What is Rennou®?
Rennou® is the patented active ingredient in every Theodent® toothpaste. It is powered by a compound found in cacao, and it accelerates the remineralization your mouth already performs.
Most toothpaste uses fluoride as its active ingredient. Theodent® uses Rennou®.
It began with cacao
Most people hear cacao and think chocolate. But chocolate is something we make from cacao. Theobromine is already in the plant, long before anyone ferments or roasts the seed.
In laboratory research, theobromine influenced the growth of hydroxyapatite, the mineral crystal that makes up enamel. The crystals that formed were larger, which means less surface area for acid to attack, and they were harder to dissolve.
That observation became the basis for Rennou®. The patented system pairs theobromine with calcium and phosphate, the mineral building blocks enamel needs to remineralize.
Your mouth already remineralizes enamel
Enamel looks solid, but its surface is always exchanging mineral with the mouth. Acids from food and drink draw calcium and phosphate out. Saliva carries those minerals back.
When mineral leaves, that is demineralization. When it returns, that is remineralization. Both happen every day.
Rennou® supercharges that process
Rennou® achieves rapid enamel remineralization at 71x less concentration when compared to a typical fluoride toothpaste¹
Before
Enamel looks smooth until you look at this scale. Acids open the surface. Dentinal tubules sit exposed, and mineral can leave through those openings as easily as it can return.
After
Rennou® supplies soluble calcium and phosphate, and theobromine influences how those ions form hydroxyapatite at the surface. New mineral grows in sheeting layers. The mouth is still doing the same work. It just does it faster.
Every king must lose his crown
Fluoride has been the oral-care active for most of a century, and it works. It acts at the ionic level, interacting with enamel mineral and helping the surface resist acid. That efficacy is well established.
However, every single tube of fluoride toothpaste contains a federally mandated warning that if more than the amount used for brushing is swallowed, the user should get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center. The warning exists because the active is not meant to be swallowed. It matters most for children, who do not always spit perfectly.
A growing number of parents have begun looking more closely at that label, and at what should take fluoride's place. They want efficacy AND safety.
A considered successor
Nano-hydroxyapatite is a synthetic form of the same mineral that makes up most of enamel. It gives parents a fluoride-free option, but is it a viable fluoride replacement?
The mechanism nHA uses is saturation. nHA begins as hydroxyapatite already formed. It is added as solid particles, commonly at 5 to 10 percent of the toothpaste, so enough reaches and remains on the tooth. By cramming enough of it into the formulation, the thinking is that your body will break it down and facilitate remineralization.
The chemistry is not new. Nano particles of hydroxyapatite have been studied in oral care for decades. What changed is the attention, and the money behind bringing an older idea back to the shelf.
Nano-hydroxyapatite indeed offers a better safety profile than fluoride. However, its use in such high concentrations begs the question of its true potential to replace fluoride's efficacy.
The true heir to the mineral throne
Cacao is an unlikely place to look for a fluoride replacement technology. Linnaeus classified the plant centuries before anyone had a reason to ask what it might do for teeth.
Yet, nature provides, and Rennou® strikes the perfect balance between safety and efficacy.
There is a reason Linnaeus named this plant food of the gods.
Read the clinical information
For those looking for more specific scientific information or peer-reviewed research, visit our Clinical Information page.
Rennou® in every formula
Every Theodent® toothpaste uses Rennou® as its active ingredient. Choose the formula that fits your routine.
References
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Amaechi BT, et al. Remineralization of artificial enamel lesions by theobromine. Caries Research. 2013;47(5):399–405. doi:10.1159/000348589. A laboratory pH-cycling study of artificial caries-like lesions in blocks from extracted teeth. Theobromine in artificial saliva at 0.0011 mol/L was compared with a sodium fluoride toothpaste slurry at 0.0789 mol/L, about 72 times the molar concentration, over 28 days. On surface microhardness and transverse microradiography the two produced remineralization that was not statistically different.