Many people use Fluoride daily, brushing their teeth with fluoridated toothpaste or using a fluoride mouth rinse. However, when you visit Margolian Dentistry, we may recommend a professional fluoride treatment. Unlike fluoride products you can buy over the counter, a professional fluoride treatment is much stronger and can have some real benefits when applied topically to your teeth.

Fluoride is a quick and inexpensive way to help protect your teeth, and we use it as a preventive therapy. Applying fluoride topically to your teeth helps strengthen enamel, helping to prevent tooth decay in Oshawa. When we can prevent tooth decay, it helps protect your teeth and can help ensure you enjoy lower dental bills over your lifetime.

How Does Fluoride Help Prevent Cavities?

Teeth are continually demineralizing and remineralizing, as whenever you eat anything rich in carbohydrates or sugars, bacteria in the mouth use these foods to thrive, producing acid as a byproduct. Acid weakens tooth enamel, causing demineralization, where essential minerals, including phosphorus and calcium, are removed from your tooth enamel, causing it to become softer. Remineralization is the reverse process, as the minerals found in saliva help to re-harden and strengthen the enamel. Fluoride helps to increase the efficacy of remineralization, helping to prevent tooth decay.

Not Just for Kids

Fluoride treatments aren’t just for kids, and anyone of any age can generally benefit from this preventive therapy. For example, some older people find it harder to maintain good oral care, increasing the risk of cavities, so a professional application of fluoride can help reduce this risk. Additionally, applying fluoride to tooth surfaces can reduce sensitivity while fighting cavities. Hardening tooth enamel makes it more resistant to temperature changes whenever you eat or drink anything hot or cold, making it less likely your teeth will twinge uncomfortably.

Reversing Small Lesions in Teeth

Tooth decay in Whitby initially begins with a small lesion in tooth enamel, and where the lesion has broken through to the dentin underneath. A professional application of fluoride can help prevent the lesion from worsening, stopping a cavity in its tracks, especially when combined with good oral care at home.

Professional Fluoride Treatments Are Safe

Our Professional Fluoride Treatments are extremely safe, especially as they are only used every 3 to 6 months to help prevent cavities in Ajax. Some people may be concerned about the safety of fluoride, but it’s unlikely ever to be toxic unless someone ingests too much, for example, if a child swallows an entire tube of prescription-strength fluoridated toothpaste. As long as fluoride is used as directed, it is a safe and beneficial treatment.

Fluoride Treatment Will Not Stain Teeth

There is a condition called dental fluorosis, where teeth can become stained if exposed to excess fluoride while the teeth are still forming. The condition usually occurs if drinking water contains too much fluoride, resulting in brown or white stains on teeth. These stains are harmless and can’t occur after teeth are formed. Dental fluorosis cannot occur when you receive professional fluoride treatments, so you can rest assured your teeth will not become stained.

Treatment Is Non-Invasive and Pain-Free

Professional strength fluoride applications are entirely pain-free and non-invasive. Fluoride can be given as a professional strength mouthwash that you switch around your mouth for one minute before spitting out the excess or as a gel or foam applied directly to the teeth for one or two minutes. Another popular way to receive fluoride is as a varnish, painted onto teeth and left until bedtime when you can brush it off. You can eat and drink normally after its application.

The post Topical Fluoride Treatments – How They Help Protect Your Teeth appeared first on Margolian Dentistry Family Cosmetic Implant Dentistry.