## 2 Materials and Methods  
For good oral health, in addition to eating habits, we can talk about the mechanical and chemical means of removing plaque. Mechanical means are most effective and, if supplemented by chemical ones, they have an optimal effect on oral health. It is well known that brushing the teeth is the most effective technique for plaque removal, and toothpaste complements it by acting as a detergent and amplifying the effect on the plaque. Currently, on the market there is a wide variety of toothpastes, which have in their composition basic ingredients, which are found in all toothpastes, but also ingredients that give them special properties. Certain toothpastes contain baking soda, peppermint, cinnamon, etc. Certain ingredients in toothpastes are not to be swallowed, as they can negatively affect general health [10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23]. The present study focuses on a comparison between toothpastes containing natural ingredients, in terms of their effectiveness in removing plaque. Thus, several ingredients were selected to be included in the composition of these toothpastes. The ingredients are: baking soda, coconut oil, flavor (such as mint, eucalyptus, lavender, turmeric), and charcoal (medicinal). Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid compound, often available as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste. It helps to remove stains from the teeth, especially due to its abrasive properties, and it is also very good for maintenance of dentures and other dental appliances, as the odors are neutralized [24; 25; 26]. Coconut oil was chosen as a vehicle for toothpaste, but also due to its antibacterial properties, as shown by a study conducted at the Athlone Institute of Technology, in which Dr. [PERSON] stated: \"Adding enzymatically modified coconut oil to dental hygiene products can be a much more attractive alternative to chemical additives, especially when using very low concentrations\" [27]. When selecting flavors that were added to the toothpaste, their curative properties were taken into account. Thus, turmeric and lavender were selected. Turmeric has an antiseptic, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory role. Turmeric root contains volatile oils, sesquiterpenes, monoterpenes, curcumin (yellow dye), mineral salts, water-soluble peptides, and polysaccharides [28]. The active substances in lavender provide antiseptic, antidepressant, antispasmodic, and carminative properties. Lavender flowers contain volatile oils (linalool), geraniol, nerol, lavandulol, borneol, tannin, coumarins, bitter principles, resins, and pectins [29]. Last but not least, activated charcoal (medicinal) was selected, which is a material with a porous structure, in the form of a black powder. This was chosen because it also has an abrasive effect, being able to remove stains from the teeth, but also because of its property to absorb the tannins present in the composition of certain fruits, tea, coffee, or wine [30]. After selecting the components, the toothpaste was made in four versions (Figure 1). The first version of the toothpaste was made by mixing 25 g of coconut butter with 10 g of baking soda, obtaining a homogeneous oily paste, and it was called CB. The first version was a basic version and included the selected flavors to obtain other forms of toothpaste. The second version was obtained by adding 5 g of turmeric to the basic version and was called CBT. For the third version, we added lavernder essential oil to the base, denoted as CBL. For the last version, natural charcoal was used due to its abrasive effect, denoted as CBC. Figure 1: Photo-type representation of the four types of toothpaste used in our study. In our study, all participants, without exception, were provided with toothpaste that was meticulously mixed. This was done to ensure that the best and most visible results could be obtained for the benefit of our participants. The cohort of individuals considered in this study comprised individuals with an age range spanning from 14 to 49 years.