How Fluoride Treatment is Good for Your Child 

How Fluoride Treatment is Good for Your Child 

July 1, 2021

Caring for the health of your child begins as soon as they are born. As a parent, your instinct is to worry about everything about your child. As they grow older, there are even more needs to care for. This is why it is so easy for parents to neglect the oral needs of their kids. It is not enough to ensure that your child has brushed their teeth before bed. Excellent oral health is attained when there is no oral problem to worry about.

In pediatric dentistry, one of the core ways to excel in oral health is through preventive dental care. It entails different measures that help preserve oral health by remaining proactive regarding different oral issues. One such approach is fluoride treatment, which is essential for good oral health for children.

What Is Fluoride Treatment?

It is a treatment that involves enriching the enamels of teeth with fluoride, a natural mineral that helps strengthen teeth. The treatment involves applying a fluoride varnish on the surfaces of teeth. Once applied, fluoride mixes with saliva and hardens on teeth, creating a protective layer thereof. Fluoride treatment is common in pediatric dentistry, as it is administered to children, especially when their adult teeth begin to erupt. However, adults too can benefit from this treatment as a preventive measure to boost their oral health.

Why Is Fluoride Important?

Fluoride is a natural mineral that is necessary for sustaining strong and healthy teeth. Its presence impacts how your teeth fight against dental cavities. Therefore, when the treatment is administered, it is meant to boost your teeth’ capacity for fighting against dental cavities.

Technically, dental cavities occur when plaque and bacteria infect the enamel of your teeth. With time, the infection breaches the different layers of your teeth, causing dental decay, abscessed teeth, among other oral problems. Preventive measures are reinforced in dentistry to prevent the process of decay. This is why fluoride comes into play.

Ideally, this natural mineral can be found outside the dentist’s office. It is present in the foods we eat, including foods cooked in water, fluoridated tap water, tea, fish eaten with bones, to mention a few. Even the toothpaste you use contains fluoride that is beneficial for your teeth. However, when it comes to fighting against dental cavities, these sources of fluoride will not supply enough of this mineral. In that case, a fluoride treatment is needed to boost the amount of fluoride your teeth can absorb. This will help keep your teeth strong and resist dental cavities.

Benefits of Fluoride Treatment

  • Improved oral hygiene – before the fluoride treatment, your dentist will first clean your mouth. This will rid your oral cavity of any plaque and bacteria that may be lingering.
  • Better absorption of essential minerals – your teeth get better at absorbing minerals like calcium and phosphorus that are important for healthy teeth.
  • Reducing the vulnerability of teeth to bacteria – this is how fluoride treatment helps your teeth fight dental caries. The treatment creates an extra layer that becomes the barrier for bacteria that cause infection.
  • Slows down the development of cavities – if you already have signs of dental cavities, this treatment can slow down and sometimes reverse the development of cavities. This is possible by damaging the bacteria that causes dental cavities before they cause more damage to your teeth.
  • Prolonging the life of baby teeth – instead of having to pull out baby teeth prematurely, fluoride treatment can allow your child to keep them until their mouths are ready for adult teeth to erupt.
  • Preventing the need for expensive dental works in the future, including root canals and dental fillings.

Is Fluoride Treatment Safe?

Fluoride treatment that is administered by a dental expert is safe for children. Ideally, a pediatric dentist near you will watch out for the concentration of fluoride he/she uses in the process of treatment. For any risk factors and complications that may arise, your dentist will ensure to notify you about them. This way, you will make an informed decision about fluoride treatment for your child, especially about safety measures.

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