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Procter & Gamble (P&G) will limit its deceptive marketing of Crest fluoride toothpaste to children, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday.

Under the terms of an agreement reached last month, P&G’s advertising of its children’s toothpaste to children under age 6 will reflect age-appropriate toothpaste amounts, beginning this month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Dental Association (ADA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and others recommend that children under age 3 use no more than a “smear” of fluoride toothpaste. Children ages 3 to 6 should use no more than a “pea-sized” amount.

Although that information is included in fine print on the toothpaste’s label, Crest’s marketing materials often show images of a toothbrush with a full strip of toothpaste, implying a full strip is the recommended quantity.

Research has shown that advertising and labeling tactics by toothpaste manufacturers prompt parents to use more toothpaste than is safe, leading children to overconsume toothpaste.

A 2024 study in Nature found that parents tend to overload toothbrushes by a factor of six to seven times the recommended amount.

“When parents are teaching their kids the basic habit of brushing their teeth, they shouldn’t have to worry about deceptive marketing endangering their children,” said Paxton.

“Misleading images that show excessive amounts of fluoride toothpaste put children’s health and brain development at risk. This settlement is an important step in ensuring that large corporations like P&G no longer engage in these deceptive practices.”

In May 2024, Paxton launched an investigation into the makers of Colgate and Crest toothpastes for marketing fluoride toothpaste products to parents and kids in ways that are “misleading, deceptive, and dangerous.”

‘People Should Make Their Own Healthcare Decisions’: Pasco, Washington, Becomes Latest City to End Water Fluoridation

Pasco, Washington, joined 80 other communities, including two states — Utah and Florida — and several counties that have ended fluoridation since September 2024.

The city of Pasco, Washington, became one of the largest cities to end water fluoridation since September 2024, when a federal judge ruled that fluoridated water poses an “unreasonable risk” to children.

City officials in November 2025 voted 4-2 to end the practice.

Pasco, which has a population of about 80,000, is one of at least seven city councils in the state to debate water fluoridation.

Before voting on the issue, the city held a public debate. According to the city’s website, the debate attracted “the highest level of participation for any public input campaign in recent City history.”

“The more people know about fluoridation, the more they’re opposed to it,” Fluoride Action Network (FAN) board member Rick North told The Defender. City by city, they’re finding out, and more and more city councils are voting accordingly.”