I found this Indian toothpaste at the Jackson Heights, Queens location of Patel Brothers, a nationwide Indian grocery chain. It's a red toothpaste that's flavored with cloves instead of mint. It's also "packed with the power of 13 active Ayurvedic ingredients."

One ingredient advertised on the box, and I'm not sure if it counts as an Ayurvedic one, is toothache tree. Interestingly enough, toothache tree, or Southern prickly ash, as it's commonly known, is native to the U.S. Its leaves' numbing qualities make it good for mouth pain.

Between that and the silica, which is an abrasive decidedly more potent than baking soda, I'm thinking this is a toothpaste for people who have some dental issues.

Also of note: there's no flouride. The absence of flouride seems quite common in non-American toothpastes, lending a little weight to the claims of conspiracy theorists who say flouridated water and toothpaste are a result of American industry trying to come up with a way to make money off of a hazardous waste.

At any rate, brushing with Dabur Red is a strange sensation (not as creepy as the Japanese salt toothpaste I tried a couple years ago) that leaves your mouth tingling and surprisingly fresh-feeling -- given the clove flavor. It also feels scoured, which makes me worry that I'm removing precious layers of enamel.

The best effect of the red toothpaste is the ghastly, horror movie-quality red foam it creates in one's mouth. I highly recommend Dabur Red, but only for special occasions.