What fluoride is for and why you should use it on your teeth and those of your children

When looking for toothpastes, both in the supermarket and in the pharmacy we observed that there are dozens of different types of toothpaste. Most of them may seem almost the same around their characteristics, although there is something especially important: Do they have fluoride?

Pediatricians advise using toothpastes with fluoride to take good care of our mouth: "To have healthy teeth it is advisable to avoid knickknacks, brush your teeth and use toothpaste with fluoride ", they sentence. These are the characteristics of this mineral, explained by the experts of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics in Primary Care.


What fluoride is and what it is for

Fluorine is a mineral whose main characteristics emphasize that it strengthens, helps the renewal of tooth enamel and prevents cavities.

With everything, and although it is recommended by the experts, it is not necessary to use too much, because a large amount of fluoride "can cause fluorosis, that stains the teeth in its mild form, but that if it is serious it can destroy the enamel. "For this reason, and as it happens in other situations in medicine," it is not always better: you have to look for the intermediate point to avoid caries without producing fluorosis. "

How to use fluoride


The pediatricians comment that fluorine can be found as an ingredient in toothpastes, gels and varnishes for teeth and liquids for rinses. Also, it can be seen in drops or pills to drink and, in some countries, in drinking water.

Topical fluoride is the one used on the tooth. In particular, "the one we put on the brush with the toothpaste, that of the rinses with special products for it and that of treatments once or twice a year applied by dentists in some cases (gel trays or varnishes) ".

About the fluoride taken, it is the least recommended. European experts do not recommend administering fluoride taken in almost any case "and only if the drinking water in your area has less than 0.3 ppm of fluoride", add these pediatricians, who add that this type of fluoride should be recommended by the dentist. As well it is the dentist who must apply the dental treatments with fluoride gels or varnishes, which are used only at risk children.


Benefits of topical fluoride

Pediatricians explain that the most recent studies have concluded that the local effect of fluoride that is applied on the tooth "is what really prevents cavities", and that fluoride by general route, ingested, that reaches the tooth through the blood, it is "really important just before the tooth comes out, when it is being mineralized inside the gum. "However, in this case," it is also in this phase, the one before the dental eruption, when there is an excess of fluorine, fluorosis occurs ", they clarify.

"When it was checked the effect of fluorine in the prevention of caries, and the optimum amount in the water was known (1 part per million or 1 mg per liter), in some countries, like the United States, fluoride was added to drinking water, "say pediatricians However, this has a problem: the amount of water a person takes varies greatly depending on the heat of the area, their customs, etc. and there are other sources of fluoride, such as foods grown in areas with fluorinated water, Minerals, beverages, toothpastes For this reason, "in many other places fluoride has not been added to drinking water", they indicate.

Which children are more at risk of having cavities?

Many risks that children have cavities are avoidable with changes in habits: sweeten pacifiers, take candy and knickknacks, take juices, all that increases the chances of tooth decay. Therefore, "the most sensible thing is to suppress these harmful habits in the first place", say the pediatricians.

However, these are the children with the highest risk of caries and who, therefore, have to use fluoride toothpaste:

- children who have active cavities (3 in milk teeth or 1 in definitive teeth)

- children with malformations of the mouth

- children with fixed orthodontics (brackets)

- children with mental deficiencies that hinder their hygiene

- children at special risk if there is decay (heart disease, immunity problems or hemophilia, for example)

Children who they are not considered risk for caries They should also apply fluoride to the toothpaste and, when they are older, they can use it in daily or weekly rinses.

How much toothpaste and what?

For Children are recommended to use infant toothpaste since it has less fluoride.Up to two years old, pediatricians recommend putting only a small amount, "as one painted on the brush", and, between two and six years, "in quantity like a pea."

From six years old, children can already use adult toothpaste, with an amount of between one and two centimeters on the brush.

It may interest you:

- Oral hygiene in children

- Healthy teeth in children

Video: Fluoride DANGEROUS? and why are DENTISTS obsessed with it? EP 05 The Dental Drive


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