The discovery that fluoride can prevent dental caries is one of the greatest achievements of preventive stomatology to mankind in the 20th century.
Fluoride is widely found in nature and is one of the essential trace elements for human body. Comrades at Chicago’s Field Museum believe that the most representative image of fluoride in human society is fluoride-containing toothpaste. Therefore, a toothpaste was specially placed in the exhibition cabinet of the museum.
How does fluoride play a role in preventing caries?
In short, fluorine can not only prevent tooth surface from dissolving, but also promote the surface that has already dissolved to regain its firmness.
However, the application of fluoride to prevent insect teeth came into being. Fluoride-containing toothpaste, fluoride-containing mouthwash, fluoride foam and so on were all carried out thoroughly. The waterworks directly added a little fluoride to the water.
Why do people fight against fluorine?
Fluoride is so effective in preventing dental caries, but many people do not like fluoride.
Many areas in our country were or are still high fluorine areas. Children growing up in these areas, if they do not make special treatment for drinking water, will often form the yellow dental fluorosis shown in the above picture. Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Hebei are all well-known high fluorine areas in the north.
So many people will panic about fluorine, [we want white teeth! [We have the right to choose fluorine-free drinking water! Does it look familiar?
If you live in a high fluorine area, many people around you have yellow teeth that are not normal, and there is a child under the age of six in your family, then you may need to think of some ways to drink water in your family.
Although in the tooth development stage, the body intake of excessive fluorine, will lead to dental fluorosis.
However, this is not caused by fluoride toothpaste. This pot should not be carried by it.
Is fluoride toothpaste good or not?
The current consensus is that numerous studies for more than half a century have strongly confirmed that fluoride toothpaste is effective in preventing dental caries.
Therefore, there is no doubt that fluoride toothpaste must be beneficial.
Some people have to ask again, will fluoride toothpaste lead to dental fluorosis?
First of all, dental fluorosis mainly affects the development of teeth only when excessive fluoride is ingested during the growth and development period of children (within 6 ~ 8 years old). If you are an adult, that is no problem.
< < Guidelines for Oral Health of Chinese Residents > > also pointed out that brushing teeth with fluoride toothpaste is a safe and effective caries prevention measure, and its wide application in the world is one of the main reasons for the sharp drop in caries incidence.
Can children use it?
First of all, it needs to be made clear that brushing teeth and gargling with fluoride-containing toothpaste alone will not cause excessive intake of fluoride.
If you want to take fluoride from toothpaste and mouthwash into your body, you must eat it in your stomach, that is to say, you must swallow the foam and drink mouthwash when brushing your teeth.
Generally speaking, if you want to reach the degree of excessive fluorine, you need to take 0.05 ~ 0.07 mg/kg, that is, 0.05 ~ 0.07 mg of fluorine per kilogram of body weight. For example, if your child weighs 10 kilograms, then you are in danger of taking 0.5 ~ 0.7 mg of fluorine. How much fluorine does toothpaste contain? The average fluoride-containing toothpaste contains 1000ppm of fluoride, i.e. 1 milligram of fluoride per gram of toothpaste. It is estimated that if children’s toothbrushes are packed with toothpaste, there will be a total of 0.75 ~ 1 gram of toothpaste, i.e. About 1 milligram of fluoride.
Children under the age of 6 may swallow about 0.3 g of toothpaste (0.3 mg of fluorine) when brushing their teeth, so children under the age of 6 should be monitored by adults when brushing their teeth to urge them to spit out foam.
Moreover, attention should be paid to the amount of toothpaste when brushing teeth. The amount of toothpaste for children under 3 years old is about the size of rice grains. When 3-6 years old, the amount of toothpaste should not exceed the size of a pea, about 5mm in length.
There are also some dentists in China who believe that fluoride toothpaste is not recommended for children under 3 years old, considering the children’s swallowing of toothpaste foam by mistake. However, according to the latest guidelines of the American Dental Association, fluoride toothpaste should be used as long as the baby has his first tooth.
Other readers may ask: [Our local area is a high-fluorine drinking area, can’t we use fluoride toothpaste? A retrospective study in 2003 also concluded that fluorine in drinking water does not affect the conclusion of the study.
Generally speaking, toothpaste is still fluoride-containing.
Responsible Editor: Xiao Xi
The article was reprinted by Clove Garden authorized by the author.
Source: shutterstock.com/123rf. Com.cn Genuine Photo Library