Can Chapped Lips Be Caused by Toothpaste?
The simple answer is: yes, it can. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because if that is truly the only thing causing your chapped lips, it is very easy to fix. But how does toothpaste cause chapped lips? And how can you tell? There are a few simple things that we can check to see if your toothpaste is causing your chronic chapped lips.
There are many cases of people getting chapped lips, or having their chapped lips worsen, just after switching brands of toothpaste or mouthwash. This is a pretty good sign that the culprit is most likely the new brand.
Does your toothpaste contain guiazuline, sodium lauryl sulfate, red dyes, or cinnamon? These ingredients are known skin irritants, and may result in dry or chapped lips, redness of the lips, swollen lips, or a sore tongue. Sometimes the ingredients aren’t labeled on the tube of toothpaste though, so you may have to go online to figure out all the ingredients within a certain brand of toothpaste.
Not only are the above ingredients known to irritate skin, but they are also causes of allergies in some people. It is important then to always be aware of what is in your toothpaste (and really anything else that makes contact with your lips) so as to prevent any possible reactions on the lips.
One thing to note is that some allergic reactions can be caused by the allergen being exposed to sun light. These are called photo-toxins, are much more difficult to detect than regular allergies. For example, if you are allergic to a certain brand of toothpaste and use it, and several hours later your lips are exposed to sunlight, the “spontaneous” reaction is likely to be confusing and seemingly without cause.
If your toothpaste does contain any of the above ingredients, simply stop using the toothpaste for a while. Try using a brand of toothpaste that doesn’t contain these ingredients to see if your symptoms improve. If they do, then you have not only found the problem, but also solved it at the same time. One brand of toothpaste you can try that doesn’t contain harmful ingredients is Squiggle.
If you want to get rid of your chapped lips, it is important to always be aware of what might be causing them. While toothpaste seems like it wouldn’t be a likely candidate, because it indirectly (and sometimes directly) makes contact with the lips, it can cause a reaction and dry out your lips. Always be careful of what goes near your lips!