pregnancy

Women are using toothpaste to test if they're pregnant. Yes, really.

Conventional pregnancy tests are readily available and reasonably affordable, yet some women are reportedly turning to an even more conventional product to check whether they’re expecting.

Toothpaste.

According to countless online tutorials and blog posts, the bizarre testing technique is simple: squeeze a dollop of toothpaste into a jar, add equal amount of your morning wee and stir.

If said toothpaste changes colour or foams… Congratulations, you might be pregnant!

Well, maybe.

Perhaps.

But probably not.

A midwife busts the myths around pregnancy. Post continues below.

Because according to people with actual scientific/medical training, these bloggers and YouTubers are just taking the piss.

Speaking to What to Expect, Elisabeth Ratcliffe of the US Royal Society of Chemistry conceded that the amino acids that make up the pregnancy hormone HCg could plausibly create foam when in contact with the calcium carbonate in toothpaste.

However, she also pointed out that all urine contains acid that would create this effect.

“I still think you would get fizzing even in a non-pregnant person, because of the uric acid,” Ratcliffe told the outlet.

(So no, Colgate-clutching male readers, you’re not pregnant…)

via GIPHY

(Not even if that happens.)

When it comes down to it, the toothpaste trick is more a chemistry experiment than a budget pregnancy test.

Stick with the stick (which is up to 97 per cent accurate when used correctly) or a visit to the doctor.

More information about (legitimate) pregnancy test options is available on the Victorian Government’s Better Health website.