PURPOSE: To determine the fluoride intake in three- to five-year-old preschool children from two communes in Chile, one with a non-fluoridated public water supply (Maipú) and the other with fluoridated public water supply since 1996, at a fluoride concentration of 0.6 mg/L (Peñalolen). METHODS: Cross-sectional, observational design. The sample population was composed of 200 three-to-five-year-old children attending four kindergartens in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile, in the communes of Maipú and Peñalolen. Intake of fluoride was measured in a morning urine sample by using an ion-specific electrode and creatinine concentration. The fluoride intake from other sources was estimated from the parents' and educators' survey answers. RESULTS: The daily dose of fluoride intake (DDI) for all Maipú preschoolers was 0.021 mg F/kg body weight (bw)/day, a value less than the optimal dose, which is 0.05 to 0.07 mg F/kg bw/day. The DDI for the Peñalolen sample reached 0.066 mg F/kg bw/day. There is a contribution from fluoride toothpaste ingestion of 0.019 mg F/kg bw/day in Maipú and 0.017 mg F/kg bw/day in Peñalolen. The overall frequency of daily brushing was 3.15 times, during which 31% of Maipú children and 33% of Peñalolen children ingested toothpaste. The estimated amount of fluoride intake from toothpaste and tea consumption explained the contribution of fluoride not coming from fluoridated water. CONCLUSION: The fluoride ingestion from water and other sources in the preschool commune of Peñalolen is much higher than the fluoride intake in preschoolers of the Maipú district.
Fluoride; children; ingestion
