Dexter, MI Fluoride Treatments

Why Is Fluoride Important To Teeth?
When teeth are attacked by acid from our diet and acid produced by the bacteria in the mouth, they lose calcium and phosphate minerals. This is called demineralization. Once the acid level drops, the teeth can reabsorb some minerals; this is called remineralization. The presence of low levels of fluoride in the mouth encourages remineralization and improves the strength of the tooth enamel and its ability to resist acid attack.

Another way in which fluoride helps protect teeth is by reducing the ability of the plaque bacteria to produce acid.

How Do I Get Fluoride?
Just drinking public water will provide some protection. However, health professionals have endorsed the practice of supplementing our intake with certain dietary products, topical fluorides in many types of toothpaste and some oral rinses. Certain beverages such as tea may also contain fluoride. Dental varnishes and gels may also be applied directly to teeth by a health professional to boost fluoride intake.

Fluoride Safety
It is generally not safe to swallow large amounts of toothpaste, rinses, or other products containing topical fluoride. In rare cases, some people may be overexposed to high concentrations of fluoride, resulting in a relatively harmless condition called fluorosis, which leaves dark enamel stains on teeth.

Fluoride Facts:

• The benefits of Fluoride were first discovered in the early 1900s by a dentist named Fredrick McKay.
• Dr. McKay visited towns in Colorado, Idaho, and Arkansas where he found people had permanently discolored, dark-brown teeth. However, he and others also noticed that these stained teeth effectively resisted decay.
• The discoloration was linked to abnormally high levels of fluoride in drinking water and the condition is called fluorosis. In 1936, the National Institutes of Health provided studies that showed lower levels of fluoride, less than 1 part per million in drinking water provided the protection against decay but did not result in discoloration.
• Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first city to fluoridate its public drinking water in 1945, and over the next eleven years, the rate of tooth decay in children dropped nearly 60 percent.
• The American Dental Association continuously endorses the fluoridation of community water supplies and the use of fluoride-containing products as a safe and effective measure to prevent tooth decay.
• In nearly every U.S. community, public drinking supplies are supplemented with sodium fluoride and some private wells may contain naturally fluoridated water. However, there are still approximately 100 million Americans without fluoridated drinking water. The popularity of bottled water is raising concerns of increased risk of tooth decay, as much of it is unfluoridated.

Contact Beacon Dental today at 734-424-9671 to schedule a consultation, or browse our website to learn more about cosmetic dentistry, general dentistry, or brushing and flossing.