Fluoride Level in Dentifrices
Fluoride Level in Dentifrices
Fluoride Level in Dentifrices
Rahimah Abdul-Kadir
Latifah Abdol-Latif
Professor
Department of Community Dentistry
University of Malaya
Associate Professor
Centre for Foundation Studies in Science
University of Malaya
duced since the early 1970's and, to date almost all toothpastes produced locally is observed to contain fluorides. It is
also observed that an influx of dentifrices of all kinds and
brand, both locally manufactured and imported, had steadily entered into the Malaysian market in more recent times. In
addition, there is a general lacking in the monitoring of
product formulation, level of fluorides used and, cost of the
dentifrices sold on the counter. Studies in other countries indicated that the fluoride content of adult size dentifrices commonly used ranged between 1000 to 1500 ppm F(9-11).
However, no report of the fluoride content in the dentifrices
sold locally is available. In addition, the concentration of
active fluoride used on locally sold toothpaste is also not
available. The purpose of this study is to report on the fluoride level in dentifrices sold locally.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty different types of imported or locally manufactured
fluoridated toothpastes tested in this project were bought off
the shelf from 5 different large and most frequented supermarkets in the Klang Valley. It was assumed that the replacement rate of the stocks in such supermarkets was high due to
sufficiently good sales.
Preparation of Total Ionic Strength Adjustment Buffer
(TISAB) solution.
58 g of sodium chloride and 0.3 g of sodium citrate were dissolved in 500 ml of distilled water, followed by the addition
of 57.0 cm3 of glacial acetic acid. The reaction mixture was
heated to ensure that all the salts had dissolved. On cooling
the reaction mixture, a concentrated sodium hydroxide solution was added to reach a pH of 5.0 - 5.5. The solution was
then diluted to 1.0 liter mark.
Preparation of the sodium fluoride (NaF) standard solution (- 100 mg F per 100 ml)
0.22 g of NaP was dissolved in distilled water to the 1.0 liter
mark in a volumetric flask.
Preparation of the NaF calibration solution (-10 mg F per
100 ml)
10 ml of the 100 mg F per 100 ml stock solution was diluted to the mark in a 100 ml volumetric flask.
Fluoride ion measurement
Fluoride ion content was determined by using the fluoride ion
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