My background.

I was born in Russia where I also graduated from medical school, worked as a pathologist, and a researcher. In 1993, I immigrated to the United States where I was employed as a researcher at the University of Michigan. Then in 2000, I graduated from the University of Michigan Dental School and moved to Saginaw, MI. I have been practicing dentistry at the Denture Care Clinic for 9 years, where I mostly deal with denture patients. You can see how this becomes ironic considering my hobby is collecting toothpaste. Finally, in 2009, I opened another dental practice in Atlanta, GA.

How I started my collection.

It was 2002 and I was browsing the internet. This was when I found some information on Carsten Gutzeit, a man from Germany who collected toothpaste. His collection stood at roughly 500 tubes. This was when I realized what a wonderful hobby collecting toothpaste would be for a dental professional. Imagine the opportunities it opens to learn about other variables in your profession. With this in mind, I decided to start my own collection of toothpaste. I had friends living all over the world, so I asked them to mail me some of the toothpaste sold in their countries. In addition, I was also buying old toothpaste on eBay while acquiring contemporary ones in stores. After putting up Toothpaste World on the web, people began finding me on the internet. There were several people who donated me their small collections. Others included companies that donated me their old and recent products. Currently I have about 1800 units of toothpaste and toothpowder, but only 1481 are sorted and catalogued. Keeping track of every unit and its specific details takes a large amount of time and effort. Measured at how much I have spent for all the toothpaste and toothpowder, my collection is valued at about an estimate of $18,000.

Highlights of my collection.

About one fourth of my collection is displayed in my Michigan office waiting room. The remaining three quarters is stored away in boxes at my dental practice.

I would consider one item the oldest, most rare, and most expensive: a silver English Antique Georgian tooth powder box from 1801. This was a time when toothpaste was not yet invented and toothpowders were used instead. I paid over $1500 for it.

My favorite kinds of toothpaste are alcohol flavored. These range from whiskey (scotch, rye, bourbon), red wines, amaretto, to champaign and more. My other passions include chocolate flavored toothpaste. I have a set of pure chocolate cream packed into a toothpaste tube with a toothbrush for chocolate lovers. You can consider this more of a gag gift, considering it is not intended for brushing teeth regularly. However, there are several real tubes of toothpaste with chocolate flavor as well. Speaking of unusual flavors reminds me of the company Breath

Pallette, which topped them all. They came up with 31 flavors including some of the oddest kinds such as Green Tea, Pumpkin Pudding, and Indo Curry...

One day I bought a toothpaste tube that was a movie prop in "Primary colors". That tube started my other unusual collection—dental movie props. However, I got only one other toothpaste tube from movies after that one - from "Prison break". The funny thing about this tube is that it is full of misspellings made by creators of this "new" brand.

Other interesting items I have include toothpaste packaging with printing errors like "Cet" instead of "Crest", and some autographed ones by either a creator, or a promoter.

Because I have toothpaste from all over the world, there will be tubes with some funky characters I can't even read, or unusual flavors and ingredients such as bamboo salt.

There are some historical tubes of toothpaste as well. I have several toothpaste tubes that were dug out of World War II trenches, such as Doramad toothpaste that had an active radioactive compound. During those times, some people believed that radiation can revive dead tissues and that radioactive toothpaste can revive your gums.

My collection and the media.

A story about my collection was initially featured on the front page of Saginaw News in 2003. The story soon got on a “hot line” and was spread all over the world. I was receiving several calls from newspapers, shows, and radio stations. I even got a call from the David Letterman show and was invited to be featured on the show. Unfortunately, they canceled at the last second and never contacted me again. Some of my unusual toothpaste tubes were shown on a TV episode of “Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not” TV and they also recently included a story about my collection into their yearly book.

My collection and the Guinness record.

I’ve been considering applying for a Guinness record for a long time, but just can’t seem to find the time lately.

Recently, I was contacted by an English journalist who interviewed me and wrote a story about my collection for an English newspaper. Somebody at the Guinness World Records committee came across that article and e-mailed me suggesting I apply for a record. I submitted my application, but because there is no current record for toothpaste tubes, they had to review whether they could open a new category. Finally it was approved, which means I need to submit evidence that I have all this toothpaste. The evidence must include pictures, a detailed list of all my toothpaste, publications, and statements from witnesses. I DO NOT hold this record yet, as it was mistakenly reported by some media, but I hope to in the near future.