More and more children are swallowing large amounts of toothpaste, which leads to stomach problems, the toxicology center NVIC reported.
The center received 301 reports of people consuming too much toothpaste last year, 16 more than in 2021. About 285 cases involved children.
The fluoride in toothpaste can cause intestinal problems and, in large quantities, impairs heart function.
“Children often grab the tube when their parents have their backs turned. These are accidents, not incidents that happen during the toothbrushing ritual,” toxicologist Antoinette Riel told RTL Nieuws.
Fluoride poisoning damages the gut but is usually not serious, Riel says. But if a child has eaten a quarter of a tube at once, the doctor must be called, she says, especially if the child has swallowed adult toothpaste, which contains three times as much fluoride as children’s toothpaste.
Completely avoiding fluoride toothpaste is not an option, dentist Wouter Vriesman told RTL. “It really turns the teeth into a sieve. I have had parents here who did not give their children fluoride toothpaste. The condition of their teeth was worse than that of other children,” he said.
Toothpaste tops the list of reports of excessive exposure, followed by perfume and nail polish remover. In total, around 1,855 people were affected by exposure to cosmetics, including 1,203 children up to four years old.
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