Fluoride or No Fluoride?

I use the toddler toothpaste with just a little fluoride in it. I used to use only water, but my 2-year-old's breath started to get stanky. He does swallow it, but I use very little (half a pea sized amount, if that).

I don't trust anyone! I don't trust dentists, but I trust web sites even less. Any freak can say anything on a web site, and they do.

Hi A.!

My boys are not toddler age yet, but I know that I will NOT be letting them brush their teeth with fluoride until they quit swallowing. I'm not a dentist, but I am a nutrition student, so I have some resources on fluoride and what it does for the body. The reason my boys won't be getting fluordated toothpaste until their older is Fluorosis - which is the condition that develops as a result of Fluoride toxicity.

If you do an image search of "fluorosis" you'll come across many images of what I'm talking about - some not so bad while others horrible.

Fluorosis occurs only during tooth development and is irreversable - which is why I'm so cautious and probably why there are professionals who advise against it. If your children are drinking tap water that is fluoridated (or eating it as a part of food), I would say that they probably get enough fluoride that route and don't need the additional fluoride from even small amounts of toothpaste. If your children are NOT drinking fluoridated water, then your probably fine giving them toothpaste containing fluoride (and should probably continue).

Also, if your kids ARE getting regular dental check-ups on their teeth, a dentist could check or monitor for signs before it gets too bad. Given that he/she knows your family's dental history and has seen your kids teeth, he/she might be a better source than anyone here.

The max limit on fluoride for adults is about 2-3 times the recommended amount, but what I'm looking at is giving adult levels, not children or toddler - so it could very easily be different for them.

Good luck with your decision! Just wanted to give you my feedback!

K.

I'm not a healthcare expert, but often times what the "experts" say is more harmful than what your mother and mother's mother would have told you. Flouride is a poison and should not be ingested. Just because you don't swallow it doesn't mean it's safe. The skin is our largest organ and takes in all the toxins we put on it, especially things like chlorine when we shower or swim in a pool. I've had all those flouride treatments as a child as well and I'm not dying of cancer, but as a rule I try to prevent my body from going into toxic overload by staying away from things like that. To prevent cavities, just eat healthy foods. (Or at least try.) :)

no fluoride. you don't need it, you already get too much from your tap water.

I think that if you only use a very small amount of toothpaste, they'll probably be fine. I myself used to swallow my toothpaste all the time when I was a kid (and I think I used a bit more than a pea-sized amount too), until I ended up going to camp and finally seeing that everybody spit their toothpaste out. I'm not sure what, if any, effect that had on me, but I didn't get the dental fluorosis (mottling of the teeth) that I saw mentioned. But it varies from person to person, and will likely be affected by how much fluoridated water they consume, etc.

I'd say if your dr said okay and you're only using a small amount, that would be fine. If a baby is bottle fed and sink water is used, there's flouride there. Myself, I only use water on my toddlers teeth, no sweetners from toothpaste, but that's just me.

I had a simular discussion with my SIL a few years ago (I have always used small dot of flouride paste with my daughter)and she has insisted that is bad.

Fast farward to this spring, low and behold her kids (6 & 4) just had to be put under for multiple cavities. In her case she was also using filtered water, her filter removed the flouride from her water too.

Go with your gut and if the dentist says it's good he/she is your best defense against a huge dental bill in the end!

I work for a dental clinic, and our dentists advise a rinse if the child lives in home with well water. If it's city water, nothing extra is advised. What parents should be most concerned with at this age is brushing their children's teeth for 2 minutes each time 2 or 3 times per day. What this means is that we need to HELP them brush their teeth, not just let them at it themselves every time. When I let my three-year-old brush her own teeth, there is NO WAY she is able to brush as thoroughly on her own. I let her go at it first and then go over them again myself. And flossing even at a young age is imperative. Not flossing causes cavities to occur between teeth that only x-rays can detect.
Other things to avoid, sugary snacks, fruit snacks, juices other than 100%, etc. Even 100% juice and milk have natural sugars that cause decay. That's why it is imperative teeth be brushed thoroughly. I cannot tell you how many 4-year-olds have come in with a mouthfull of cavities already and it just breaks my heart.
C.

I use children's paste w/ flouride and barely any on the brush. The amount of flouride they are going to ingest from that small amount won't have any effect. They drink flouridated water anyway.

My dentist said the water we drink has enough flouride in it and not toothpaste is needed. We use the kiddy toothpaste because it has less flouride than the adult brands like Crest.

The flouride in your water and in the drops from the doctor is not the same as the flouride that naturally occurs. It is actually an industrial waste product, and is a chemical that you don't want to ingest. It not only causes permanent white splotches on adult teeth, it has other more serious effects. Google it for more info, my kiddo is calling -

Fluoride is not good for you or your children. You can buy non fluorinated toothpast at any health food store.

If they're not eating or swallowing a ton of flouride they're just fine. I think flouride is a wonderful thing!

I chose to use toddler toothpaste with all my children because of the doctors suggesting no flouride toothpaste until their able to rinse. I have never been told otherwise by any doctor or dentist with any of my children. Since flouride is not good for them so young and with receiving mixed information. I personally would chose the safer route of using non flouride toothpaste until your children are ready to rinse.

I know I am a little late, but I just came from the ped yesterday and this is what she said about flouride. Children do need flouride for their teeth. I have used bottled baby water with flouride in it because we have not got our well water tested yet to see if it contains any. If we don't have any flouride source we were suppose to have flouride drops to ggive our children. She did say not to use flouride (adult) toothpaste, use the non-flouride toothpaste. She said it contains too much flouride that will stain a childs teeth. Apparently she studied it and it was proven that childrens teeth have less coating and too much flouride will stain it but they do need some flouride, which is why we use the bottled water, or if you tested your tap water and it has flouride in it that would be fine also.

I always use fluoride on my kids' teeth because they had cavities--even at one year old. My son is 2 1/2 now and his dentist applies concentrated fluoride to his decayed teeth about three times a year, hoping to stop the decay enough so that we can postpone putting caps on those two teeth. If we were to cap them now, he would have to be put under.

We have no idea why they have had such problems with a couple of teeth (my daughter had cavities on her four top front teeth by 18 mos., and DID have to be put under for fillings and a cap), since I brush their teeth many times each day. But when other moms tell me I shouldn't use fluoride, I have to remember that those moms just don't know the feeling of helplessness when your child has tooth decay at that young age.
That's our story!

I just went through a very similar thing - I will tell you what I learned. It might help:

- We use bottled (unflouridated) water for drinking, but tap (flouridated) water for cooking. My pediatrician told us that would be enough for the kids not to need flouride drops (I sort of disagree - see below).

- The danger with too much flouride is that the permanent teeth will have indelible orange and/or black spots.

- My five-year old had seven cavities when we took him to the dentist. It cost about $1000 and three trips to fix them. The dentist said there were three factors that led to the cavities:

1) Not enough flouride. He didn't knock the bottled water, but suggested a rinse, like ACT, etc.

2) Not enough flossing. We hadn't been flossing at all. The cavities were on the sides of the molars where the walls of the teeth touched and food got trapped. We started using the reach floss wand, which is easier for my kids to use than plain floss.

3) Lots of small snacks throughout the day. He said the defenses of your teeth wax and wane throughout the day, so there are times in the day (especially bedtime) when they're more vulnerable than others. He said he knows snacking throughout the day is healthier, but it's harder on the teeth. He recommended having the kids drink or swish a little water at the end of a meal (to be honest, we still don't do this).

And finally:
- There are two kinds of flouride. The kind you eat or drink (like in your water) and the kind the dentist puts on your teeth, or you get from a swish-and-spit rinse. The kind you eat/drink only helps while teeth are being formed (i.e., right now for your kids), the other kind temporarily bolsters your teeth (which is why they have to do it repeatedly).

One piece of hearsay was that after a certain amount of time, your teeth get "used to" the flouride in swish-and-spit rinses and they aren't effective anymore. But no dentist has ever said that.