Does toothpaste chemicals may be damage to our health?

Discussion in 'Chemistry' started by ybk, Jul 20, 2014.

  1. ybk Registered Member

    Messages:
    15
    Note: My english isnt well.
    Everyone knows toothpaste's has chemicals in variety. Floride is the main chemical. But how do you know if its not harm your health in the future?
    May be it cause cancer in the future. So what precautions do you take when you brush your teeths?
    How long have you brush your teeths?
    Are you take mouthwash while you doing this?
    Does toothpaste chemicals harm to human body?
     
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  3. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
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    You're English is fine, ybk. We understand you, so that means it's serviceable and good enough. Welcome to SciForums.

    I don't have the 'scientific' answer to your question precisely, but I did know an Australian fellow who insisted on drinking the 'toothpaste water' from his bathroom glass. His theory was that if it's good to get fluoride on the surface of your teeth, it must be even better to ingest it, get it into your bloodstream and then to the roots and inside of your teeth. He was actually rather militant about it, it was as if he had argued his point long and hard with many people prior to our conversation. I don't know if he is correct or not, but I suspect he may be 'overdosing' on fluoride.

    As far as I know fluoride is actually poisonous to the human body, but you are probably aware that some places (most, if not all large American cities) fluoridate the public drinking water. The city governments do this to improve the dental health of the population - the children especially, I would suppose. Conspiracy theorists (let's not call them 'crazy people') say that water is fluoridated and 'salted' with other chemicals in order that the federal government can drug and control people. If this were so, it would be quite a serious charge, and it's not for me to say if it's true. I have no evidence. On the other hand, my brother and I grew up in one of America's fluoridated towns and our dentist (when we were boys) greatly admired my brother's perfect teeth. (Not mine, I ate lots of chocolate and didn't brush often enough

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    ). However, after graduating college, my brother went to live in a small town in a remote area where he still lives today - decades later. His beautiful teeth - even when he was still in his twenties- developed cracks and fractures and just generally went to hell. My brother blames the lack of fluoride in the water supply of the rural county he moved to.

    I am told the fluoride added to water supplies is in such small amounts it is not at all poisonous or dangerous. Think about it. If you added something good to water, like Vitamin C, for example, even that would be dangerous if there were too much of it, so small amounts of a poisonous substance can be so small as to be not only harmless but helpful in this case, killing bacteria that cause tooth decay.
     
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  5. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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    Most water is fluoridated to 1ppm (or there abouts).
    A lethal dose for an adult is 5-10 g which would require you to consume something like 5,000 l of water a day to get a toxic dose. If you're drinking that much water I would suggest you're probably going to have other problems.
    Doeses as low as 4g has killed adults, on the other hand doses as high as 120g have been survived.

    There's been a lot of literature studying places like, for example, China, where groundwater is often naturally high in fluorine. The bulk of that literature see,sto suggest that you start getting negative effects on health (skeletal fluorosis, for exampel) in the 3ppm-10ppm range. I don't think I've seen any credible literature demonstrating detrimental effects at the 1ppm end of the range.
     
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  7. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Benefits of Brushing Teeth with Baking Soda

    In addition to a brighter smile, brushing with baking soda helps dislodge plaque built up on the teeth. Many foods and beverages such as tea, coffee, soda and red wine all cause staining of the teeth. In addition, plaque accumulates and causes additional yellowish discoloration. Baking soda is effective for both concerns and has a bleach-like action resulting in effective whitening of teeth. Plaque contributes to dental decay and cavity formation and must be removed on a regular basis. Baking soda is inexpensive and perhaps the most affordable combination of tooth cleaner and whitener. A single box generally lasts for over 100 brushings and costs around one dollar.
     
  8. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,353
    However, be sure to mix your baking soda powder with water (preferably not tap water) and form a paste. Otherwise it is rather too abrasive and can do more harm than good.

    Some websites will tell you baking soda is very good for cleaning teeth, while others warn against and say you definitely should not.
     
  9. Sandralove Registered Member

    Messages:
    14
    Brushing my teeth with baking soda, works for me. I've been using it for months now and I have noticed that my teeth is getting whiter than before.
     
  10. exchemist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,451
    Spot on Arne. Substances that are biologically active may well be beneficial at one dose and dangerous at another. Fluoride is one such.
     
  11. exchemist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,451
    No need to take precautions. There is no evidence that toothpaste is at all harmful. Millions of people all over the world having been using it for decades. Most of the substances in it are fairly inert, apart from fluoride, which has been discussed elsewhere on this thread.
     
  12. Locust Registered Member

    Messages:
    62
    Yes it can. Flouride. It even reduce IQ.
     
  13. exchemist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,451
    Not really. This one has come up before and I recall reading up the references supplied. As I recall it, the only evidence of reduction in IQ is minuscule - of the order of half one IQ point (average IQ of the population being 100 of course), and the studies indicating this were in China, where due to industrial pollution the amounts were far higher than the doses added to water or absorbed from fluorided toothpaste in the Western world.

    But if you have documentary evidence of a more widespread issue that you can share (in the form of references we can access) I'd be interested to read them. Over to you.
     

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