand's status before buying is to search it directly on the Leaping Bunny brand directory or PETA's cruelty-free database, since a bunny logo on packaging is not always a verified certification. Some companies design their own rabbit imagery without going through either program.

Certification status can also change over time as companies enter or exit specific international markets. A brand certified cruelty-free today could lose that status if it later expands into a country requiring animal testing for certain regulatory approvals, which is exactly the tradeoff that keeps some larger natural brands from carrying certification even when their domestic formulas were never tested on animals directly.

For buyers who prioritize this issue, sticking to brands that have held consistent certification for several years, rather than newer entrants making the claim without third-party verification, offers more reliable assurance than a single search at the time of purchase.

How To Choose Between Popular Toothpaste Brands

Brand recognition is a reasonable starting point, but it should not be the deciding factor. A few questions narrow the choice faster than comparing names alone.

Anyone choosing based on a specific concern, sensitivity, whitening, gum health, or dry mouth gets more precise guidance from Dental Reviewed's toothpaste guide organized by need, which compares specific formulas and active ingredients rather than brand identity.

Anyone choosing based on values, cruelty-free status, or ingredient transparency should check certification directly rather than relying on brand reputation alone, using the Leaping Bunny or PETA databases referenced above.

For everyday buyers without a specific concern, the ADA Seal of Acceptance matters more than which name is on the box. Colgate, Crest, and Sensodyne all carry ADA-accepted formulas, and so do several smaller brands. The seal, not the market share, is the signal worth checking at the shelf.

Brushing habits still outweigh brand choice for most people. A dentist building out a dental treatment plan for a patient with active decay or gum disease will factor in toothpaste as one part of a larger routine, not the sole fix. Consistent brushing technique, flossing, and regular checkups do more for long-term oral health than any single tube on the shelf.

Orthodontic patients face a slightly different calculus, since brackets trap plaque differently than smooth enamel. Dental Reviewed's guide to the best toothbrush for braces covers how brush and paste choice work together during orthodontic treatment specifically.

Buyers focused specifically on whitening should also separate what toothpaste can realistically deliver from what professional treatment achieves. Whitening toothpaste removes surface stains gradually through mild abrasives and, in some formulas, a small amount of peroxide, but it will not match the results of a professional treatment. Dental Reviewed's KOR teeth whitening review covers what a professional-grade option looks like for anyone whose goals go beyond what any toothpaste brand can provide on its own.

Bottom Line

A small number of parent companies, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, and Haleon, account for most of what fills the US toothpaste aisle. Colgate and Crest lead on sheer market share, Sensodyne and Parodontax lead within their specific clinical categories, and natural or cruelty-free brands compete on values rather than volume.

None of that market position substitutes for the ADA Seal of Acceptance, which remains the more reliable signal of whether a toothpaste actually works. A popular brand and an effective one often overlap, but they are not guaranteed to be the same thing, so check the seal and the ingredient list before assuming the biggest name is automatically the best fit.