Effects of Buffered Lethal Doses of Fluoride on Guinea-Pigs

Clinical and Bacteriological Studies of the Use of a Fluoride Dentifrice

“…Preliminary work was done on a series of guinea pigs, to determine the gross toxic manifestations of the ingestion of lethal doses of the fluoride. It was found, that double the accepted lethal dose of sodium or potassium fluoride was well tolerated and did not produce death, when buffered with calcium carbonate, or calcium carbonate combined with magnesium oxide (4). The conversion of sodium fluoride to calcium fluoride, in the stomach of the animal, drastically reduced the toxicity of the fluoride, since calcium fluoride is practically insoluble and therefore only slightly assimilated.…”