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Science / Medicine : Toothpaste Linked to Asthma

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From Times staff and wire reports

Asthma sufferers who find themselves wheezing and coughing might look to their toothpaste as a possible cause of their problems, two doctors said last week. An artificial mint flavoring found in a brand of toothpaste made from an opaque paste instead of a gel apparently triggered breathing problems in a 21-year-old woman with a history of asthma, according to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Then, she switched toothpastes. She had been using Crest Tartar Control toothpaste, “but when she switched to a gel-based toothpaste her wheezing resolved dramatically,” wrote Drs. Bruce Spurlock and Thomas Dailey of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara, Calif.

When the woman subsequently used any paste-based toothpaste, she started wheezing again within 10 minutes, they said.

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Terry Glover, spokeswoman for Procter and Gamble Co., the maker of Crest, said she was unaware of any other cases in which toothpaste apparently induced asthma symptoms.

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