Canadian toothpaste.

I was in an “Always 99cents” store last night, and noticed that the toothpaste they’re selling is from Canada (it’s Colgate).
I also noticed that the box indicates it has .75% flouride, as compared to the .15% that American brands have. Does the Canadian version really have 5 times more, or are they figuring it’s content in a different way?
Also, if it really has that much more, doesn’t it violate American law? I thought the limit here was .15%.

Not sure if this helps, but the Canadian toothpaste I have in my bathroom (Crest) says, in ingredients:

Sodium Fluoride: 0.243% w/w

But the special extra-fluoride toothpaste my dentist recommended I buy (non-prescription and legal) has 1.1% fluoride.

You know, I checked my AIM toothpaste, and it says: Fluoride .15%(0.243%w/w). What the hell does that mean?:confused:

Are you sure you read correctly? The Colgate I have here is marked as containing .243% w/w flouride as is the Arm and Hammer toothpaste that keeps it company. I believe this works out to 1000 ppm.

If your Colgate was 75% flouride brushing your teeth could prove to be fatal or at the very least, make you extremely ill.

0.75%, Feynn, I think.

Sorry… I misread your post… 75% flouride… heh heh heh… damn decimal points

Anyways, after doing a little research it would seem that your particular Colgate has the equivalent amount of flouride as oral rinse or mouthwash (3000 ppm) .

How else do you think our Mounties get their wholesome Dudley Doright smiles? :smiley:

Guys, you need to distinguish between the different types of fluoride used in toothpaste. Your 0.243% sodium fluoride toothpaste contains around 1500ppm active fluoride ion. Sodium monofluorophosphate (MFP) is a much heavier molecule, and 0.75% of it is only 1000ppm fluoride. Stannous fluoride usually runs about .37%-0.4%, IIRC.

BTW, excessive fluoride does not give a “wholesome Dudley Doright smile” (yes, I know you were kidding); fluoridosis causes mottling.

The two numbers are just different ways of measuring the same thing. I imagine that the first one (the 0.15%) is by volume, so that fraction of your tube of toothpaste is fluoride. The socone value is “weight by weight”, meaning that that fraction of grams of the contents of the tubes is fluoride. The numbers are different because of the differences in mass and volume(density) of the components.

“socone” ? How the hell did I type that instead of “second” ?!?!? :confused:

Crushed again! :frowning:

How the hell did I type that instead of “second” ?!?!?

You hit the E instead of the D is my guess. :slight_smile:

But explain the “o” instead of “e”! That’s some messed-up typing on my part :slight_smile:

Obviously, the Canadian toothpaste is measured in Metric Percent.