What hidden dangers lie in toothpastes?

What hidden dangers lie in toothpastes?
by Angela Mdlalani
19-09-2010
Although we don’t swallow it, not intentionally at least, we do trust toothpaste, don’t we? We rely on it for dazzling smiles.
But the paste we have come to trust as offering us better oral hygiene and preventing tooth decay may be more dangerous than we care to notice.
The Internet is awash with claims that some of the dental hygiene products widely used by families today contain toxins that have, among others, been linked to cancer and blindness.
It is accepted that toothpaste should not be swallowed, hence the need to monitor youngsters when they are brushing their teeth.
Doctor Itumeleng Kalane, a General Dental Practitioner at the Dental Clinic in Gaborone, says that children should not use toothpaste before their second birthday.

Fluorosis, Dr Kalane said, is a researched and documented effect of excessive toothpaste swallowing.