Is the fluoride intake by diet and toothpaste in children living in tropical semi-arid city safe?

Abstract

Data about total fluoride intake in children living in a tropical semi-arid climate city is scarce, thus we conducted this study. Fifty-eight children aged two to five years, living in a Brazilian tropical city with optimally fluoridated water were selected. Dietary samples were collected using the duplicate diet method on two non-consecutive days in the children's home. Water was collected separately from the other drinks. The intake from toothpaste was determined by subtracting the amount of fluoride recovered after brushing from the amount placed on the toothbrush. The mean total dose (SD) of fluoride intake was 0.043(0.016) mg F·kg, with the major (60.6%) contribution from water. The factors associated with the ingestion of fluoride from toothpaste were fluoride concentration of the toothpaste (p = 0.03) and the use of kids toothpaste (p = 0.02). The findings suggest that children have a low fluoride intake, measured by at-home meals and use of fluoride toothpaste; drinking water is the main source of fluoride ingestion.

Socioeconomic inequalities explain the association between source of drinking water and dental caries in primary dentition

“…It is important to consider that individuals who drink bottled water will probably also ingest water from public supply when preparing their food and will also have contact with fluoride from the toothpaste. Even if bottled water did not have acceptable fluoride levels, which evidence suggests was not the case in Pelotas when the present study was conducted, fluoride from the tap water used in food preparation and from the toothpaste would be sufficient enough to prevent dental caries [27]. In fact, more than 90 % of the evaluated children had their teeth brushed at least twice a day (data not shown).…”

Soluble Fluoride in Na2FPO3/CaCO3-Based Toothpaste as an Indicator of Systemically Bioavailable Fluoride

“…The use of adults and not children to estimate the systemic bioavailability of fluoride toothpaste in terms of dental fluorosis risk could be another limitation of our study. However, they were subjected to the same upper limit dose of 0.070 mg of F/day/kg [Burt, 1992] that children are subjected [Lima and Cury, 2001;Levy et al, 2003;Paiva et al, 2003;Lima et al, 2015;de Oliveira et al, 2018]. The only known difference between adults and children in terms of fluoride pharmacokinetics is the greater incorporation of F in the bones of developing children, reducing excretion [Ekstrand et al, 1994], but not the gastrointestinal absorption of fluoride, the outcome of the present study.…”