The TikTok Toothpaste and Teeth Whitening Trend Is Gross and Kinda Predatory

Some viral trends crop up on the internet because people are trying to get in on something fun to try and stave off existential dread. And it's kind of hard to blame anyone for that. Sure, "The Mannequin Challenge" was really just a clever marketing scheme to popularize a song that probably wouldn't have gotten play otherwise, but folks seemed to have a blast doing it.

Then you have trends like these ones involving toothpaste and teeth whiteners on TikTok.

In 2020, several TikTokers uploaded clips that involved using toothpaste for a variety of different purposes. Whether it was smushing a ton of different tubes in a mechanical device, coverings one's face with the stuff, trying to clean a phone screen with it, or pressing it into a puddle of water and tricking users into thinking this somehow attracts/creates fish out of nowhere, folks on TikTok were obsessed with toothpaste.

But there are other variations of the trend that are making folks' skin crawl a little bit.

It doesn't really take much for someone to "go viral" on social media. There are tons of accounts that function more or less like the "cool kids" table at lunch. A bunch of young adults with trendy clothes can do anything on the platform and it will just rake in the likes.

So if you want to be popular on social media without really having to open your mouth, then try to be really good-looking. Or even gross.

How else would you explain why so many folks on the web are brushing their teeth or removing teeth whitening devices and allowing their spit to drop out of their lips while staring into the camera?

I don't even like seeing my own toothpaste foam dropping into the sink when I clean my chompers in the morning. Why in the world would I want to watch the aftermath of someone's battle with gingivitis on a social media app?

One Twitter user probably put it best: "TikTok is a f--king WEIRD place. We got minors pretending to spit out toothpaste to look like semen while lip-syncing to an over-sexualized Meg Thee Stallion song."

Another Twitter user wrote, "Maybe Trump had the right idea with banning TikTok. If I see another minor fake orgasm or spit out toothpaste on that f--king app … JAIL."

What do you think? Is the toothpaste trend on TikTok that offensive to you? Or do you filter your content accordingly and have more fun with videos like this on the platform?