Fluoride and Children.

[YT2095]

My 11 month old daughter has now got her 1`st Tooth, naturaly she`ll need to start brushing her teeth soon and will need a brush And toothpaste.

I said to my wife I don`t want anything with Fluoride in it, now I`m not entirely sure Why I said that, I just don`t like the idea of her being exposed to such things just yet (some inevitably gets swallowed).

 

is my "Gut reaction" justified or am I being too over protective?

 

we have a free sample of baby toothpaste here and it contains 500ppm of Fluoride, I want to throw it away and get some Without Fluorine.

 

anyone had experience with this sort of thing or have any evidence eitherway?

 

Appreciated

[SkepticLance]

YT.

Vitamin A is essential to health. If you do not get enough in your food, you die. Full stop!!

 

On the other hand, it is a very toxic chemical. If you made a meal of cooked polar bear liver, you would die. Polar bear liver contains heaps of vitamin A. If you eat it, you get too much vitamin A and you die of vitamin A toxicity.

 

Fluoride is similar. It is a toxic chemical. if you consume too much, you die. On the other hand, like vitamin A, it is an essential nutrient. In this case, for your teeth. If you consume the right amount, it strengthens your teeth, and is 100% safe. The companies that make fluoride toothpaste are very aware of this principle. They are extraordinarily careful to make sure that the dose you get is healthy. Because, if not, they get sued for millions!

[ecoli]

I'm not so sure... the literature is conflicting on these points. It's seems like the FDA 'safe' amount of fluoride may be lower then the amount in toothpastes. also, there may be different types of fluoride compounds that are less dangerous then others.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_therapy

[Phi for All]

Keep her off the flouride toothpastes until she is old enough to understand she's not supposed to swallow it (about the same time you might first give her gum to chew, around 4 years old). Right now anything that goes in the mouth is fair game to be swallowed. The concept of holding the toothpaste in her mouth and then spitting it out is kind of alien.

 

I would throw out the sample you got. Unless you have some sort of magical parental influence no one else knows about, Hannah will be better off with stuff she's allowed to swallow until you can explain it to her.

[zyncod]

Are you sure that she's not getting fluorides from the drinking water anyway? It's been a while since I lived in the UK, so I don't remember if they fluorinate the water.

[RyanJ]

Are you sure that she's not getting fluorides from the drinking water anyway? It's been a while since I lived in the UK, so I don't remember if they fluorinate the water.

 

Yup, they still fluorinate the water here in the UK... i'm surprised they still do though Not shure at what levels, would have to research that...

 

It seems it should be around 20 nanoliters / liter and its interesting to not its reccomended exposure over an 8 hour period is lower then that of hydrogen cyanice

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[YT2095]

only 10% of the UK has fluorinated water from what I can tell in my research, I still have to phone my local water server to know if we are though.

Birmigham has Fluorine, I`m not sure that we have even though we`re next to it geographicaly.

[sophster]

I don't think much UK water is flouridated. Health food shops usually sell non-fluoridated toothpastes and remember that if it's only 1 wee baby tooth you will only need a teeny-weeny amount of toothpaste. More important is to keep away from sugary (or even toothkind drinks) but I guess you're sensible enough to know that anyway

[SkepticLance]

I was talking to my dentist a wee while ago. He had returned from practising in Queensland, Australia. That state does not permit fluridation of the water supply, while other Australian states do. According to my guy, Queensland is a dentists dream. Teeth are dreadful. Blackened, cavity filled, filled with infection, compared to New South Wales, for example.

 

If you are concerned about your daughter's health, make sure she gets some fluoride; either from water, or toothpaste.

 

The anti-fluoride lobby are NOT basing their information on good science. They selectively use information from tests, and discard the majority of the data that does not match their views. If you want the truth, as opposed to the dogma perpetrated by nutters, do a google search for the main dental organisations world wide, and get some proper science without the dogma.

[Skye]

The problem with fluoride is that there's not a huge range over which it's beneficial. So most drinking water that is fortified with it is at around 1 or 2 mg/L, the amount needed to be effective for teeth, but above 4mg/L and you start getting skeletal fluorosis in the community. Skeletal fluorosis causes the bones to become more brittle, and is caused by chronic over-consumption.

 

I'd be a little concerned about fluoridated toothpaste because it's going to be hard to control the amount she gets. That being said the benefits of having the right amount, especially for children, are well studied. An alternative to the toothpaste is fluoride tablets, then you can control the amount she gets.

[Phi for All]

If you are concerned about your daughter's health, make sure she gets some fluoride; either from water, or toothpaste.

If you are concerned about your 11-month-old daughter's health, make sure she doesn't swallow flouride toothpaste.

 

Flouride is very good for your teeth, it's just not meant to be swallowed by children who can't understand why they're not allowed to.

[badchad]

There are special formulations of "kids toothpaste" which I think have lower levels of flouride in them. I think if you look across the literature, you may find that the amount of toothpaste a child needs to swallow to cause harm is fairly high (maybe not).

 

Skye is the concentration of flouride that causes problems 4mg/ml? (You mentioned the concentration of water, but then it would depend on the amount of water drank as well).

[zyncod]

The anti-fluoride lobby are NOT basing their information on good science. They selectively use information from tests, and discard the majority of the data that does not match their views. If you want the truth, as opposed to the dogma perpetrated by nutters, do a google search for the main dental organisations world wide, and get some proper science without the dogma.

 

Except for the fact that kids' teeth will last between 8-18 years, at the most. I'm no apologist for the anti-fluoridation cause - I just think that, given how sensitive infants are during development to pretty much anything, that postponing the exposure to fluorides to 2 years old won't really harm them. Barring a very pervasive infection, there is actually very little harm in allowing children to develop 'naturally' to the point at which they start losing teeth.

[Skye]

4 mg/L, not 4 mg/mL. This is from studies of towns with naturally high levels of fluorine in the water, so it should account for the differences in water that people drink and that. If you drink a glass of 4 mg/L fluoride you'll be fine though. Skeletal fluoridosis generally takes years to have a noticable effect. You get dental fluorosis at lower figures, under 2 mg/L. It makes your teeth mottled brown, but other than that it's not so bad IIRC.

[SkepticLance]

Just to repeat my suggestion that you get your information from professional groups, rather than less than professional ones. Below is a quote from the American Dental Association web site.

 

"In addition to the ADA, nearly 100 national and international organizations recognize the public health benefits of community water fluoridation for preventing dental decay. They include the World Health Organization, the U.S. Public Health Service, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the International Association for Dental Research, the National PTA and the American Cancer Society. And just last month, Surgeon General David Satcher wrote in his report, Oral Health in America, "Community water fluoridation is safe and effective in preventing dental caries in both children and adults. Water fluoridation benefits all residents served by community water supplies regardless of their social or economic status." "

 

The ADA cannot be accused of venality in recommending fluoride. They stand to lose badly, when peoples teeth are healthier.