OBJECTIVE To evaluate the reliability of a method of measuring the total fluoride in fluoride-containing toothpastes with acid diffusion and fluoride selective electrode. METHODS Four brands of commercially available non-fluoride toothpastes and fluoride-containing toothpastes were sampled. Fluoride was extracted from the toothpastes in 2 mol/L HC10(4) at room temperature overnight and then subjected to the measurement with fluoride electrode. RESULTS Fluoride recovery of the non-fluoride toothpastes containing calcium as abrasive by this method was 99.5%-100.5%, more than 94% of total fluoride was measured from the marketed fluoride toothpastes, and the variation coefficient of this method was less than 1.54%. While the abrasive was silicon, the fluoride recovery of the non-fluoride toothpastes was 83.4%, and 89.7% of total fluoride was measured from the marketed fluoride-containing toothpastes. CONCLUSIONS The amount of total fluoride in the calcium containing toothpaste can be detected simply and accurately measured by acid diffusion and fluoride selective electrode.