Ann-Marie Banks, from Apollonia House Dental and Health Care in Grasscroft, offers some information and advice about flouride.
Please feel free to call Apollonia House Dental and Health on 01457 821800 or email info@apolloniahouse.com for any dental questions or concerns you have. You can also visit their website.
Fluoride is a natural mineral found in many foods and all drinking water. The amount of fluoride in water varies from area to area.
Fluoride can greatly help dental health by strengthening the tooth enamel, making it more resistant to tooth decay. It also reduces the amount of acid that the bacteria on your teeth produce.
The addition of fluoride to water has been researched for over 50 years and water fluoridation has been proven to reduce decay by 40-60 per cent.
Having 0.7 to 1.2 parts of fluoride for every million parts of water (0.7ppm to 1.2ppm) has been shown to have the best effect.
Fluoride is also naturally present in some foods and drinks, for example fish and tea.
Some countries add fluoride to their table salt and milk instead of to the water supplies.
One cup of tea can contain between 0.3 milligrams and 0.5 milligrams of fluoride. It is best to drink tea without sugar to reduce the risk of tooth decay even more.
Most toothpastes now contain fluoride and most people get their fluoride this way. Fluoride toothpaste is very effective in preventing tooth decay and the amount of fluoride is usually enough to actually lower the level of decay.
In areas where the water supply is fluoridated, fluoride toothpaste gives extra protection.
All children up to three years old should use a toothpaste with a fluoride level of at least 1000ppm. After three years old they should use a toothpaste that contains 1350ppm to 1500ppm.
Parents should supervise their children’s tooth brushing and use only a pea-sized smear of fluoride toothpaste until they are about seven years old. Encourage your child to spit the toothpaste out after brushing, rather than swallowing it.
For further information on fluoride visit: www.dentalhealth.org (article information with thanks to: www.nhs.uk)
One need not be a scientist to understand that it is immoral to medicate everyone without permission.We should be the ones who should be deciding what we put into our bodies and not the federal government or the local government which is putting fluoride into our water. We should control our own destiny.
Those who desire fluoride are welcome to put it in their own glass of water, as much as they wish. Leave the rest of us out of it.
What doctor would prescribe a drug (fluoride) to someone he has not met and without being able to control the dosage or the side effects?