Fluoride Facts for the Family
Posted: Monday, August 20, 2007
by Avis Ward
GeoVi's Home for Pregnant Teens
Cavities used to be a fact of life. But over the past few decades, tooth decay has been reduced dramatically. The key reason: fluoride. Research has shown that fluoride reduces cavities in both children and adults. It also helps repair the early stages of tooth decay even before the decay becomes visible. Unfortunately, many people continue to be misinformed about fluoride and fluoridation. Fluoride is like any other nutrient; it is safe and effective when used appropriately. This article will help you learn more about the important oral health benefits of fluoride.
- Fluoride: Nature's Cavity Fighter
- Topical Fluorides
- Systemic Fluorides
- Conclusion
Fluoride is a mineral that occurs naturally in all water sources, even the oceans. The fluoride ion comes from the element fluorine. Fluorine, the 17th most abundant element in the earth's crust, is never encountered in its free state in nature. It exists only in combination with other elements as a fluoride compound.
Fluoride is effective in preventing and reversing the early signs of dental caries (tooth decay). Researchers have shown that there are several ways through which fluoride achieves its decay-preventive effects. It makes the tooth structure stronger, so teeth are more resistant to acid attacks. Acid is formed when the bacteria in plaque break down sugars and carbohydrates from the diet. Repeated acid attacks break down the tooth, which causes cavities. Fluoride also acts to repair, or re-mineralize, areas in which acid attacks have already begun. The re-mineralization effect of fluoride is important because it reverses the early decay process as well as creating a tooth surface that is more resistant to decay.
Fluoride is obtained in two forms: topical and systemic. Topical fluorides strengthen teeth already present in the mouth making them more decay-resistant. Topical fluorides include toothpastes, mouth rinses and professionally applied fluoride therapies.
Systemic fluorides are those that are ingested into the body and become incorporated into forming tooth structures. Systemic fluorides can also give topical protection because fluoride is present in saliva, which continually bathes the teeth. Systemic fluorides include water fluoridation or dietary fluoride supplements in the form of tablets, drops or lozenges.
As a result of the widespread availability of these various sources of fluoride, the decay rates in both the United States and other countries have greatly diminished.
The proper mix is key
It is important to note that the effective prevention of dental decay requires that the proper mix of both forms of fluoride (topical and systemic) be made available to individuals. Your dentist can help you assess whether you are receiving adequate levels of fluoride for all family members from the two forms (topical and systemic).
Topical Fluorides
Self-Applied
One method of self-applied topical fluoride that is responsible for a significant drop in the level of cavities since 1960 is use of toothpaste containing fluoride. The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends that children (over two years of age) and adults use toothpaste with fluoride displaying the ADA Seal of Acceptance or consult with a child's dentist if considering the use of toothpaste before age two. Other sources of self-applied fluoride are mouth rinses designed to be rinsed and spit out, either prescribed by your dentist or an over-the-counter variety. The ADA recommends the use of fluoride mouth rinses, but not for children under six years of age because they may swallow the rinse.
Professionally-Applied
Professionally-applied fluorides are in the form of a gel, foam or rinse, and are applied by a dentist or dental hygienist during dental visits. These fluorides are more concentrated than the self-applied fluorides, and therefore are not needed as frequently. The ADA recommends that dental professionals use any of the professional strength, tray-applied gels or foam products carrying the ADA Seal of Acceptance. There are no ADA-accepted fluoride professional rinses for use in dental offices.
Systemic Fluorides
Systemic fluorides such as community water fluoridation and dietary fluoride supplements are effective in reducing tooth decay. These fluorides provide topical as well as systemic protection because fluoride is present in the saliva.
Community Water Fluoridation
Fluoride is present naturally in all water sources. Community water fluoridation, which has been around for over 50 years, is simply the process of adjusting the fluoride content of fluoride-deficient water to the recommended level for optimal dental health. That recommended level is 0.7 - 1.2 parts fluoride per million parts water. Water fluoridation has been proven to reduce decay in both children and adults. While water fluoridation is an extremely effective and inexpensive means of obtaining the fluoride necessary for optimal tooth decay prevention, not everyone lives in a community with a centralized, public or private water source that can be fluoridated. For those individuals, fluoride is available in other forms.
Dietary Fluoride Supplements
Dietary fluoride supplements (tablets, drops or lozenges) are available only by prescription and are intended for use by children ages six months to 16 years living in non-fluoridated areas. Your dentist or physician can prescribe the correct dosage. It is based on the natural fluoride concentration of the child's drinking water and the age of the child. For optimum benefits, use of dietary fluoride supplements should begin when a child is six months old and be continued daily until the child is 16 years old. The need for taking dietary fluoride supplements over an extended period of time makes dietary fluoride supplements less cost-effective than water fluoridation; therefore, dietary fluoride supplements are considerably less practical as a wide-spread alternative to water fluoridation as a public health measure. Fluoride supplements are recommended only for children living in non-fluoridated areas.
It is important to note that fluoridated water may be consumed from sources other than the home water supply, such as the workplace, school and/or day care, bottled water, filtered water and from processed beverages and foods prepared with fluoridated water. For this reason, dietary fluoride supplements should be prescribed by carefully following the recommended dosage schedule. Dietary fluoride supplements are not recommended for children residing in a fluoridated community.
Conclusion
No matter how you get the fluoride you need whether it is through your drinking water, supplements, toothpaste, mouth rinse or professionally applied fluoride you can be confident that fluoride is silently at work fighting decay. Safe, convenient, effective . . . however you describe it, fluoride fits naturally into any dental care program. For more information about the oral health benefits of fluoride, just ask your dentist.
Source: American Dental Association
2007 by Avis Ward of AWard Consulting, LLC
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Boy somebody has feed you a line about Fluoride Just for starters, Fresh today Fluoride in Southern California Tap Water Will Put 64,000 Kids at Risk From the EWG Start thinking for yourselves and stop repeating Crap from a self serving Trade Union, The ADA It is not out for your best interest only their own. Humans made it this far, why now do we need to start ingesting industrial waste byproduct HYDROFLUOROSILICATES "Fluoride" It Not a nutrientAnon 1 and Anon 2, thank you for your comments. Anon 2, for some reason, I am unable to respond to you directly. I get an error message about HTML or javascript. I appreciate all readers of my articles and welcome their comments.
Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth. The CDC says INGESTED fluoride confers no benefits - it absorbs topically.. Fluoride does make the outer enamel harder; it doesn't prevent tooth decay, it just hides it. The teeth are made of microscopic rods with even smaller spaces between them. Decay causing bacteria permeates even the hardest outter shell, revealed with a hard poke of a metal explorer.
The electronic diagnodent, shows dentists decay that can't be seen visually but too small to be seen by an x-ray.
Dentists patted themselves on the back, predicting that the fluoridation they advocated, would put them out of business..
After 60 years of fluoridation reaching 2/3 of Americans on public water supplies,virtually 100% via the food supply, Americans are fluoride overdosed, cavities are rising, dentists make more money than physicians but work
fewer days & hours dong less critical work. 80% won't treat Medicaid patients., 40% of US - no dental insurance
Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth. The CDC says INGESTED fluoride confers no benefits - it absorbs topically.. Fluoride does make the outer enamel harder; it doesn't prevent tooth decay, it just hides it. The teeth are made of microscopic rods with even smaller spaces between them. Decay causing bacteria permeates even the hardest outter shell, revealed with a hard poke of a metal explorer.
The electronic diagnodent, shows dentists decay that can't be seen visually but too small to be seen by an x-ray.
Dentists patted themselves on the back, predicting that the fluoridation they advocated, would put them out of business..
After 60 years of fluoridation reaching 2/3 of Americans on public water supplies,virtually 100% via the food supply, Americans are fluoride overdosed, cavities are rising, dentists make more money than physicians but work
fewer days & hours dong less critical work. 80% won't treat Medicaid patients., 40% of US - no dental insurance.
In a statement released August 9, 2007, over 600 dentists, physicians, scientists and environmentalists urge Congress to stop water fluoridation until Congressional hearings are conducted. They cite new scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks.
Signers include a Nobel Prize winner, three members of the prestigious 2006 National Research Council (NRC) panel that reported on fluoride’s toxicology, two officers in the Union representing professionals at EPA headquarters, the President of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, and hundreds of medical, dental, academic, scientific and environmental professionals, worldwide.
Signer Dr. Arvid Carlsson, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Medicine, says, “Fluoridation is against all principles of modern pharmacology. It's really obsolete.”
“The NRC report dramatically changed scientific understanding of fluoride's health risks," says Connett. "Government officials who continue to promote fluoridation must testify under oath as to why they are ignoring the powerful evidence of harm in the NRC report,” he added.
An Assistant NY State Attorney General calls the report “the most up-to-date expert authority on the health effects of fluoride exposure.”
The Professionals’ Statement also references:
-- The new American Dental Association policy recommending infant formula NOT be prepared with fluoridated water.
-- The CDC’s concession that the predominant benefit of fluoride is topical not systemic.
-- CDC data showing that dental fluorosis, caused by fluoride over-exposure, now impacts one third of American children.
-- Major research indicating little difference in decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities.
-- A Harvard study indicating a possible link between fluoridation and bone cancer. -- The silicofluoride chemicals used for fluoridation are contaminated industrial waste and have never been FDA- approved for human ingestion.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a DC watchdog, revealed that a Harvard professor concealed the fluoridation/bone cancer connection for three years. EWG President Ken Cook states, “It is time for the US to recognize that fluoridation has serious risks that far outweigh any minor benefits, and unlike many other environmental issues, it's as easy to end as turning off a valve at the water plant.”
Partially, as a result of this statement, at least one city, Cobleskill NY, stopped 54 years of water fluoridation. Many communities rejected or stopped fluoridation over the years.
SOURCE: Fluoride Action NetworkThank you for commenting. I encourage you to become an author (if you're not) and make your comments an article, next time.
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