Protecting your dental health is important for a number of reasons, including preventing cavities, gum disease, tooth loss, and long-term related complications like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Oral health problems are also very common, with half of children affected by cavities as young as nine, and one in five adults having untreated dental decay at any given time.
This makes proper brushing and flossing all the more essential, but when it comes to dental care there seems to be some confusion over a common toothpaste ingredient: fluoride.
Our team at Hillsdale Dental Care in San Jose, California, knows that when it comes to understanding the oral health benefits of fluoride, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. Here, Dr. Roge Jacob and Dr. Magdalena Azzarelli debunk common myths about “nature’s cavity fighter.”
Fluoride is a mineral that naturally occurs in water, soil, and plants. There’s even some fluoride in your bones and teeth. Additionally, it’s been added to many municipal water supplies going as far back as the 1940s (water fluoridation) in an effort to help more people get exposure to this enamel-fortifying mineral that helps prevent cavities.
Today, fluoride is also added to toothpaste, mouth rinses, and supplements to help strengthen teeth and lower bad bacterial growth, protecting against cavities and other dental problems.
Here’s just a few common misconceptions about fluoride:
Fact: One argument posed against fluoride is that the fluoride that’s used in dental products and added to tap water is “different” from naturally occurring fluoride. There are no chemical differences between these substances.
Fact: Children need fluoride to strengthen teeth as they grow, but some people believe that it becomes less necessary as you get older. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Common adult oral health concerns, such as enamel erosion, make fluoride protection just as important.
Fact: Some believe that the process of water fluoridation creates waste that negatively affects teeth. In reality, hydrofluorosilicic acid (HFA) is the most widely used material for this purpose, and it’s completely decomposed in drinking water due to its pH value.
Fact: This idea comes from studies positing the effects of high levels of fluoride in well water located in various international villages. Even the researchers that advanced this idea admitted that it was seriously flawed, lacked key information, and didn’t warrant review. Unfortunately, the myth persists that fluoridated water can somehow lead to lower IQ levels.
Fact: Some people say that fluoride is more toxic than lead and just a bit less toxic than arsenic. This claim is based on the ratings of industrial commercial products in larger quantities than people would ever be exposed to — and this claim places caffeine in the same category.
In reality, the small levels of fluoride in water or dental products isn’t toxic or unhealthy — it’s perfectly safe, and actually very beneficial to your oral health.
It’s true, however, that too much fluoride can be harmful, leading to conditions that lead to white spots on teeth (fluorosis). This is a rare result of long-term overexposure, or getting too much fluoride when you’re young and your adult teeth are still forming below the gum line.
The bottom line? Fluoride is an excellent tool in preventive dental care that can help you avoid cavities and preserve your smile. To learn more, make an appointment at Hillsdale Dental Care in San Jose, California, today.
