Tag Archive for ‘Fluoride’
Should You Rinse After Brushing Your Teeth?
Are you supposed to rinse after brushing your teeth? That’s a common question that people have about brushing. At the Maine Dental Association meeting last year, a presenter was talking about the benefits of fluoride and asked his dental audience the following question: “Does anybody here actually rinse out with water after brushing so that [...]
Should Pregnant Women Take Fluoride Supplements?
Fifty years ago you could have walked into a pharmacy and seen fluoride drops that were specifically targeted toward pregnant women. The packages claimed that fluoride drops, when taken during pregnancy would help keep their children cavity-free. That all changed on October 20, 1966 when the FDA cracked down on the fluoride supplement makers. They [...]
How Much Fluoride Is In Bottled Water
Did you know that bottled water is about 500 times more expensive than tap water? Despite this fact, many Americans (myself included) buy billions of bottles of water every year. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan was the first city to add fluoride to the public water supplies. Fluoride makes teeth more resistant to cavities, but with [...]
How Much Fluoride Is In Fluoride Gel and Other Dental Products?
My brother was at the dentist a few days ago and he was wondering if it was worth it to have his dentist apply a fluoride gel to his teeth. He wanted to know if there was really that much more fluoride in the dentist’s gel than is in his toothpaste and fluoride mouthwash. I [...]
Is Water Fluoridation Legal?
Ever since the government started adding fluoride to the public water supplies in 1945, there have been many people who have challenged the legality of fluoride in our water supplies. They raised concerns about whether a city has the right to add a drug to the water supply that could help many people, but have [...]
Is Water Fluoridation A Conspiracy for Businesses to Make Money Selling Fluoride?
We’ve heard about a lot of conspiracy theories lately: Is bin Laden really dead? Was Obama really born in the United States? Was 9/11 planned by the U.S. Government? Today, I’m going to address a popular water fluoridation conspiracy theory: Is big business profiting from water fluoridation? The theory goes along these lines: Fluoride is [...]
Is There More Fluoride In a Pea-Sized Amount of Toothpaste or a Liter of Water?
Jake (whom I assume is a dentist) left an interesting comment about fluoride on Sunday. He said: I had an anti-fluoride patient the other day that was saying he read somewhere that a pea-sized amount of toothpaste contains the same amount of fluoride in 1 liter of tap water (1 ppm). His argument was that [...]
Cavities in Baby Teeth: Should You Get Baby Teeth Filled?
A lot of parents wonder if it’s really necessary to have their children get fillings in their baby teeth. Since baby teeth just end up falling out, why not let the cavity fall out with the baby tooth rather than paying to have a dentist remove the cavity? Many people assume that baby teeth aren’t [...]
Where I Stand on Water Fluoridation
This is the final post dealing with water fluoridation in my week-long series discussing both sides of the water fluoridation debate. Hopefully you enjoyed the articles this week. If not, don’t worry! I’ll be back into my regular oral health writing routine next week. If you missed the two previous articles, each of them explored [...]
Top 10 Reasons to Oppose Water Fluoridation
Ever since communities started fluoridating their water, there have been people that are adamantly opposed to water fluoridation. As you can see in the 1950′s era flyer to the right, some people even alleged that water fluoridation was some kind of communist plot to overthrow the American government. Some of the arguments of anti-fluoridationists are [...]
Top 10 Reasons to Support Water Fluoridation
“You’re either with us, or against us” has been a popular quotation throughout history. I think that phrase describes the water fluoridation debate fairly well. There are many people against fluoride being added to their water, and many people that support the addition of fluoride to the public water supplies. I’ve felt caught in the [...]
Water Fluoridation Week on Oral Answers
66 years ago this week, Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first city to add fluoride to its public water supplies. Since then, a great debate has ensued regarding whether or not public water supplies should be artificially fluoridated. In 1962, the United States government recommended that water be fluoridated with 0.7 to 1.2 PPM [...]
Toothpaste Ingredients: The 10 Main Ingredients In Toothpaste
Ever since antifreeze chemicals were discovered in toothpaste produced in China several years ago, people have been increasingly concerned about the ingredients found in toothpaste. Luckily, anti-freeze is not found in toothpaste sold in the United States as it is illegal. Toothpaste consists of several different ingredients that leave our teeth feeling fresh and clean. [...]
Dental Fluorosis: Too Much Fluoride Stains Teeth
Dental fluorosis happens when children swallow too much fluoride before their teeth have finished forming (usually before age 8.) It was actually dental fluorosis that led researchers to eventually find that small amounts of fluoride can be beneficial for the teeth. Dental fluorosis can range in severity from mild to severe. The mild form appears [...]
Is Water Really Fluoridated With Toxic Waste Fluoride?
Not too long ago I was talking with my mom about water fluoridation. She said that she isn’t a big fan of it. When I asked her why, she said that although she thinks it is good for teeth, she doesn’t like that they use toxic waste fluoride to fluoridate our public water supplies. I [...]
Water Fluoridation History – How Fluoridation Started
Water fluoridation is a public health measure designed to reduce the amount of dental decay in populations. In fact, the CDC has praised water fluoridation as one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th century. How water got to be fluoridated in a majority of the United States is an interesting story. [...]
Why Is The Water Fluoridation Debate So One-Sided?
I read an opinion piece about water fluoridation this past Wednesday written by Katherine Kelly. Katherine was one of the people who sponsored Measure A on Crescent City, California’s ballot, which would put a stop to water fluoridation in Crescent City. In her editorial she brings up two scientific sources, one from the American Dental [...]
Are Your Pots and Pans Altering Fluoride Levels In Your Cooked Meals?
Did you know that you could be tripling the level of fluoride in your water just by cooking in a Teflon-coated pot or pan? Similarly, you can also cut the amount of fluoride in your water by boiling it in an aluminum pot for just 15 minutes. You may think that you never boil water. [...]
How Much Fluoride Is In a PPM (Part Per Million)?
Have you ever wondered exactly how much fluoride is in your drinking water? Usually fluoride is measured using the vague unit ppm. The abbreviation ppm stands for parts per million. Let’s say that you run a test to find out how much fluoride is in your drinking water and you find that the fluoride level [...]
The Three Ways Fluoride Protects Your Teeth
Fluoride is an ion that has proven to be very effective at keeping our smiles looking as good as they can for as long as they can. In the early 1900′s, a group of children were discovered in Colorado that had brown teeth. Their dentist also noticed that these stained teeth were very resistant to [...]
Hi, I'm Tom. I'm currently a 4th year dental student in the USA. I started this blog to help people take better care of their teeth. You can 
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