Fluoride content of bottled water and its implications for the general dentist.

This study sought to measure the fluoride concentration of various commercial bottled waters and to identify clinical implications in dental patient education and treatment. For this study, 105 different samples of bottled water were collected over a 30-day period (from October 15, 2007 to November 15, 2007), divided into six categories, and analyzed for fluoride concentration by utilizing a fluoride ion-specific electrode. Based on the present study, distilled bottled waters have an average fluoride content of less than 0.01 ppm, while drinking/purified bottled waters all (except for one sample) had an average fluoride content of less than 0.03 ppm. Spring/artesian bottled water had an average fluoride content of 0.08 ppm, compared with 0.32 ppm for mineral water bottled waters, 0.16 ppm for flavor-added bottled waters, and 0.63 ppm for fluoride-added bottled water.