Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Suwon23]

(I hate making new threads for this sort of thing, but they sink into the depths so fast, and there's no search function)

Where can I buy American toothpaste? I've tried a few brands of Korean stuff, and I've had horrible toothaches. I don't think it's doing anything at all but taste minty. I've seen people with Crest so I know it can be had. I looked in Home Plus; no good. Where else can I try? I can't buy it online because no website will ship here.

P.S. I live in Suwon, so no Body Shop/Olive Young/any good store like that. That pretty much leaves Big box stores like Home Plus which I've already tried.

HELP!

[articulate_ink]

The Homever near Byeongjeom Station sells the sensitive-formula Oral B toothpaste now. Or try the black-market stores in Itaewon: the Red Door, the one down the street, or the Filipino Phone Card one. They usually have decent selections of Western personal care products. If you can get to Bundang, Ilovecookie in Jeongja-dong also probably sells Western toothpaste. If all else fails, online merchants in the US that will send that stuff here.

[Samantha]

If you don't feel like hitting Itaewon and looking for the markets there then head down to Songtan. The blackmarkets there have crest, aquafresh, colgate and a couple of others I think. And there is a Body shop at the station 3rd floor by the bookstore, never saw toothpaste there but they do have the shop.

[NightSky]

http://www.ezshopkorea.com/shop/step0.php?orderby_bq=&research_b=&b_code=B20070628025822&m_code=&c_code=C20070628033618&pagenow=1

there's at least five different kinds offered here.

[discover]

Doota in Dongdamun has western toothpaste, deodorant, and other western hygiene products. I think they even have Western over the counter medicine. I believe it is B2 level in Doota. The floor that Burger King is on.

[Scotticus]

The gf and I were at Olive Young and they had two different types of Arm and Hammer toothpaste, which we quickly bought instead of the Korean brands.

[Hyeon Een]

I'm British, and so I'm obviously ignorant about oral hygiene, but what is wrong with Korean toothpaste?

Is it lacking in fluroide? is it not abrasive enough to scrape the teeth to clean them? Or is it just the flavour you dislike?

I've been using it for 4 years and I haven't suffered a toothache. I can't believe someone who's only been here a few months got a toothache because they switched from American to Korean toothpaste. If that really happened you probably had dental problems which happened to manifest themselves after arrival in Korea.

Oh yeah, and you live in Suwon? If there isn't American toothpaste in Suwon I'd be very very surprised. I've lived in much more 'country' towns than that and seen it..

[Draz]

[Suwon23]

Thanks for the replies, everyone (especially the Costco link)! It takes two hours to go to Seoul, so for the other suggestions, thanks anyway.

[pkang0202]

I brush with Perioe. Works fine for me. Try a different brand.

[lucas_p]

I think the problem is that many of the Korean brands use that xylitol which can make a strange taste.

We actually use the tube of Korean toothpaste we have at home to polish silver -- it actually works!

[Newbie]

[bassexpander]

Some things to mention...

After year two here, I realized that my teeth were going to hell pretty fast. I was brushing twice per day, and that always did me fine back home. Not here. There are differences in Korea that, depending on your lifestyle, can lead to cavities pretty quickly. I now brush three to four times per day, and should floss (but I'm lazy, and don't).

1. Back home, I drank A LOT of milk, and that slowed to a drip when I moved here (because most Korean milk tastes awful and is highly fatty). Losing that calcium hurt me. I also realized that I was eating out more and instead of drinking milk, I was having a cola with my food (bad).

2. The water back home had flouride in it. Here, it does not. The tap water in my home area is clean enough to drink. Here, I drink bottled water. Dentists back home warned people about this back home when bottled water began to become sheik in my hometown area about a decade ago. I can now see their point.

3. Many of the cheaper Korean toothpastes left my teeth dull and yellow-looking. The more expensive ones (like Clarin) contain a lot of bleaching agents that cause my teeth a lot of sensitivity. I find that Clarin really does a good job of whitening my teeth, but I can only use it once per day, or my teeth become very sensitive.

On another note, I hate Arm & Hammer (and most other baking soda toothpastes) because they leave a white substance in my mouth, and often cause me to shed mouth skin that globs up into disgusting junk in my mouth the next morning.

[Suwon23]

[Easter Clark]