Dental fluoride in children
Dental fluoride treatment is one of the most effective ways to inhibit tooth decay and maintain first-rate dental health in kids. Making the tooth more impermeable to acid attacks instigated by sugars and plaque bacteria in the mouth; fluoride acts as armor for the outer enamel layer of the teeth and essentially has the aptitude to reverse initial dental decay in some circumstances.
What exactly is fluoride?
Fluoride is a naturally existing mineral found in water, lots of foods, within the earth’s crust, and extensively throughout nature. Fluoride is often added to tap water supplies for consumption and to toothpastes for kids and adults.
Why kids require fluoride?
Fluoride is advantageous for all kids for it helps shield young teeth from detrimental acid and can essentially reverse initial signs of dental decay (reverse very minor cavities). Insensitive acids in the mouth are formed, when bacteria merges with sugars. The acid harms the hard defensive outer layer of the tooth called enamel. Every day, minerals are lost and added to the enamel layer of the teeth through naturally happening procedures called demineralization and remineralization. Minerals are lost(demineralization) when acid attacks the enamel and minerals like phosphates, calcium and fluoride (which all reinforce the teeth) are added back (remineralization) when children drink water or eat foods that encompass these minerals. Cavities form and decay happens when too much demineralization transpires without sufficient remineralization to reinstate enamel.
Benefits of dental fluoride for kids
As per the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), professionally applied topical fluoride treatments are effective in decreasing dental decay in kids; particularly those in a high risk grouping for decay. Having fluoride professionally applied during a pediatric dental visit specializing in Dentistry for kids in Gurgaon guarantees that your child’s teeth have received a satisfactory and protective amount, to efficaciously barricade acidic breakdown of the enamel layer of the teeth.Only petty amounts of fluoride are required for kids to get the maximal benefits. Professional dental fluoride treatments for kids are applied to the teeth in a gel, foam or varnish form.
How safe is fluoride for kids?
Fluoride exposure and consumption becomes predominantly imperative for a kid’s dental development starting from the age of six months through sixteen years. This is the span of time when all of the baby and permanent teeth flare up.Fluoridated products such as mouthwash should be kept out of kids’ reach, particularly if under six years of age. It is pretty challenging to reach toxic levels of fluoride, given the trivial quantities usually contained in fluoridated home-based products.
When should my child begin using fluoridated toothpaste?
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends using just a “smear” of fluoridated toothpaste starting when the first tooth appears, until a kid is three years of age. At three years old, a pea-sized quantity of fluoridated toothpaste can be used.
