Proper dental care starts early on, as early as one year, and continues throughout our lives. Part of this care includes ensuring that you take in enough fluoride to keep your teeth strong and healthy. 

At Healthy Dental Expressions, our dentists work with patients — children and adults — to ensure they receive enough fluoride to promote strong, healthy teeth that will last a lifetime. In addition to cleanings and examinations, we also provide you with a concentrated fluoride treatment. 

Fluoride is an important natural mineral that helps strengthen teeth and protect against sensitivity and decay among other problems. For our younger patients, whose teeth are still growing, we perform regular fluoride treatments during their dental visits with us. But if you think you no longer need them just because you’re an adult, think again! 

Regular fluoride treatments are good for dental patients of any age, and especially for adults who may be at risk for dental health issues. 

Where you can get fluoride

Depending on your diet and lifestyle, you probably already get a decent amount of fluoride from the food you eat, public water supplies, and your toothpaste. Common foods you may already enjoy that provide natural fluoride include:

• Avocados
• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Apples
• Radishes
• Lettuce
• Milk

Additionally, most local water supply companies add fluoride into their water to help the community members maintain strong, healthy teeth. But while these steps are helpful in keeping your teeth healthy, it’s often not enough, because the levels of fluoride that you get from these sources aren’t as concentrated as the treatments you receive in our office. 

In addition to regular fluoride treatments, we always recommend that you keep up with brushing and flossing twice per day using a fluoridated toothpaste. We may even recommend a special prescription toothpaste or mouthwash to ensure you meet your minimum fluoride needs. This is certainly true if you don’t often eat foods containing a natural fluoride source, like the ones mentioned above, or don’t drink local tap water. 

Who needs fluoride 

Flouride treatments are especially helpful for adults who already have or are predisposed to certain dental health issues such as tooth decay, cavities, or enamel erosion. These issues can lead to serious, non-dental health problems and should be addressed. 

Additionally, if you suffer from sensitivity to hot and cold, fluoride can make your teeth less sensitive to extreme temperatures. Depending on your specific situation, we may recommend treatments every three or six months, or only once per year. 

Fluoride treatments are also recommended for orthodontics patients. Wearing braces can  seriously impact your ability to clean your teeth effectively via brushing and flossing alone, and can leave white spots, or decalcification, when the braces are removed. Getting periodic fluoride treatments can help to ensure your teeth are clean, healthy, and strong during and after your orthodontic treatment.

Cavity prevention

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and they’re not wrong. While we treat cavities and other dental problems as they arise, we love working with our patients to prevent them from happening in the first place. Fluoride treatments can prevent cavities in children and adults and may even reverse the effects of cavities that have been caught early on.

If you think your dental health could benefit from fluoride treatments, or if you have kids who are overdue for one, contact us today to schedule your next dental visit. Appointments may be requested online or by calling us. Dr. Henry Suarez, DDS and our team at Healthy Dental Expressions in Palm Springs, Florida, can help you and your children reap the benefits of proper fluoride treatments.

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