I need some feedback from all the moms out there. Everytime I go to see the pediatrician, he asks if I'm giving my kids flouride...to which I change the subject. He always writes me up a new prescription for it, so now I think I have six or seven sitting in my top drawer. I KNOW that all the dentists out there are big into flouride - because it's good for your teeth. I also know that all the purists out there are opposed because it's shown a lot of other negative effects on the body. In most states the tap water already has flouride in it - so supplements aren't neccesarry...but living in an area where our water is flouride free, I find myself at a bit of a loss.
Cancer runs rampant in my husband's family - so I've spent the past few years minimalizing any extra toxins in my home (cleaners, shampoos, baby products,skin care, etc.). So, now that I consider myself somewhat-green, I don't know how to deal with the flouride issue. I mean, it's not like I'm spiking my kids' drinks with bleach or anything - but is flouride worth it? (Kris, I'm EXPECTING a huge response to this one).
Oh, and lets add a little fuel to the fire: I personally use flouride free toothpaste, and since switching over, have had zero cavities. Discuss amongst yourselves.
10 comments:
this is the very thing that I've dealing with!! My pediatrican says do it and I take my kids to a pediodontist (sp) and he says no. He is the one who actually spent years to specialize in this kind of thing, so I tend to side with him. I dont give my kids floride. He says to brush with kids floride toothpaste. The amount of THEIR pinky finger tip on their brush is just right. They dont need to rinse or spit (they dont always know how until older) but its good for the floride to just hang out on their teeth and it tastes good to so the kids dont mind it.
Hopes that helps
So I also told each Dr about the others recommendations and they want to talk about it. So my Ped. said he would call the dentist and the dentist said I would be happy to talk with your Ped.
stay tuned
Ooooh, thanks for that Marci - it also reminded me to add that my kids' toothpaste DOES have flouride.
you.good.mom.
My kids have HORRIBLE teeth and the only thing that has saved me (and my checkbook) is using the flouride. My dentist and my pediatrician both recommend it and it has really helped. My dentist said that in Utah, it is very "area specific", so check with your pediatrician.
how has it saved your kids teeth? I thought flouride only helped in the development stage of teeth, not as much when they are all out. ? I am truly interested. Thanks Melissa. Why can't they just spike our water like everyone else and we can live in forced compliance bliss?
KRIS?! Where is your comment? It showed up in my inbox - but isn't here. It was a marvelous, three paragraph argument from a dentist.
Which made me want to ask you - do you supplement flouride?
Also - Alli, do YOU supplement?
A lot of this came up in my mind when my first doctor gave me an RX for Maddie, and said - "fill it if you want - you'll find as much bad as you will good from this stuff." And then told me he wasn't giving it to his kids.
Here I go.... stepping up on pulpit now....
Where to begin? Since I'm now 80% mom and 20% dentist, I have very strong feelings about this, it's the biggest portion of my patient education lecture. First, let's get a few things straight. Fluoride is a natural ion that is found, at some levels, in all water. It's not a man-made chemical that we add to water. In the 1940's, they realized a correlation between appropriate fluoride levels and cavities. So, in 1945, Grand Rapids started adding fluoride to community water to make the level an even 1 part per million (ppm) and saw a drastic decrease in cavities. It is the greatest advancement in public health history, undisputed fact. Is too much of a good thing a bad thing? Of course. You could overdose on Vitamin C and die if you really wanted to. And if you have too much fluoride in your water, you could be at risk for fluorosis. Which, despite it's name, is not a disease, it's a symptom. Chalky teeth is all, it's purely an esthetic issue.
What we, as mothers, need to question is not whether to give our kids fluoride. It should be, what fluoride levels am I ALREADY giving my child. We all know kids don't need soda or juice for that matter. The American Academy of Pediatrics says we should limit juice to 4 oz a day, which is so little, I say, why give em juice at all? So I don't give Clark juice, ever. He only gets milk with meals (formula for now) and water the rest of the day. The water I give him is from the tap. And it has a NATURAL level of fluoride in it, because we're on a private well and fluoride isn't added. We should all have our water tested. Even if your community doesn't add fluoride or is called "fluoride free". Call a water or drilling company in your area and they should be able to get you a water test kit. I worked with a well company here and got them to put together a kit for $15 so if you can't find one there, call me and I'll send you one. Once we know what fluoride you're ingesting, then you can decide if a supplement is necessary. It bugs the goodness out of me that pediatricians just hand out these prescriptions left and right without checking water levels first. And then when the kid gets flurosis, it's my fault!
Why does fluoride work and why, Melissa, do you not have any cavities since switching toothpastes?? Fluoride is needed systemically, not just topically (from a toothpaste) in our kids because their teeth are developing in their jaws. Fluoride is a building block that will make the developing teeth stronger. Your teeth are already developed, so fluoride isn't going to help a whole bunch. Sure, if there's a cavity starting, it might be able to strengthen it a bit, but not as important as those developing teeth. The fluoride from the toothpaste will never touch those developing teeth until they erupt, and by then they're almost all formed, so the toothpaste is useless.
I recognize your concern about cancer, Derek had cancer at 10 months old and wasn't supposed to live. But fluoride shouldn't be your concern. Preservatives in McDonald's burgers worry me more than fluoride. And of course you're going to find information against fluoride, just as you'll find information against X, Y and Z on the internet. But take it all in the greater perspective. Our pre-fluoride level adjusting grandparents never expected to keep their teeth and now it's totally realistic to be buried with all your teeth (assuming you're not on meth!) Fluoride is both safe and effective.
-Dr. Kris
PS- I do not supplement fluoride for Clark because our well water has the appropriate level of fluoride because I HAD IT TESTED!
Well, I say we go with Dr. Mom!
Sorry I'm posting so late, and who can really follow the excellent Dr Kris post? But I have to say that Dr. Lindford (my chemistry professor) says all the time that "fluorine is nasty nasty stuff... it's in rat poison..."
I won't say any more about Fluoride, as we're encouraged to not use the "F" word in Chemistry.
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