June 10, 2013

Flouride Helps Prevent Adult Tooth Loss

For decades, cities and towns have been adding fluoride to their water supplies to help protect people’s teeth from cavities. And it’s been a great success!

 

In fact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls water fluoridation “one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.” 1 

 

But have you ever wondered why drinking water with fluoride in it keeps cavities at bay?

 

Fluoride to the Rescue

It starts with the fact that minerals in the enamel layer of your teeth are lost as a result of contact with acids formed from plaque bacteria and sugars. At the same time, they’re being re-deposited thanks to minerals like fluoride in the food and water you consume.

 

If the two processes don’t balance each other out, and more minerals are lost than replaced it can lead to tooth decay.2 

 

That’s where the added fluoride in your water comes in.

 

That additional fluoride helps prevent and even reverse cavities. What’s more, in children under six it actually gets incorporated into the developing adult teeth, making them stronger. 

 

Extra Protection

But drinking fluoridated water isn’t the only way to protect your teeth. We dentists also often recommend — especially for adults — that topical fluoride be applied to them right after cleaning.

 

You could think of it as a one-two punch against cavities. Fluoride in your water works from the inside out. Topical fluoride works from the outside in to fight decay in both your teeth and their roots.

 

That extra protection is especially important if you have one of a number of common conditions known to raise the risk of cavities.

 

For example, if your mouth is dry as the result of illness or medications you’re more vulnerable to tooth decay because you have less saliva to wash away food particles and neutralize acids.3

 

Powerful Prevention

Another big problem, gum recession, doesn’t even have to be visible to put your teeth at risk.

 

When gums recede, more of the tooth is exposed to acids and bacteria. Even more important, the tooth’s roots are exposed — a big problem because root surfaces are more than 700% softer than tooth enamel. So they’re at risk of one of the biggest adult dental problems — root cavities.

 

Root cavities are seriously bad news. We dentists do our best to remove all the decay but it often ends up creeping back under the filling or crown. 

 

Bottom line: many dentists consider root cavities the beginning of the end for a tooth.

 

That makes preventing them extremely important – and topical fluoride applied right after cleaning is the very best way to do that. (The timing is key because within just one day after cleaning a film begins to coat the teeth and decrease the fluoride’s ability to penetrate and protect.)

 

A Big Improvement

We’ve known about the importance of treating teeth with fluoride right after cleaning for years. Problem was, the fluoride preparations we had years ago tasted unbelievably bad and required as five minutes in your mouth. Most folks (me included) just couldn’t put up with it.

 

Today, though we have very effective fluoride treatments that work fast and taste good.

 

Your dental insurance doesn’t cover topical fluoride treatment for adults but many of our patients consider Fluoride an added assurance helping them keep their natural teeth for life.

 

If you’d like to know more about protecting your teeth with topical fluoride, just ask. We’ll be happy to explain the benefits and schedule topical fluoride as part of your next cleaning visit.

 

 


  1. Community Water Fluoridation: www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/
  2. Dental Health and Fluoride Treatment: http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/fluoride-treatment
  3. Ibid.