speaking of teeth - fluoride

MauiWedding08

https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110107/ap_on_he_me/us_med_fluoride_levels

I know this is controversial but I think it is worth keeping an eye on. 

Personally I don't feel comfortable giving concentrated fluoride drops to Jack internally but don't go so far as to be a total watch dog about it.  I do let him drink our tap water that is fluoridated and will also let him have it topically (our dentists' preferred way anyways) because that is really what has shown to help in the long run with the fewest side effects anyways.  Our ped gave Jack a script for flouride drops at a recent appt. that DH took him to so I think it is pretty common and I wasn't there to really pick her brain about but have no plans to fill it anytime soon, if ever.

Kind of related - my ND is totally against ingesting it at all and went as far as to say I should limit exposure to it totally in an attempt to work on my hormones and fertility because of recent studies that showed a possible link. hmmmm. 

inamra

LO don't usually drink water, but he has once and it was filtered tap. I don't think we'd do the fluoride drops since he doesn't even have teeth yet, but even if/when he does, I think that tap water + toothpaste (after he's 2) is probably good enough. We grew up without fluoride drops and it was fine.

lelekay

I always thought that fluoride supplements were only for people who didn't have city water.  When I grew up, friends of mine who lived in the country and had well water (which does not have fluoride added like city water does) took fluoride tablets.......are they recommending that for everyone now?  I didn't even know that.  Personally, I use a high-fluoride (prescription) toothpaste, which was my choice due to my horrible teeth (despite that fact that I take better care of them than anyone I know, I still have already lost one, have 5 root canal/crowns and absolutely countless fillings).  I am supposed to be careful about not swallowing it, though, and you only use a very small amount....less than a pea-sized.  It does work for me, though....I have slowed decay significantly.  But I don't think I'd comfortable with Henry taking any sort of fluoride supplement until/unless he's much, much older and if he inherits my poor enamel.

redshoegirl

lelekay:

I always thought that fluoride supplements were only for people who didn't have city water. 

This is what my dentist told me. We were discussing the boys at my last appointment, and she said that because they drink formula made with plain tap water (we have excellent tasting water here, no need to filter it) that we didn't need to worry about it.

She also said that when we start using toothpaste with them to make sure that it was children's toothpaste because it has lower fluoride levels and that she sees a surprising amount of kids with fluoride spots because their parents use adult toothpaste or give them drops. Oh, she also said that it's extremely rare for the amount of fluoride in tap water to be concentrated enough to do tooth damage even in very young children. That's just here in Australia of course - I can't speak for the States.

mrspresley

FWIW, DH said that if your pedi prescribed Jack fluoride drops that you should consider finding a new pedi! you should get fluoride varnish applied to his teeth but he shouldn't be ingesting the drops.  (I know opinions vary, so that's why I said "FWIW")

mrs.winter

mrspresley:

FWIW, DH said that if your pedi prescribed Jack fluoride drops that you should consider finding a new pedi! you should get fluoride varnish applied to his teeth but he shouldn't be ingesting the drops.  (I know opinions vary, so that's why I said "FWIW")

I'm confused and now freaking out...I shouldn't be giving Ashton fluoride drops?  Both Pedi's that I've seen (a new one while regular was on vacation) both prescribed Ashton drops.  I have those 'white spots' on my teeth and I really don't want Ashton to have them...I was always very self conscience.

Married2MrWright

I'm with you on this...tap water, toothpaste and topical at the dentist worked for me and that's what I plan for my kids.

FWIW, my BFF's DH grew up in BFE Montana and took the supplements and has messed up teeth because of it. So...too much of a good thing is BAD! If your tap water and toothpaste have it, why supplement?

lola808

mrs.winter:

mrspresley:

FWIW, DH said that if your pedi prescribed Jack fluoride drops that you should consider finding a new pedi! you should get fluoride varnish applied to his teeth but he shouldn't be ingesting the drops.  (I know opinions vary, so that's why I said "FWIW")

I'm confused and now freaking out...I shouldn't be giving Ashton fluoride drops?  Both Pedi's that I've seen (a new one while regular was on vacation) both prescribed Ashton drops.  I have those 'white spots' on my teeth and I really don't want Ashton to have them...I was always very self conscience.

Our pedi also prescribed the drops since our tap water is not fluoridated. I grew up taking flouride tabs and have no teeth issues. I had no clue ingesting it could be bad! I'll have to ask him about this at our next check up on Tuesday.

mrspresley

lola808:

Our pedi also prescribed the drops since our tap water is not fluoridated. I grew up taking flouride tabs and have no teeth issues. I had no clue ingesting it could be bad! I'll have to ask him about this at our next check up on Tuesday.

i think if your tap water doesn't have any fluoride in it, then that may be different...but most of us have water that is fluoridated. i'll double check w/DH and see what he says but i think in your case it may be warranted.  (not 100% sure though since Miss A doesn't really drink water anyway and all we are doing is the fluoride varnish topically)

MauiWedding08

Thanks for the advice Jaime.  We seem to like our ped but I don't really have much use for her other than regular checkups since Jack hasn't been sick and I never ask her advice (and love that she doesn't offer it) on parenting or other non-urgent med stuff.  If we ever actually need her medical advice it will be interesting to see how much we like her - but I never really interviewed or anything since I figured we could always switch and I would most likely take him to my ND in addition anyways and I love her.

update, my city (and surrounding) do not add fluoride.  I shouldn't be surprised - hippy town.  haha.

regardless, I don't intend to give J the drops.  

mrspresley

MauiWedding08:

Thanks for the advice Jaime.  We seem to like our ped but I don't really have much use for her other than regular checkups since Jack hasn't been sick and I never ask her advice (and love that she doesn't offer it) on parenting or other non-urgent med stuff.  If we ever actually need her medical advice it will be interesting to see how much we like her - but I never really interviewed or anything since I figured we could always switch and I would most likely take him to my ND in addition anyways and I love her.

update, my city (and surrounding) do not add fluoride.  I shouldn't be surprised - hippy town.  haha.

regardless, I don't intend to give J the drops.  

in that case the Rx for the drops is warranted (double checked with DH) but I still think you're fine just doing topical fluoride like you were already planning on doing

hope I didn't come off too strongly! wasn't trying to be pushy