Estimation of Total Fluoride Concentration, Total Soluble Fluoride Concentration and pH among Various Brands of Toothpastes

Introduction: Fluoride toothpastes are a major reason for the decline in dental caries globally. For fluoride toothpaste to be effective, an adequate amount of Total Soluble Fluoride (TSF) must be available in the toothpastes. Aim: To determine and compare the Total Fluoride (TF), TSF and pH among various toothpaste brands. Materials and Methods: An in-vitro study was conducted during October 2019 on 20 toothpaste samples, which belonged to four groups namely, herbal toothpastes group, nonherbal toothpastes group, medicated toothpastes group and kids toothpastes group. Analysis of the samples was done at the Department of Environmental Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, Karnataka, India. The TF and the TSF concentration was determined using fluoride ion electrode. The pH was determined using pH meter. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 19.0). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used by Tukey's post-hoc test to determine the difference between groups. The level of significance was kept at 0.05. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the toothpaste types for mean TF concentration (p=0.004). The post-hoc test showed that there was a significant difference between herbal and nonherbal toothpastes (p=0.041) where the mean TF concentration for nonherbal toothpastes was 1095.20 ppm when compared to herbal toothpastes was 704.40 ppm. The results showed that there was a siginificant difference between the toothpaste types for Mean TSF concentration (p<0.003). There was a significant difference between medicated and kids toothpastes (p=0.024) where the mean total soluble fluoride concentration for medicated toothpastes was 938.60 ppm when compared to the kids toothpastes was 521.20 ppm. Conclusion: The present study showed that pH of all the toothpastes were either neutral or alkaline and the TSF concentration was less when compared to TF concentrations.