Is Fluoride Good for Children’s Teeth?
As a parent, you want to do all that you can to ensure your children’s good health, and as part of that concern, you take extra care when teaching them to brush and floss their teeth every day. Establishing a good dental hygiene routine can help prepare your children for a lifetime of healthy and beautiful smiles, and the inclusion of fluoride can facilitate the growth of strong, dependable tooth enamel. As part of a complete hygiene and preventive dental routine, fluoride has proven itself useful at protecting children’s teeth from tooth decay and cavity development.
Giving Teeth Strength to Protect Themselves
While brushing and flossing are essential to healthy smiles, the routine would be largely useless without a strong, healthy layer of enamel surrounding your teeth. As your teeth’s natural primary line of defense against infectious oral bacteria, tooth enamel is the strongest substance that your body produces. It is also the most mineralized, comprised almost entirely of calcium, phosphate, and trace amounts of fluoride. Brushing your children’s teeth with fluoride toothpaste and giving them fluoridated (but filtered) tap water to drink can help supply them with enough fluoride to strengthen enamel as it develops around what will soon be their permanent teeth.
Long-Lasting Benefits of Fluoride
Even after permanent teeth have fully developed, fluoride can continue to strengthen your enamel when it needs it by bonding to enamel’s surface. For instance, oral bacteria produce acid after consuming sugar, then the acid attacks your tooth enamel and siphons essential minerals from your teeth. The mineral depletion deprives your enamel of the means to regain its strength. After a while, acid erosion can cause small holes to develop in your enamel’s surface, allowing bacteria to reach your tooth’s main structure and initiate tooth decay. To reduce the risk of tooth decay and cavities, fluoride can bond to the surface of weakened enamel and lend it the strength necessary to ward off acid attacks and tooth decay.
filed under: Preventive Treatments