Fluoride Safety

What is fluoride? Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that comes from rocks and is released into soil and water. We hear about fluoride a great deal when talking about dental care. You may wonder why that is.

As it happens, fluoride has the ability to prevent and even reverse tooth decay. When bacteria sticks to a tooth, it removes minerals from the surface. If enough of the surface gets removed, the tooth becomes decayed. This can lead to cavities and infections. Fluoride works to remineralize the surface of a tooth and prevent tooth decay from developing in the first place.

That all sounds amazing, right? Your pediatric dentist may even tell you that fluoride would be great for your kids—like we do at Dr. Beanca Chu Children’s Dentistry. However, you may be wondering, "Is fluoride safe?" Keep reading to learn more about how tooth decay happens and why fluoride is one of the best ways to protect teeth.

The Origins of Tooth Decay

What causes tooth decay? As stated above, tooth decay finds its origins in bacteria left on the surface of a tooth. Here's how it works:

  1. Bacteria get together with food and form a sticky substance called plaque.
  2. The bacteria in that plaque take sugars and starches from your food and make acids.
  3. These acids eat away at the minerals that make up the enamel on your teeth.
  4. Over time, the plaque turns to tartar. The tartar and plaque work together to damage teeth and gums.
  5. White spots on teeth are an indication of the start of tooth decay; the white spots are where minerals have been worn away. At this point, the situation may be reversible.
  6. If the enamel doesn't repair itself, the decay will eventually form holes, or cavities, in your teeth. This damage is permanent and will require a filling from a dentist.

Some foods present a bigger issue than others when it comes to bacteria left over after eating and drinking. Here are some foods that can accelerate tooth decay:

  • Sweet drinks, including soda and other sugared beverages
  • Sugary cereal and other sweet baked goods
  • White bread
  • Fruit juice and fruit popsicles
  • Sticky foods like caramel or licorice
  • Starchy foods like potato chips and crackers

Creating a diet that limits the amounts of these types of foods can limit the chances of tooth decay forming.

How Does Fluoride Help?

Fluoride repairs the damage done to teeth by plaque and tartar, a process called remineralization. Not only that, but fluoride makes teeth stronger and more resistant to cavities. This is especially important for children. When babies are born, their baby teeth are under the surface of their gums, just waiting for the right time to emerge. Fluoride in the food and drink babies take in can strengthen the enamel of their baby teeth and make them more resistant to decay.

As children grow older, fluoride can protect their baby teeth as they come in, and down the line, protect their permanent teeth. Fluoride can be found in tap water, so encouraging your child to drink water on a daily basis can be beneficial. There is also fluoride in toothpaste, and most dentists offer fluoride treatments at a child's biannual dental check-ups. The fluoride in both toothpaste and these dental treatments sticks to the child's teeth, boosting the tooth's strength.

Is Fluoride Safe?

This is a valid question—and one you may be asking yourself at this point. You certainly don't want to put something into your child's mouth if it isn't safe. Scientists have been studying fluoride for more than 70 years to ensure that it's safe to add fluoride to drinking water. The American Dental Association (ADA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)—among many other organizations—confirm that there are dental benefits gained from drinking fluoridated water.

A little history…. The benefits of fluoride were first found in the late 1800s. By the 1930s, dentists began to notice that their patients who drank water that naturally contained fluoride had less tooth decay than their other patients. The U.S. Institutes of Health spent the 1930s and '40s investigating fluoride. They studied how it worked and tested it to make sure it was safe. The researchers concluded that fluoride provided safe, effective protection against tooth decay.

In 1945, Grand Rapids, MI, was the first city in the U.S. to add fluoride to the public water supply. After five years, a study was conducted, and it was discovered that children in Grand Rapids had significantly fewer cavities than children in nearby communities. Buoyed by this success, other cities in Michigan began fluoridating their public water. The results were similar—fewer cavities. From then on, cities across the entire country began adding fluoride to their water, improving the dental health of U.S. citizens and prompting nations around the world to fluoridate their water, too.

Too much fluoride can damage teeth, so where it's added to drinking water, the amount of fluoride is kept to a low level, enough to provide protection, but not enough to cause damage. (The recommended level of fluoride in drinking water is 0.7 mg/liter.) Most people use toothpaste and mouthwash that contain fluoride, but fluoridated water reduces tooth decay in children and adults an additional 25%. Dental health affects many aspects of our lives—our sleep, our mental health, school, and work, to name a few—so knowing that fluoride is right there in our water is comforting.

Fluoride For Your Child

Now that you know how important and helpful fluoride is, you can determine the best way for your child to get enough. Drinking tap water on a daily basis is beneficial keeping in mind that some filters used to clean water also take out fluoride. Make sure your child's toothpaste and mouthwash contain fluoride and that your child is brushing and flossing twice a day.

At Dr. Beanca Chu Children's Dentistry, our pediatric dentist, Dr. Beanca Chu, recommends fluoride treatments at every check-up to help protect your child's teeth from decay. Is it time for your child's next dental visit? Consider contacting us and we can make sure your child's teeth are in good shape and ready to resist cavities.