Objective To establish a pretreatment method which is applicable to the determination of strontium(Sr)in toothpaste by flame atomic absorption spectrometry.Methods The pretreatment was performed by using digestion pot technique, with lanthanum nitrate as the anti-interference agent.Flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used in this study,the parameters of digestion temperature and the results of two pretreatment methods were compared.Results The toothpaste sample was digested completely by using digestion pot technique with little examined elements lost during digestion.Time-saving and pollution-free were seen in the test.The detection limit of this method was 0.02?g/ml,and the RSDs were 0.98%-3.01%.The recovery rate was at the range of 94.7%-110%.No significant difference was seen between these two pretreatment methods.Conclusion This method has advantages of high sensitivity and precision in the determination of strontium in toothpaste by flame atomic absorption spectrometry,so it can be employed in various laboratories.