In the 1960s, a NASA scientist discovered that hydroxyapatite — the mineral teeth are made of could rebuild enamel from within. NASA patented it.
In 1970, a Japanese company purchased that patent. By 1993, the Japanese government officially approved it as an anti-cavity treatment the same benefit fluoride claims.
Japan chose the NASA mineral. The West kept selling fluoride. For 40 years, Japanese consumers brushed with what their teeth are made of. Western consumers were given an industrial byproduct of aluminum manufacturing instead.