Every pick starts from one of our roundups. For each step, and for each concern you tick, a named roundup decides which products qualify and in what order: its top pick comes first, then the products it gives a named role, then the rest of its list. Today that is38 roundups placing 163 products, of which 52 can appear as a pick across every combination of concerns and must-haves. The map of which roundup speaks for which concern was last reviewed on September 7, 2026; a roundup refresh that changes a top pick fails our build until the map is re-reviewed, so the shelf never changes by accident.
Two or more concerns: a product with a place on the roundups for all of them beats one that only appears on one; then the better tier wins. Where no roundup covers a step for your concerns, you get the general roundup's top pick, labelled as our all-round pick and not specific to the concern. Where our roundups do not yet name a pick, the card says so and links to the roundup instead of guessing.
Must-haves: "fluoride-free" and "no mint" narrow toothpaste and mouthwash using each product's own label, read from the maker's page or the listing and checked by a second reader (labels read for 95 of99 pastes and rinses as of September 7, 2026; a label we have not read never passes a must-have, and the card says how many products that removed). "Budget pick" keeps the same concerns covered and a top-two tier, prefers the roundup's own value pick, then takes the lowest price from that roundup's last check; it only swaps when the saving is at least a tenth, and the card names what it replaced.
Where the community fits: discussion from80 forum-research briefs (1,486 cited threads) appears on cards as a receipt, in coarse bands (supportive, mixed, thin, critical), and settles ties between products on the same tier. It never lifts a product over a roundup's verdict, with one exception: a product with at least ten coded mentions and at least two thirds of them against it is held back, and the card says why. 2 products are held back today. Cards sourced from our whitening-toothpaste roundup show no community line, because on that page the discussion contradicts the roundup and we would rather say nothing than blur it.
Amazon prices on the cards are same-day reads with their as-of time, shown only while that read is under 24 hours old; otherwise, and for products sold outside Amazon, you see a price band from the roundup's own last price check. The total after the everyday steps is summed only from same-day Amazon prices, rounded, excludes shipping, and is a one-time cost if you bought everything at once; we don't estimate monthly costs because we have no consumption data, and we won't invent it. Every number on a card comes from a file we publish from: the roundup itself, its price check, the label file, or the community dataset.
