Category: Patients

Just kidding. Just wanted to have your attention.

Today I am going to write about fluoride. And the reason for doing this is that I keep on running into articles and websites promoting fluoride-free toothpastes (and water). Not only they recommend non-fluoride toothpastes but also they tell that the fluoride is toxic or poison when entering body.

It is rather entertaining to read these articles but sooner or later the amusement turns into annoyance. Especially after comments like this

I love the look on dental hygienist’s faces when I refuse the fluoride treatments or toothpaste for me and my kids

When the adults practice their anti-fluoride beliefs on their kids it is simply heart breaking. I have seen kids whose milk teeth were so badly decayed that most of them had to be removed. I have seen kids in pain because of the decay.

Why would you want to put your kid through such experiences? They wouldn’t thank you if they knew what caused their bad teeth as an adult. But they will never find out the truth because they have been told that it runs in the family to have weak teeth… yeah right. There is no such thing as weak teeth that are hereditary. It’s all about oral hygiene habits and lifestyle habits.

What could be called hereditary is the bacteria in mouth that you might get from your parents as a baby. If the parents neglect their teeth (poor oral hygiene and lifestyle habits) there is great amount of cavity causing bacteria in the mouth and if that bacteria is transferred to the baby there are big chances the child will struggle with decaying. And this means this child needs fluoride. And if the parents do not offer it… pain, screaming in fear at the dentist, sedation/general anaesthesia, fillings, extractions, malposition of the permanent teeth because of the loss of the milk teeth… So unnecessary!

To be honest, I can understand the worry over the fluoridated water to some extent. After all it goes into your body.

But the fluoride toothpaste! You are not meant to swallow it, are you? With young kids you can’t prevent them swallowing the toothpaste but that’s why you use only very tiny amount of it.

But you adults, come on! The local effect of the fluoride is important in prevention of decay. You brush for 2 minutes (hopefully) and that’s the time the fluoride stays in your mouth. Then you spit it out and rinse with water (I don’t but that’s why I glow in the dark…ha-ha). No fluoride has entered your body.

But still some people mix all sorts of things with “healing properties” to be used as a toothpaste. Herbs, clay, coconut oil etc. I just read an article about coconut oil that was recommended by Dr. Somebody to be used instead of fluoride toothpaste. And as if the article wasn’t full of baloney but the comments at the end of the article were even more so.

…I laugh when dentists tell their patients not to brush for an hour….. why leave the acidity on your teeth to do damage for an hour – five times a day – seven days a week etc…. it adds up!

This person refers to a previous comment where somebody said he vigorously rinses his mouth with water after eating anything (which is fine). I’m sure all the professionals know what will happen to the teeth if one brushes every day after every meal – five times a day – seven days a week etc.

Erosion or to be precise it is abrasion that will happen to the teeth and that is irreversible damage which will lead to hypersensitivity of the teeth and make the teeth more prone to decaying.

Facts Simplified

There are minerals in the enamel of the tooth (hydroxyapatite). Minerals like calcium are lost everyday from the enamel because of the acids the bacteria produce from the carbohydrates in the diet.

The saliva tries to minimise the loss of minerals by neutralising the acids (remineralisation) but saliva can’t do magic if the host’s lifestyle is giving it too much to handle. Snacking (eating more frequently than 5-6 times a day), drinking acidic or sugary drinks in daily basis between the meals, eating sweets the wrong way (yes, there is a right way of eating them), adding sugar to the tea/coffee (even milk contains sugar) and consuming them between the meals. All these habits produce too much acid for the saliva to handle and it is not able to return all the lost minerals back to the enamel.

Loosing too much minerals from the enamel means decaying.

So to prevent that you need to find a way to compensate the lost minerals. The most important one is the calcium. And when combined with fluoride it repairs the enamel with very strong fluorapatite that is hard for the acids to break. It is much stronger material than hydroxyapatite that the enamel is originally made of. Some professionals even say that area of the enamel that has been replaced by fluorapatite won’t ever get decay.

But even if you do use fluoride in some form you will get decay if you have poor oral hygiene and your eating habits are harmful to the teeth. The fluoride will only slow down the decaying process.

There are exceptions of course. There are individuals who neglect their teeth and never get a decay. They might not use fluoride toothpaste or they might not brush at all. I will emphasise that they are exceptions. Average Joe will get decay I’m afraid. I have already written about this on my previous post. I wrote that it is very rare for people to have good enough oral hygiene habits. It is about one in thousand patients who do not need my interference in looking after their teeth. So most of us need minerals (calcium and fluoride) to protect the teeth from our laziness and unhealthy lifestyle.

Fluoride we cannot get through our diet unless you eat fish with the bones but even then there is no localised effect on teeth. So we need it from somewhere else. And the fluoridated water is simply not enough as it passes through the mouth and does not provide long enough localised effect (so don’t use that as an excuse). That’s why we use the toothpaste.

Right Way of Eating Sweets (Thought You Might Want to Know)

You can eat sweets without getting decay. Us dental professionals are a living proof of that. You see we looooove to eat sweets but rarely get decay. I will tell you how we do it.

1. If you buy pack of sweets eat them in one go and have xylitol chewing gum, slice of cheese or fluoride tablet once you are finished. If you eat one sweet every 10 minutes for the next two hours you will have an acid attack in you mouth for approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes. Or even worse example. If you take one sweet every 30 minutes for the full working day it means you have had an acid attack the whole time you were working. Acid attack means losing minerals. And I have already told you earlier what happens if you loose too much minerals which you certainly will do if you have 7-8 hour-long constant acid attack.
2. Eat sweets as dessert. You get acid attack already because of eating and you can avoid getting an extra acid attack by eating the sweet in one go after a meal. Have xylitol chewing gum or pastille, slice of cheese or fluoride tablet once you are finished.
3. Whenever possible and if you stomach can take it, buy sweets that are sweetened by xylitol. Now people often blame the xylitol for the laxative effect of sugar-free sweets. But it is often not the xylitol that causes the upset stomach. It is the maltitol syrup. So seek products that are sweetened 100% by xylitol.

Please note: This post is directed to healthy adults. People whose saliva flow is impaired through illness or medication need more intensive fluoride treatment on their teeth.