If the daily intake limit established in the US for sodium f

If the daily intake limit established in the U.S. for sodium fluoride for 6-year old children is 1 milligram per day, how many ounces of the above toothpaste can a 6-year old child swallow before reaching this limit?

Solution

Q. If the daily intake limit established in the US for sodium fluoride for 6 year old children is 1 milligram per day, how many ounces of the above toothpaste can a 6 year old child swallow before reaching this limit.

A.   In the United States, the standard concentration of fluoride in fluoride toothpaste is 850-1,100 ppm F

Typical U.S. toothpaste fluoride concentration:

1000 parts per million (PPM)
1000 parts per million = 1,000 parts of fluoride per 1,000,000 parts of toothpaste 1 gram = 1000 mg

Because of its taste children particularly below 3 years swallow it. It is uncontrollable. As given the daily intake limit for sodium fluoride for 6 year old children is 1 milligram per day.

A child’s toothbrush covered with a full strip of toothpaste holds nearly 0.75--1.0 gram of toothpaste, and as formulated in the United States, each gram of fluoride toothpaste, contains nearly 1.0 mg of fluoride.

A full strip of toothpaste can hold 0.75--1.0 gram of toothpaste

Finally in 1 gm paste---- have--1 mg of fluoride (United States)

Children aged <6 years swallow a mean of 0.3 g of toothpaste per brushing and can swallow as much as 0.8 g of paste. As a result, repeated brushings with toothpaste having fluoride each day can result in ingestion of excess fluoride. Because of this reason high-fluoride toothpaste (i.e., containing 1,500 ppm fluoride) is generally not preferred for children aged <6 years.

Use of a pea-sized amount (approximately 0.25 g) of fluoride toothpaste <2 times per day by children aged <6 years is preferred and this also reported sharp reduce of risk for enamel fluorosis

Conversions:

Amount of toothpaste in a “pea-sized ” recommended for children under 6 year = 0.25 grams

Calculation:

0.25 grams of toothpaste x (1000 grams of fluoride/1,000,000 grams toothpaste)

= 0.00025 grams

= 0.25 milligrams

0.25 gram of paste have 0.25 mg of Flouride

1 mg = 3.5 x 10^-5 ounces (1 mg = 1/4 mg = 0.25 mg so 3.5/4 = 0.87)

So, 0.25 mg = 0.88 x 10^-5 ounces

So upto 0.8 x 10^-5 ounces of the above toothpaste a 6 year old child can swallow before reaching this limit.