6 Lawsuits Target Fluoride Overexposure, Marketing of Children’s Toothpaste

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Parents filed multiple lawsuits on Jan. 13 against toothpaste companies alleging that fluoride in their children’s dental products poses dangerous health risks.

Michael Connett, lead attorney with law firm Siri and Glimstad, represented parents on six class action complaints.

Two of the complaints are against Colgate-Palmolive Company over its toothpaste “aggressively marketed to children” and another is against Hello Products for its candy- and fruit-flavored fluoride mouthwashes conveying the impression that they’re safe for children while being highly toxic if swallowed.

The other four of the six lawsuits, which Connett posted about on social media platform X, make similar arguments that the products designed to appeal to children bring hazardous risks.

“These companies are responsible for over-exposing millions of young children to dangerous levels of fluoride,” he said.

The companies named in the lawsuits didn’t respond to requests for comment by publication time.

“These lawsuits are not about whether fluoride toothpaste should be available to those who want it,” Connett said. “They are about companies that mislead consumers into believing these products are harmless to young children.”

The lawsuit against Colgate-Palmolive argues that the company’s toothpaste marketed to children is deceptive in that it leads parents to believe the product is safe.

The lawsuit cites the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which stated that fluoride toothpaste must be kept “out of the reach of children under 6 years of age” and that it must be used under supervision to “minimize swallowing.”

It cites the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which stated that children under age 2 should not use fluoride.

It also cites the American Academy of Pediatrics and other dental associations that agree with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the protocol for children aged 2 only using a “smear,” and children aged 3 to 6 only using a “pea-sized” amount of fluoride toothpaste.

Although Colgate agrees with the associations’ recommendations, the company still resorts to using “misleading and aggressive” marketing tactics “to encourage kids, and their caregivers, to use far more than the safe and recommended amount of fluoride toothpaste,” the suit states.

“One of the misleading and aggressive marketing tactics that Colgate uses is to show ‘pictures of fruit with flavoring to match,’ which is a common signal to a child that toothpaste is intended to be consumed as if it were a food,” the lawsuit states. “It is well recognized that presenting drugs as ‘candy-like’ products increases the risk of overdose, particularly for young children.”

Nausea, stomachache, and vomiting are among the symptoms of acute fluoride toxicity.

Another side effect of fluoride is a mineralization disorder called dental fluorosis, which is defined in the lawsuit as “increased porosity and less than normal amounts of calcification in the teeth.”

“This disorder causes visible, and sometimes disfiguring, staining of the enamel,” the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, it’s a condition that has only escalated since the marketing of candy-like toothpaste began in the 1980s.

“In 1986-87, approximately 23% of U.S. children had fluorosis,” the lawsuit states. “This rate tripled to a staggering 68% of U.S. children by 2015-2016.”

The lawsuit states that there is a growing concern that excessive fluoride exposure is causing other health problems, including endocrine disruption and neurodevelopmental disorders.

‘An Unreasonable Risk’

In a case also represented by Connett as a lead attorney for Food and Water Watch, a federal judge ruled in September 2024 that the level of fluoride added to municipal drinking water systems deemed “optimal” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency poses “an unreasonable risk” of lowering children’s IQ.

A JAMA study published on Jan. 6 echoed the judge’s ruling with its findings that high fluoride exposure in children led to lower IQ scores.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in November 2024 that the Trump administration will “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water” on Jan. 20.

“Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,” he wrote on X.