Advice or experience on portable flouride water testing

[Techo NZ]

Hi, We are a volunteer dental team from New Zealand that go to some of the most remote islands in Vanuatu. We recently brought back some water samples and they lab tested at 3.5ppm

We are leaving in a month to go back and would like to take our own fluoride tester so we can test numerous water sources and advise the villagers which is the best supply for drinking and cooking.

There are a wide range of meters available but we are all public health employees and are self-funding so hoping someone can give us advice so we can make the best cost/benefit purchase.

Here’s a few examples of meters available from $50 to $1,000.

https://hannainst.com/hi729-fluoride-lr.html

https://hannainst.com/fluoride-portable-meter-hi98402.html

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Apera-WS10...429979?hash=item3f99739adb:g:kr0AAOSwLlJa0MmQ

Cheers

 

[MattKW]

I never knew that such portable units existed. All I can say is that I use a Hanna instrument for testing the mineral content of my water going into the autoclave, and it's always been excellent. Therefore, which Hanna to buy? Well the cheaper one seems to fit the bill and with less expensive consumables. I don't think I'd trust the Chinese device without the ability to "test" it against a Hanna.

 

[Techo NZ]

Thanks, likewise I never knew such things existed and have never had any need to know, but we got the lab results yesterday and we are leaving in a few weeks so I’m on a vertical learning curve.

One of the team is adding data to the National Oral Health Survey for Vanuatu so we feel this information could be of value.

Some other feedback has been the need for using distilled water as a zero calibration, and the chances of getting distilled water is zero, unless we steam a billy. Apparently accurate fluoride results are potentially ambient and sample temperature dependent, and calibration is needed at various points ?? I don’t know how much of this is correct, just mentioning it.

 

[MattKW]

I haven't read fully into the Hanna instrument, but with the one we use, it comes with sachets of a calibrating liquid. Maybe you should talk to Hanna about your requirements in the field? Who knows, they might even be willing to donate for a worthy cause?

 

[Techo NZ]

Which Hanna instrument do you use ? the links I provided had a $50 Hanna and a $500 Hanna.

Are you testing for anything specific or just total dissolved salts (TDS) ?

I assume you only use demineralised or distilled water in your autoclave and you are testing to give confidence that your demineralising filters or your distiller are working ok ?

 

[MattKW]

Which Hanna instrument do you use ? the links I provided had a $50 Hanna and a $500 Hanna.

Are you testing for anything specific or just total dissolved salts (TDS) ?

I assume you only use demineralised or distilled water in your autoclave and you are testing to give confidence that your demineralising filters or your distiller are working ok ?

I went out to find it, and see we are now using an HM Digital Meter (TDS-4). No-one tells me nuffin'! HM digital don't have a fluoride tester in their range that I could see.
Yes, have a triple osmosis unit and we test for TDS once a month'usually needs changing once a year.. We used to have a resin-exchange filter for same reason, and would fill up 25L containers. That was tested at every refill, and we'd usually have to change that type of filter every 6 months.

 

[Techo NZ]

Thanks, modern TDS meters are very good and a dime a dozen, we buy them for like $5 each, if a customer has an alert on their autoclave such as 'water quality unacceptable' I don't even send a technician to investigate, mostly it is just an early warning alert and they can keep using the autoclave until resolved, unless the reading is too high in which case modern autoclaves lock out until sorted.

I just send them a TDS meter and with advice over the phone they can usually sort it themselves, the courier costs more than the meter and I don't even care if the meter never comes back.

Accurately measuring fluoride levels seems to be another kettle of fish.... vertical learning.

As a tech and not a dentist (techs earn more $$ ha ha !) is an inter-generational reading of 3.5ppm for ground water something to be worried about ? With only a few weeks to go I'm pondering how much effort to put into researching the best meter and if it is the best use of our limited funds.

 

[MattKW]

I've found a couple of articles (EPA USA, NSW Health) for you that advise a naturally occurring source of 4ppm is the maximum. I've highlighted the relevant sections and numbered the pages on the opening page. So it seems like 3.5 is acceptable.

 

[Techo NZ]

The EPA link had a maximum of 4.0ppm and the NSW had a maximum of 1.5ppm, quite a variation.

 

[MattKW]

The EPA link had a maximum of 4.0ppm and the NSW had a maximum of 1.5ppm, quite a variation.

One of the team dentists messaged that the EPA link at 4.0 was 'Fake News' .?

Sorry, "fake news"? I think they misunderstand what these reports mean. In Australia, there are very low levels of naturally occurring fluoride in the water supply, so it has to be supplemented UP to a max of 1.5. In the USA, some areas have well over this, and the aim is to bring DOWN the level to a maximum of 4ppm. At the bottom of page 12 of the NSW Health article, it talks briefly about high levels of fluoride found elsewhere in the world without skeletal fluorosis, although I'd infer that dental fluorosis is common.

 

[Techo NZ]

Thanks, I've removed the fake news comment, over here we use it as light hearted humor rather than any offense.

All good and very interesting, even to learn of skeletal and dental fluorosis. I'll leave fluoride to the dental team and won't look too much for some portable testing equipment at this point, not enough time and we'll likely be back in 4-6 months.... For now I'll stick to wires n sparks. Appreciate your help. Cheers

 

[MattKW]

Have a good trip.