The Top Tips to Choose the Right Fluoride for your Kids

Wondering how do you choose the right fluoride for kids?

As a mom, you have the right and the privilege to give your kids a healthy, and a happy life as well. That includes the smiles on their faces. Now do you remember all the times you ration your kids’ chocolates? You know it’s necessary to preserve your young ones’ beautiful set of teeth. But it seems that it is not enough.

Fluorine – Is it good for dental health?

There’s a lot of debate going on around the utility of fluorine in your kids’ dental health. According to some experts, Fluorine, in the form of Sodium Fluoride (NaF) or Sodium MonoFluoroPhosphate (SMFP) interferes with the calcium decay and slows down the effect of bacterial acid attacks. Other medical experts believe that fluorine intake should be minimized to prevent fluorosis condition.

But scientists are wrong all the time. Remember when every genius in the world thought that the world was flat?

Who should you believe in?

Fluorine is usually found in your water supply or the special ‘fluoride’ toothpastes available. Alternatively, your food also contains fluorine in varied amounts. So if you think about it, there’s really no need to get worked up about the source of fluoride.

• You can enquire if your tap water is already fluorinated with the right compound first.
• If it is, you don’t have much to worry about and can instead inculcate the right dental hygiene practice in your kid. If it’s not, you can go for the fluoride toothpastes.
• The best thing about these two sources is, that they are controlled in accordance to medical and FDA recommendations.

The thing you should be controlling, is the junk food with sodium fluoride salts and fluorinated beverages. When this fluorine intake of your kids becomes imbalanced on the higher side before they reach 8 years of age, they may have to deal with ‘dental fluorosis’ at some time.

This condition is disregarded as a cosmetic effect by most medical practitioners, but it is said to be an indicator of degradation in bone health.

Back to square one?

Not at all! You know that tap water and toothpaste (if not swallowed in copious amounts) contains the right amount of fluoride for tooth health. But when it comes to feeding fluoride induced formula to your baby or fluorinated food items to your kids, trust your maternal instincts to stay away from them. Since you do not want to subject your kids to severe treatments, any resulting side effects will only worsen your child’s health. But the right amount of fluorides can be beneficial.

Tooth decay usually occurs when plaque which is a thin layer of bacteria develops on your teeth. They produce certain acids which can dissolve even the enamel surface of the teeth which can be potentially damaging. This needs to be stopped or else this bacteria will be able to overcome the enamel barrier and damage your teeth and cause cavities. You will feel pain and can even lose your teeth unless the situation is dealt with before the infection spreads.

Fluorides help bring this tooth decay in control. When consumed, they dissolve into the tooth structure and reach deep within. It automatically protects your teeth as it establishes contact with the surface.

Fluoride does not let the bacteria-produced acid to dissolve the tooth enamel and helps already damaged teeth to remineralise themselves.