How does putting toothpaste on a burn help it heal?
I burned my hand today, and my mom applied toothpaste to it. I'm curious about how this treatment works and whether it actually helps a burn heal. Can someone explain the rationale behind using toothpaste on burns and if it's effective?
7 Answers
To jbrizzle: bases cancel out acids. So if you burn yourself with an acid a base will cancel it. But if it’s a heat burn, not a chemical burn, you don’t want a base; strong bases can cause burns just like strong acids can. In the case of a heat burn, what you want is room temperature to cool water running over the area and drawing the heat away.
To the questioner: toothpaste does NOT help a burn heal. Toothpaste contains menthol, which dries out the skin and can lead to dry, cracked skin especially when you put it on burned skin which is inherently fragile. Furthermore, toothpase can actually CAUSE irritation and even minor burns if left on the skin.
Any burns should be run under cool or room temperature water for at least 10 minutes. No ice (can cause frostbite), no butter or other greasey substances (can trap the heat and make the burn worse), no toothpaste. Just water and then later something designed specifically for burns such as silver sulfadiazine.
Nov 25, 2024
Im guessing because toothpaste is like soap, its a base. Bases can soothe burning sensations. Quite like using milk to cancel out spicy food.
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