Let’s talk about fluoride!

An ongoing debate for many years, and the topic of most dissertations for dentists at university is Fluoride. Do you hear your dentist talking about fluoride all the time and wonder why? Keep reading to find out.

In the UK the water is fluoridated mostly in the North as a measure to try to reduce the high rate of dental decay. Elsewhere, most of the population will use a fluoride toothpaste. Now how does it prevent tooth decay you may ask? The enamel of your teeth is built up of crystals, each hydroxyapatite crystal will have a fluoride molecule. When we eat or drink anything other than water this causes the PH in the mouth to change, it becomes more acidic.  This causes the fluoride molecules to break away, weakening the crystals. It takes about an hour for your saliva to re-buffer, rebuild the hydroxyapatite crystal and thus strengthen the teeth. If you eat or drink anything again within this hour, the saliva will become more acidic again and make the enamel weaker and weaker, so this is then how holes appear within your teeth.

Using a fluoride toothpaste is extremely important because it strengthens the enamel by replacing those lost flouride molecules and rebuilding the hydroxyapatite crystals. This is why most dentists recommended bruising twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, spit out and DO NOT rinse. If you rinse with water or mouth wash you will be washing the fluoride away!!

So now you know why your dentist always talks about fluoride. Here at Appletree we recommend BioMin fluoride toothpaste which you can purchase on prescription from Reception..