XP: Fluoride?

SandyEggo5

DD (2 yrs old) is going in for her first dental check up next week and they asked if we would like her to get a fluoride treatment. I said I wasn't sure yet, that I would look into it. I've found arguments for both sides. I normally buy fluoride-free toothpaste for DH and I, but I think it's different for children (DD doesn't yet brush with toothpaste). What do/would you do? Do you have any good resources that helped in your decision? TIA!

freezorburn

I don't know of any good resources but one piece of information you may want to track down is what are the fluoride levels in your tap water. Fl occurs naturally in some areas, and some local water authorities may fluoridate the water. I know that I grew up in an area that had fluoridated water. I have no way of knowing if I'm better or worse off for it.

ElleBeeDub

I had them give it to G, but our water isn't fluoridated.

nanabanana06

Fluoride is super important. Both my kids go into the dentist every 6 months starting at 1 year for their cleaning and fluoride treatments. My DD switched to fluoride toothpaste at 2 years when she could spit it out. My son gets fluoride drops each night after his teeth cleaning. It's not only highly recommended by the ADA, but your children's teeth can suffer from lack of flouride. It helps with teeth strength and keeps cavities away. I have teeth issues thanks to lack of dental care as a child/teen. I do not want that for my kids.

Rrrrrachel

I have terrible teeth so I am very pro fluoride with my daughter. I honestly haven't seen a lot of reputable information against it, except in extremely high amounts.

daisyemerson

Resident dental hygienist reporting

If you don't feel strongly against it, I would recommend getting the topical treatment. It is a much stronger dose in office than in the tap water and it is good to get a little boost to strengthen and remineralize their enamel after they've been scaled and polished. Polishing sounds nice, but it's essentially like sanding your teeth with a very fine grit sandpaper. Don't freak out and become anti-polishing, it's totally safe and non damaging as enamel is too hard to be damaged from it, but can leave the enamel a little "exposed to the elements" once all the stain and plaque is polished off.
The biggest controversy that I personally struggle with for fluoride is that the benefits are ONLY topical--not when ingested. So it's good that it's in the water as it swishes past your teeth, but ingesting it or taking a pill form provides no benefit and can even be harmful to developing teeth if taken in too high of a dose, but just applying it to the outsides of already developed teeth and spitting it out is harmless and very beneficial.
At least in my personal and professional opinion.

Off my soapbox now

huntjul

Fluoride yes for us! I've seen family members teeth who didn't do fluoride, and it's scary. Not to hijack, but when do you start fluoride supplements if its not in your water? I assume as soon as DD starts getting teeth?

Rrrrrachel

I thought ingesting it had some benefits while the teeth were still developing?  (so benefit in utero when mom ingests it and benefits to adult teeth when kids ingest it) but now I don't know where I read that and maybe I'm full of it.

daisyemerson

It used to be believed that there were benefits in utero, but it has been largely disproven that it plays any role in future cavity prevention, and the only cavity prevention benefits come from topical application of developed teeth.

Ingestion can be harmful to developing teeth if taken in too high of a dose such as with supplementing or if the water supply contains too much, it can cause a condition called "fluorosis" where the teeth erupt with white to brown speckled spots and streaks (I recommend a google image search of fluorosis).  It is just a cosmetic condition, the teeth aren't weaker but they look like they are covered in cavities, it can be sad, children get self conscious and wonder why their teeth "aren't clean" and there's nothing we can do to fix it.  

Rrrrrachel

Yeah I knew about that, but from what I understand that's at levels way higher than what's allowed in fluoridated water.

Rrrrrachel

Now I'm nervous about how much toothpaste my two year old may be swallowing. We only use a tiny bit and have her spit, but she almost certainly swallows some.

Beth.1212

Rrrrrachel said:

Now I'm nervous about how much toothpaste my two year old may be swallowing. We only use a tiny bit and have her spit, but she almost certainly swallows some.

The ADA is recommending that kids use a tiny, tiny smear of fluorinated toothpaste as soon as they have teeth (I think, you may want to double check) so you're probably fine. Though I'm not a dentist, nor do I play one on TV

daisyemerson

@bookitup‌ I would lean more toward good genes and brushing habits, or even just the topical brushing with fluoridated toothpaste rather than ingesting it, but who's to say...

I know teeth affected by fluorosis are not weaker than normal teeth, it's purely cosmetic discoloring. I can't say for sure if they're stronger though, all recent research I know of supports that ingesting fluoride does not protect against cavities even for developing teeth.

daisyemerson

Rrrrrachel said:

Yeah I knew about that, but from what I understand that's at levels way higher than what's allowed in fluoridated water.

Yes for sure, but "what's allowed" and "what is" are sometimes not the same. I want to say it happened in Atlanta a while back that now a whole age group of kids have fluorosis? Don't quote me on that but it happens, there isn't much we can do to prevent it at that point so no use worrying that it might happen.

And I wouldn't worry about the toothpaste swallowing too much. Just don't give her more than a pea sized dab and as long as she spits out the majority it should be fine.