Did you know toothpaste is dangerous to toddlers?

DH left the new toothpaste he bought out on the counter and I didn't notice until it was all over the couch. The boys didn't eat it -- just painted a picture -- but I looked up information after reading on the box that if they do eat it you're supposed to call poison control. Holy moly, flouride can cause some serious problems! It takes more than an entire tube to kill an adult but a small child is another matter.

So, where do you keep the toothpaste?

 

Our toothpaste is in our bathrooms upstairs and they are only upstairs at bedtime and nap time with us. I did know that they weren't supposed to have fluoride toothpaste, but I guess I never really realized it was that dangerous. Glad it was just on your couch.

 

Yup--

we buy flouride free toddler tooth paste for the girls. Our regular toothpaste is stored in a cabinet or on a high counter in the bathroom.

They sell flouride free 'training' toothpaste at Walmart & Walgreens.=] We were told not to use regular toothpaste until they could learn to spit it out.

 

We also use the fluoride-free toothpaste for the boys.

A friend of mine sent me all sorts of information
on fluoride.......after reading it, I will be sticking
to the fluoride-free type. (our water is also
fluoridated.....so they get plenty of it there)

 

Wow, I didn't know that. Although we do only use the Flouride Free training toothpaste for the boys.

When I was a kid they started marketing toothpastes in a pump dispenser. My youngest sister (who was about 2-3) at the time, could often be seen wandering the house with one hanging out of her mouth as she sucked on it. :bad: :bad:

On her first flouride treatment trip to the dentist, the dentist came into the waiting room and told my mom. "Um, if she throws up later today...don't worry. She swallowed all the flouride". :bad: :bad:

 

QUOTE(SweetpeaG @ Dec 4 2007, 09:14 PM) [snapback]520724[/snapback]
On her first flouride treatment trip to the dentist, the dentist came into the waiting room and told my mom. "Um, if she throws up later today...don't worry. She swallowed all the flouride". :bad: :bad:



I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type this...I hope she didn't get sick! :rotflmbo:

 

I should probably clarify... this was our toothpaste. He left it on the bathroom counter where they could see it rather than putting it in the drawer (not that this would have prevented them from getting to it). The boys use the toddler toothpaste.

 

We keep it in the medicine cabinet and so far they haven't gotten in to it or tried to reach that cabinet.

 

I knew they shouldn't have it, but I didn't know it was THAT dangerous, as in deadly! Thank you for the warning. Hope your couch is OK.

 

I use the training toothpaste for toddlers, but my pedi prescribed them drops. ??? I thought that a little was ok, but too much would just stain your teeth. I've never heard of it being poisonous! So what about older kid toothpaste?? My sil uses that stuff for her 2 yr old......is that ok?

 

I also knew that it shouldn't be given to them but had no idea the reason. Thanks so much for sharing. We usually keep ours on the top shelf in our medicine cabinet.

 

Never gave this much thought, and I just did a quick Google search and found a fairly technical article (HERE if you want to read it).

This says the amount of fluoridated toothpaste that would be toxic to a toddler is approximately 2 oz for a 22 lb child, or 4 oz for a 44 oz child. (Also a cup of fluoridated mouthwash - but they're going to be pretty drunk before drinking this much which would probably be more of a problem!)

What I'm more concerned about is this article states that in Canada it is no longer recommended to give children fluoride supplements, even where the water is not fluoridated. We've all heard that too much fluoride can lead to the spotted flaking teeth (dental fluorosis), but apparently greater amounts of fluoride lead to "bone fluorosis" which can cause joint pain and stiffness and ultimately "crippling deformities of the spine and major joints, muscle wasting, neurological defects, and compression of the spinal chord". Granted these effects are from EXTREMELY high levels of fluoride over a long period of time (apparently in some developing countries there is a very high level of fluoride in the water supply.

Anyways, when I go home I'm going to check how much fluoride is in the supplement I give them (says they should be ingesting less than 0.05mg/kg/day.

And I'm going to be sure all the toothpaste is out of reach!

-Rachel