The $80 million U.S. dentifrice industry was as fidgety last week as a colony of Lactobacillus acidophilus milling around in a test tube. Its chemists, prodded by sales executives, were feverishly mixing new powders and pastes in their labs.
What made the industry jumpy was the sudden growth of the ammoniated tooth cleansers—and the skyrocketing sales of a newcomer in the big dental field. Amm-i-Dent, the first widely distributed tooth powder to include carbamide (urea) and dibasic ammonium phosphate (TIME, Feb. 14), had climbed, so its makers claimed, to fourth place in...
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