Fluoride vs. fluoridated toothpaste- what does your pedi/dentist recommend?

KelliLynee

I forgot to ask the pedi at DDs 3 year well visit and prefer to talk to our pedi than the nurse/question line. Our towns water does not have additional fluoride, so we had been giving her a supplement, but I stopped giving it to her many months ago. She uses a toothpaste without fluoride in it, and I intended to switch to a fluoridated toothpaste when she learned to spit the toothpaste out, which she hasn't mastered yet.

Anyways, I'm wondering what your pedi or dentist has recommended. I would rather her use fluoridated toothpaste than a fluoride supplement.

msditz00

A fluoride TP is topical, where as a fluoride supplement is systemic.  They need both - the topical protects the teeth you see, the systemic aids in proper growth of the teeth you can't see. 

flyingsaucer

We don't have fluoridated water where we live either and both our pedi and dentist suggest both - vitamins with fluoride and toothpaste with fluoride (but they said toothpaste only when DS was good about spitting it out... We started that around 3-3.5 yrs)

Littlejen22

msditz00:

A fluoride TP is topical, where as a fluoride supplement is systemic.  They need both - the topical protects the teeth you see, the systemic aids in proper growth of the teeth you can't see. 

This.  

skylooo

My dentist said no fluoridated toothpaste until 4, and when he/she can use it properly.  We have fluoridated water, though.  I would do the supplements and work on teaching LO o spit out the toothpaste ASAP.

 

stellasam

Not trying to cause controversy, but there are a lot of concerns about systemic fluoride. Our town has flouridated water and we do not drink it (or very little anyway). Flouride in toothpaste makes sense, but I do not believe it makes sense in water. Look into it for yourself. Here's a Wikipedia article on it, and there are a million websites if you google it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_controversy

KelliLynee

stellasam:

Not trying to cause controversy, but there are a lot of concerns about systemic fluoride. Our town has flouridated water and we do not drink it (or very little anyway). Flouride in toothpaste makes sense, but I do not believe it makes sense in water. Look into it for yourself. Here's a Wikipedia article on it, and there are a million websites if you google it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_controversy

Thanks to everyone for there comments. Stellasam- I am well aware of the controversy, which is why I am questioning what I should do. Thank you for posting this though, because I'm not sure everyone is aware. It seems silly to be to not let DD have fluoridated toothpaste until 4 (or later), yet give her systemic fluoride every day. Topical fluoride is the most important, and while you can't measure it quite as accurately as a supplement, you can limit it to a pea sized amount. (Besides, our dietary intake isn't measured either, so I'm not to concerned if she gets a tiny bit more vs a tiny bit less from her toothpaste on occasion).

I have a call out to the pedi to discuss the pros & cons with him, which I intended to do at our visit last week.

kar5162

Our dentist said flouride toothpaste was ok at 2 even though he doesn't spit it properly but to use a single grain of rice size amount and not a pea size. We don't do it daily, but do use it once a week.

mrsjones06

kar5162:

Our dentist said flouride toothpaste was ok at 2 even though he doesn't spit it properly but to use a single grain of rice size amount and not a pea size. We don't do it daily, but do use it once a week.

This is what our pediatric dentist told us at our last appt as well. (DS was 3)