When you observe some indications of pregnancy, like craving some desserts, vomiting and feeling nauseated or simply feeling fatigued and tired, you would need some sort of confirmation whether you’re pregnant or not. You might want to try home remedies, and toothpaste would be the last thing you can think of as a pregnancy test.
DIY pregnancy tests can be tested at home if you want to save the extra money on a pregnancy test or if you don’t want to be seen buying a pregnancy test at the pharmacy. There are various kinds of DIY pregnancy tests, such as salt tests, sugar test, wine test, shampoo test and many more. We would discuss the toothpaste pregnancy test, how to use, and its accuracy.
The Toothpaste Pregnancy Test:
A toothpaste pregnancy test is a home test is which drops of urine is added to toothpaste, the reaction and the results would allow you to judge whether you’re pregnant or not.
How does it work?
A home pregnancy test or a DIY pregnancy test doesn’t need much and just a few ingredients. You just need a sample of your urine, a toothpaste, a container and that’s about all. Carry out the procedure in the following steps:
- Take a container and squeeze a considerable amount of your regular toothpaste, you don’t need to go for any specific brand.
- Take your urine sample
- Add/pour the urine into the toothpaste container
- Observe if any reactions take place
People who have tested this DIY and support it state that the observed chemical reaction is a fizz or a change in color of the toothpaste which indicates that you’re pregnant. They believe that this test detects pregnancy hormone or hCG same as how a regular pregnancy test detects. hCG hormone is a hormone that is only produced during pregnancy as it is produced by the placenta and its presence immediately indicates pregnancy.
This hormone causes other signs and symptoms of pregnancy such as morning sickness which is one of the most common and prominent signs of pregnancy. The test is carried out to check the presence of hCG. However, the resulting reaction of the urine and toothpaste might just be due to the urine’s acidic nature and not necessarily hCG.
Positive Result:
If you’re pregnant, the response would be the exhibition of a change of color of the toothpaste or the formation of a fizz. The test is not very dependable as the reaction is usually caused due to the presence of acid in the urine, which is present in both pregnant and non-pregnant women.
Negative Result:
According to the theories, if you’re not pregnant, no reaction would be seen at all by mixing the two. There would be no color change and no fizz would be seen.
Accuracy of the Test
The toothpaste DIY pregnancy test is not reliable at all and not accurate at all as they’re based on theories with no scientific evidence. There has been no evidence that toothpaste can detect hCG in a pregnant woman’s urine. Also, as discussed previously, the reaction is only caused due to the presence of acid in the urine and not hCG.
Men and women, both contain uric acid in their urine, hence even male urine can react with toothpaste and cause color change and fizz formation. Basically, toothpaste consists of calcium carbonate, this calcium carbonate can cause a reaction with an acid resulting in a fizz or foam. The reaction that you observe may not be due to pregnancy and can merely be a reaction between the compound and the acid. Urine of men and women can give the same results, and if no fizz is produced, it could be simply due to lower amount of acid in the urine.
Other Pregnancy Tests:
The cheapest and the most accurate way of confirming your pregnancy is by taking the pregnancy test. These test could be bought from the pharmacy, grocery store and if you don’t want to be caught in the act, you can even get it online. These pregnancy tests are easy to use, cheap and accurate if used properly and according to the given instructions.
The pregnancy tests have window where the bars appear, a controlled line and a test line, when dipped in urine, the controlled line appears regardless of whether you’re pregnant or not while the test line appears only when hCG is detected in the urine. The detection also depends on the amount of hCG in the urine and the test should be taken early in the morning by the first urination. Be careful that you shouldn’t consume large amounts of water right before taking the test as it would dilute the urine concentration resulting in a false negative.
The tests are very accurate, however there is always room for a false negative or false positive. A false negative is when you’re actually pregnant but the test shows otherwise, this is usually due to the low amount of hCG produced, hence ideally a test should be taken after the first missed period. In case if you’re trying to get pregnant or you feel like you’re pregnant, you buy cheap pregnancy tests in a bulk and take a test every other day.
Likewise, a false positive can occur after a recent miscarriage as your body contains hCG for weeks. The result may show positive when you’re not actually pregnant.
Doctor Administered Pregnancy Test:
If your pregnancy test comes out positive, you can visit an OB/GYN for consultation and confirmation. In case if you feel like you are pregnant but the test shows otherwise, you can still go to the doctor and let them know of your condition for better diagnosis.
The doctors may also take tests in order to detect the pregnancy hormones such as blood test or urine test. In a doctor administered pregnancy test, you would have to provide a urine sample and the sample would be sent to the lab for the detection of pregnancy hormone. Similar process is carried out with the blood sample as it is sent to lab for hCG detection.
Low-cost Pregnancy Tests
You can visit a community health clinic for a low cost or free pregnancy test in case you don’t have any health insurance or access to a doctor. There are digital pregnancy tests also available due to the advanced technology, however you can get cheaper ones, whether single or in bulk through online retailers.
The Takeaway:
The article discussed pretty much all about the toothpaste pregnancy test. The advocators of the test believe it to be reliable, however these tests are not reliable at all and are not accurate. The mechanism explain that the reaction has no link to the pregnancy hormone and is in fact due to the presence of uric acid. The uric acid creates a foam and cause a change of color. Moreover, there is almost no medical evidence to these claims.
The best way to check whether you’re pregnant or not is to take a home pregnancy tests which are easily available and cheap. If the test comes out positive, you should visit your doctor for advice and guidance. If you have concerns you can share those with your OB/GYN and a possible solution or a professional advice would be given.
It is better to depend on reliable methods rather than inaccurate and unreliable methods that would possibly cause confusion and blunders.
