“If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately.”

We’re all familiar with that little tagline, tucked away on almost every tube of toothpaste in the United States. But why? What is the active ingredient that prompted the FDA to require that warning?

It’s the chemical that everyone either loves to love or loves to hate: fluoride!

If you are one of the few that doesn’t have an opinion on fluoride, well, you probably should. Over 95% of toothpastes sold in the US now contain fluoride. Fluoride toothpastes sold in the US generally have between 1,100 and 1,450 parts per million of fluoride.

This means that children who swallow too much fluoride toothpaste can suffer acute poisoning, even death. In fact, a single tube of bubble-gum flavored Colgate-for-Kids toothpaste contains enough fluoride to kill a child weighing less than 60 pounds! The number of calls to Poison Control Centers in the US for fluoride poisonings from toothpaste has skyrocketed since the FDA issued its poison warning, with over 23,000 reports a year resulting in hundreds of emergency room treatments.

Although the fine print on the back of the toothpaste tube instructs users not to swallow and to use only a “pea-sized” amount, advertisements continue to depict heaping swirls of paste on the brush.

And what the FDA doesn’t tell you, is that even if toothpaste is never swallowed, fluoride can be absorbed within seconds through the skin on the lips, or through the mucous membranes in the mouth. According to the Physician’s Desk Reference, the mucosal lining in the mouth has an absorption efficiency of over 90 percent! Because of this, fluoride has the potential to get into your blood and your cells IMMEDIATELY.

What Is Fluoride? Why Put It In Toothpaste?

Fluoride is a pollutant – a by-product of copper, iron and aluminum manufacturing. It is the main ingredient in rat poison, insecticides, nerve gas and Prozac. Hitler and Stalin used it in concentration camps and gulags as a mass control instrument to make the prisoners docile.

In the abundant wisdom of an era that told us that smoking cigarettes soothed the throat, breast milk was “dirty” for babies and chloroform was a great cure for infant colic, came the idea that when not killing rodents and insects, fluoride was GREAT at protecting teeth from cavities.

In addition to injecting dental pastes and mouth washes with fluoride, the government decided to launch one of the largest non-consenting mass medical treatments of the public in American history, by adding fluoride to drinking water across the nation. (All other water treatment chemicals are added to improve the water’s quality or safety, which fluoride does not do. It is strictly medicinal.)

Aside from the unethical aspect of medicinal fluoride being added to drinking water without consent, fluoride use is being questioned more than ever before as studies are quickly stacking up showing that the use of fluoride toothpaste presents multiple health risks – especially among children. Additionally, fluorides role in the decline of tooth decay is also serious doubt.

Does Fluoride Actually Prevent Cavities?

Well, no. This verdict has come down from many different research arms over the past few decades. To name a couple of prominent ones:

The US National Institutes of Health funded a multi-million dollar study on individual fluoride ingestion and tooth decay and found no significant correlation between tooth decay and fluoride intake, especially among children.

According to Fluoride Action Network, a non-profit watchdog organization:

The largest survey ever conducted in the US (over 39,000 children from 84 communities) by the National Institute of Dental Research showed little difference in tooth decay among children in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities. According to NIDR researchers, the study found an average difference of only 0.6 DMFS (Decayed, Missing, and Filled Surfaces) in the permanent teeth of children aged 5-17 residing their entire lives in either fluoridated or unfluoridated areas. This difference is less than one tooth surface, and less than 1% of the 100+ tooth surfaces available in a child’s mouth.

The Health Risks of Fluoride in Toothpaste

In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 41% of American adolescents had a conditional known as “dental fluorosis”, a discoloring of tooth enamel caused by too much fluoride. But the real problem with dental fluorosis, is that it is indicative of deeper problems. If fluoride overdose is manifesting itself in your teeth, then you are most likely suffering one or more of the many side effects of fluoride.

Common risks from ingesting fluoride toothpaste include permanent tooth discoloration, stomach ailments, acute toxicity, skin rashes, and impairment in glucose metabolism. In addition to these common side effects, check out these medical facts regarding fluoride use that are cause for concern:

Fluoride May Damage the Brain

According to the National Research Council, “It is apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain.” In a review of the literature commissioned by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fluoride has been listed among about 100 chemicals for which there is “substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity.”

Animal experiments show that fluoride accumulates in the brain and alters mental behavior in a manner consistent with a neurotoxic agent. In total, there have now been over 100 animal experiments showing that fluoride can damage the brain and impact learning and behavior.

Excessive Fluoride is Linked to Alzheimer’s

Rats fed for one year with 1 part per million of fluoride in their water (the same level used in fluoridation water programs), had morphological changes to their kidneys and brains, an increased uptake of aluminum in the brain, and the formation of beta-amyloid deposits which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Fluoride Affects the Pineal Gland

Fluoride affects the pineal gland. Studies by Jennifer Luke in 2001 show that fluoride accumulates in the human pineal gland to very high levels. In her Ph.D. thesis, Luke has also shown in animal studies that fluoride reduces melatonin production and leads to an earlier onset of puberty.

Consistent with Luke’s findings, one of the earliest fluoridation trials in the US reported that on average young girls in the fluoridated community reached menstruation five months earlier than girls in the non-fluoridated community.

Do You Want Fluoride In Your Toothpaste?

The above health complications are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to medical concerns and verifiable side effects of fluoride in toothpaste and drinking water. If you are interested in learning more regarding the effects of fluoride, I encourage you to check out the Fluoride Action Network website, by clicking here. 

As to your toothpaste? I’d say, just say no to fluoride! You can make your own at-home toothpastes for pennies, or find all natural brands, like Redmond’s Earthpaste that offer completely natural and mouth-healthy options for holistic and dental health.

Do you use fluoride in your toothpaste? Why or why not?

Also, be sure to check out my Redmond’s Earthpaste giveaway, for your chance to win two tubes of Earthpaste toothpaste! Raffle ends on March 12, 2014. Good luck!