Where does the “9/10 dentists recommend this toothpaste” claim come from?
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There exists something called a “parity product” which are products that literally exactly the same thing, meaning the only material differences in the product from company A to company B aren’t important. For example, toothpaste is the textbook parity product, when advertisers talk about “this toothpaste” they aren’t specifically saying Crest Whitening, or Colgate Mint, they are talking about baking soda and fluoride. Pretty much all toothpastes contain those two ingredients and those are the “active” ingredients, anything else is just flavoring, coloring, or added niceties like peroxide for whitening.
As a similar example, since all parity products are the same, they are all equally “the best”, so a company that makes 10 mg pain killing pills can claim they have “the scientifically proven best pill in the market”. That’s not claiming that their pill is better than a competitor’s, it’s saying that 10 mg of this particular drug is the better than no pill at all.
So the 9/10 Dentists claim is saying that “Medical science agrees that brushing your teeth with baking soda and fluoride is recommended”, vs. not brushing at all, which is like saying doctors recommend drinking water or not breaking your legs are good ways to stay healthy.
Of course they say 9/10 because you know there is some Dr. out there who espouses some alternative belief and they want to protect against lawsuits.
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