# What's a fatal dose of tooth paste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299 "2008-09-12T16:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/1 "2008-09-12T16:24:52Z")
Reading the tube of Crest ™ toothpaste as I was brushing me teeth this morning, I was reminded of a question I’d been waiting for the restorationon SDMB to ask: There’s a warning to call the poison control center if one swallows more toothpaste than is needed for brushing your teeth. So, how much toothpaste would one have to swallow to be get an LD? ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/2 "2008-09-12T16:36:10Z")
My lovely wife worked for a time in the toxicology business…that is, torturing bunnies. She did a study that involved toothpaste and determined the LD50 (the dose at which 50% of the test population died) was something like 2kg / kg of body weight. The toothpaste itself wasn’t fatal, it was hte sheer volume you needed to consume. I think the LD50 for Oreo’s is about the same. Toothpaste is, however, fairly caustic and did cause irritation in the mucus membranes of the test animals. Ask me about glow-sticks… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/3 "2008-09-12T16:41:22Z")
> [@TheBori](#): > > My lovely wife worked for a time in the toxicology business..that is, torturing bunnies. She did a study that involved toothpaste and determined the LD50 (the dose at which 50% of the test population died) was something like 2kg / kg of body weight. The toothpaste itself wasn’t fatal, it was hte sheer volume you needed to consume. I think the LD50 for Oreo’s is about the same. If I’m reading that right, I’d need to consume 324lbs. of toothpaste to kill myself… so why the poison control warning? I mean, I could kill myself by eating concrete more easily, which doesn’t get a PCC warning… ---
**Author:** ![nofloyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nofloyd/32/2870_2.png) [@nofloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nofloyd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/4 "2008-09-12T16:55:45Z")
The issue isn’t usually adults, but very young children and fluoride. > **[Fluoride Toxicity: Practice Essentials, Pathophysiology, Etiology](https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/814774-overview)** > > Fluoride toxicity is characterized by a variety of signs and symptoms. In the United States, poisoning most commonly follows ingestion (accidental or intentional) of fluoride-containing products. 2004 data: 1 death, 440 ER cases, 24,180 exposures reported to poison call centers. Most are kids under 6. “Death may result from ingesting as little as 2 g of fluoride in an adult and 16 mg/kg in children. Symptoms may appear with 3-5 mg/kg of fluoride.” ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/5 "2008-09-12T17:04:12Z")
> [@TheBori](#): > > My lovely wife worked for a time in the toxicology business..that is, torturing bunnies. She did a study that involved toothpaste and determined the LD50 (the dose at which 50% of the test population died) was something like 2kg / kg of body weight. The toothpaste itself wasn’t fatal, it was hte sheer volume you needed to consume. I think the LD50 for Oreo’s is about the same. > > Toothpaste is, however, fairly caustic and did cause irritation in the mucus membranes of the test animals. > > Ask me about glow-sticks… Your glow sticks. Tell me about them, please. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/6 "2008-09-12T17:08:51Z")
From my bathroom, I find numbers of 0.15% (of a 4.2 ounce tube) of Oral-B’s “Stages” (children’s toothpaste) to 0.24% (of 4.6 ounces) of Colgate Total Whitening. So that’s .0063 ounces or .179 grams in the kid’s stuff and .01104 ounces, or .313 grams in my adult toothpaste - which, to be clear, isn’t a tube of paste, but that more liquid stuff that comes in a plastic container. If someone has a traditional tube, even I can do that math. The LD50 for sodium fluoride in rats is [52 mg/kg when taken orally.](http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/S3722.htm) I don’t think anyone’s done an LD50 on humans, for obvious reasons, but assuming the LD50 of sodium fluoride in rats is the same as humans, an average adult weighing 180 pounds would need to eat 4.246 grams of fluoride to risk death. That’s about 13 and a half containers of my toothpaste. My daughter, who weighs just 12.700 kg, would need to eat 0.660 g of sodium fluoride, or that found in 2 of my containers of toothpaste. I suppose if one lived in a multi-toothpaste-tube home, it _is_ worth keeping the stuff well out of reach of the little ones. Oh, sure, I do all the math and then find this: > [@](#): > > First, this 1984 report tells us that the lethal dose of fluoride in a human is “not accurately known.” However, it is estimated that the mean lethal dose is around 5 grams. The average 232 gram tube of toothpaste contains 1500 parts per million of fluoride. This means that there are roughly 15 grams of fluoride for every 10,000 grams of toothpaste. So, how much toothpaste would you have to ingest to risk dying of fluoride poisoning? Around fourteen tubes. Never fear: you won’t die from adding a little too much toothpaste to your brush while drowsy. [http://www.vasmiles.com/html/dentalnews/03naturalcare.html](http://www.vasmiles.com/html/dentalnews/03naturalcare.html) So seems I was right. Yay. > [@TheBori](#): > > Ask me about glow-sticks… Okay, what about glow-sticks? My kid’s teenaged friends like to bust them open and smear the glow juice on their skin and even on their teeth. They’re not dead yet, but some of them aren’t too bright. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/7 "2008-09-12T17:17:09Z")
[The Master kinda speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2692/is-fluoride-in-water-a-good-thing-or-a-danger)] Nothing about the LD50, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/8 "2008-09-12T19:16:10Z")
So what can I conclude from all your guy’s numbers? If I find my 2 year-old in the bathroom with an empty tube of Crest is it time to go to the emergency room? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/9 "2008-09-12T20:03:57Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > So what can I conclude from all your guy’s numbers? > > If I find my 2 year-old in the bathroom with an empty tube of Crest is it time to go to the emergency room? Depends on the size of the tube and the child. If it’s a tube of less than 6 ounces, the kid might not die, but might be very sick and need to go to the ER anyhow. A new tube larger than 8 ounces and it’s probably call 911 time, and definitely Poison Control for further advice. As the tube says, any time \*more than the quantity used for brushing \*is swallowed, call Poison Control and/or your kids doctor. They’ll take it from there. As a general precaution, use only fluoride free baby toothpaste for toddlers and keep the adult toothpaste up where they can’t reach it. They shouldn’t be using fluoridated toothpaste until they learn how to spit effectively, and then supervise brushing for a couple more years to make sure they have the hand eye coordination and judgement to use only a pea sized amount of fluoride containing toothpaste. (This is more for avoiding chronic over fluoridation and stained teeth, but it’s worth mentioning anyhow.) ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/10 "2008-09-13T00:38:28Z")
When my younger daughter was a toddler, we were all out shopping one day and suddenly she vomited. I took her outside the store, where she did it again. And again. As it happens, the pediatrician’s office was on the way home, so we got in the car and started off. She proceeded to barf a some more in the car. My husband says, “That smells like toothpaste! Has she been eating toothpaste?” “Oh, yes,” says the older child, who has been silent up until this point. “She eats toothpaste all the time.” So we went home and sure enough a formerly full tube of Crest was now half gone. I called & described the situation to our pediatricain. “Don’t worry,” he said with a barely smothered chuckle. “If she’s vomiting like that she doesn’t have enough left in her to be a problem. But keep it on a higher shelf from now on.” Oddly, to this day daughter the younger hates the taste of mint. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/11 "2008-09-13T00:46:58Z")
**MLS** , was she, err, foaming at the mouth? Cuz that’s what I pictured. As one of those people who gets canker sores from toothpaste with SLS, I can totally believe it would be a serious stomach irritant in large doses. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/12 "2008-09-16T13:53:26Z")
So my wife, the ex-toxicologist, got a customer request to do an irritation study for the stuff inside glow sticks…a vaginal irritation study. Good news! The glowy stuff is not irritating…the little bits of broken glass, on the other hand… In case you are interested…they use female Beagles. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/13 "2008-09-16T17:33:40Z")
> [@TheBori](#): > > So my wife, the ex-toxicologist, got a customer request to do an irritation study for the stuff inside glow sticks…a vaginal irritation study. > > Good news! The glowy stuff is not irritating…the little bits of broken glass, on the other hand… > > In case you are interested…they use female Beagles. Ya know, that makes me a little more sympathetic to the PETA folks. Anyhoo, I just wanted to say that if you brought your kid in to see us in the ER for toothpaste ingestion, the first thing we’d do is call poison contol for the 411, there are a relatively few substances that the ER docs know off the top of their heads. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/14 "2008-09-16T18:01:20Z")
> [@TheBori](#): > > the LD50 for Oreo’s Now there is some medical experimentation that I would happily participate in. ---
**Author:** ![avca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@avca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/avca)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/15 "2012-06-20T02:19:25Z")
i swallowed 2 teaspoons of toothpaste & 1 cap of mouth wash with flouride. Is that fatal? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/16 "2012-06-20T02:27:15Z")
> [@avca](#): > > i swallowed 2 teaspoons of toothpaste & 1 cap of mouth wash with flouride. Is that fatal? Call 1-800-222-1222, the Poison Control Center. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/17 "2012-06-20T02:29:37Z")
> [@avca](#): > > i swallowed 2 teaspoons of toothpaste & 1 cap of mouth wash with flouride. Is that fatal? Apparently not yet. Keep us posted. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/18 "2012-06-20T02:51:10Z")
> [@avca](#): > > i swallowed 2 teaspoons of toothpaste & 1 cap of mouth wash with flouride. Is that fatal? Well this _ **is** _ a zombie thread…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/19 "2012-06-20T04:28:30Z")
Does fluoride exposure over time cause cumulative damage? ---
**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299/20 "2012-06-20T04:39:30Z")
You could always drink milk before you used toothpaste to protect you from the fluoride. (Since it binds to the calcium in the milk to make calcium fluoride.) Actually I think you can do it immediately afterwards as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-fatal-dose-of-tooth-paste/463299.md?page=2)