The Best Kids’ Toothpastes

Tickle kids’ taste buds while still cleaning their teeth with these child-tested products.

Best Gel

Colgate Junior in Mild Mint Stars

The testers say: “Oooh, there are stars in it,” one five-year-old girl said about the sparkle-flecked gel. Other testers said the mint flavor seemed made for kids. “I like this better than my mom’s,” said one 10-year-old boy. “It’s not spicy; it feels tingly and clean. Like a mint candy.”

Keep in mind: This gel has fluoride, which prevents decay. Fluoride is added to the water in some cities, but from a dental standpoint, you need it with every brushing. Does a gel trump a paste? “Absolutely not,” says David Hale, D.D.S., a clinical director of pediatric dentistry at Baylor College of Dentistry, in Dallas. “It is a matter of preference.”

To buy: $3 at drugstores.