Short and Sweet WTF

Everyone sometimes wonders, when they’re reading a story or watching a show or movie and some quirky little detail comes up: is that really true? Enter the fact check. This week’s edition: the actual longevity of toothpaste. Postapocalyptic fans, take note.

Rather than venture forth into Corona-land, I have steadily been working my way through many years worth of sample-sized toothpastes from many years worth of dentist visits. Although toothpaste does, technically, have an expiration date, I had not been paying much attention to it until I opened a couple of seven-year old tubes, only to find that the toothpaste had turned into an oily yellow substance.

So the next time you’re reading about, or watching, people in a postapocalyptic world raiding Wal-Marts for toothpaste, remember that toothpaste can, and will, expire into a putrefying glob.

Also remember this, when the zombie apocalypse comes.