At Rio Dental & Orthodontics, we focus on helping our patients develop and maintain healthy smiles that last a lifetime. In addition to maintaining optimal oral health with great at-home hygiene and regular dental office visits, we can help to strengthen tooth enamel with fluoride treatments. These simple services can help your child avoid tooth decay and damage and maintain the optimal level of oral health all with just a few extra minutes in our dental office. When you’re ready to find out more, call our dental office in Irving or Farmer’s Branch to schedule a checkup or learn more about fluoride treatment.
What is Fluoride?
Fluoride is a mineral that is necessary in the development and maintenance of strong, healthy teeth. As teeth are developing, ingested fluoride from tap waters, foods, and/or supplements will help teeth to erupt from the gum line strong and healthy. After teeth erupt, topical fluorides from toothpaste are necessary to keep tooth enamel healthy and reduce risk for decay. In addition to fluoridated toothpastes, we may also recommend professional strength fluoride treatments to improve the density of tooth enamel and reduce risk for tooth decay.
Why is Fluoride Treatment Recommended?
Most people are able to maintain healthy smiles with thorough at-home hygiene and regular dental office visits, but we may recommend fluoride therapy in a number of situations, including:
- Kids who do not drink tap water or otherwise receive inadequate ingested fluoride
- Kids who struggle with chronic tooth decay
- Those who have naturally thinner tooth enamel
- Those who have sensitive teeth
How is Fluoride Applied?
When children are struggling with chronic tooth decay, they have naturally softer tooth enamel, or they don’t get adequate fluoride from tap waters and foods they consume, we may recommend oral or topical fluoride therapies that are customized to improve your child’s oral health. Taking regular ingested fluoride supplements are ideal for kids whose primary or adult teeth are still developing. Once teeth have erupted from the gum line, a topical fluoride application may be recommended in addition to the use of fluoridated toothpaste during twice daily brushing. To apply topical fluoride, we simply paint a thin coat of professional-grade fluoride to the smile at the end of your child’s dental checkup. Then, they’ll need to wait to eat or drink for about half an hour to allow the tooth enamel to absorb the fluoride.
