Characteristics and total soluble fluoride concentration of top six toothpastes in five Colombian cities

Objectives: The potentially active fluoride concentration to control caries should be ≥ 1000 ppm F. World-wide inconsistencies between toothpaste total fluoride labeled concentration and the total soluble fluoride concentration (TSF) have been reported.
Objetive: To describe six highly-distributed toothpastes’ characteristics and determine its total soluble fluoride concentration in five Colombian cities.
Methods: Five toothpastes in Colombia are for adults: Colgate-Triple-Acción^® (A), Fortident-Cuatriacción^® (B), Fluocardent-Triple-Acción^® (C), Kolynos-Super-Blanco^® (D), and Oral-B-Prosalud-Limpieza Profunda^® (E), and one for children: Colgate-Smiles^® (F). These were collected in 5 Colombian cities: Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Cali, and Villavicencio, from 3 stores (n=3 per city), for a total of 15 toothpastes tubes from each brand (n=90). Toothpastes were within use expiration date. For each brand characteristics were searched and for each toothpaste tube, the TSF was determined in the slurry’s supernatant (1%) after MFP hydrolysis acid treatment. With previous calibration with F standards, fluoride was determined (ion-specific electrode coupled to an ion analyzer). A one-way ANOVA test was used to explore differences in TSF concentrations of same brand between cities (p<0.05).
Results: Labeled characteristics of the six toothpaste brands are shown in table 1, all disclosing >1000 ppm F concentration. TSF determination showed in all toothpastes mean values lower than the total fluoride declared (A: 1399.4±28.9 ppm; B: 1427.3±39.6 ppm; C: 1410.5±47.9 ppm; D: 1054.4±21.1 ppm; E: 1262.0±18.2 ppm; F: 1018.4 ± 55.0 ppm) without statistically significant differences (p>0.05). TSF concentrations of same toothpaste brand between cities did not differ statistically (p>0.05).
Conclusions: The six highly-distributed toothpastes for adult/children in Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Cali, and Villavicencio, have fluoride concentrations higher than 1000 ppm related to caries control. The stability of TSF should be further assessed.