Fluoride Q&A: an expert collapses how it helps children and its unique story in Michigan

See also: Over 1/3 of parents say their child has experienced dental problems that reflect oral hygiene habits

Fluoride is an important ingredient of children’s oral health in the United States.

Many children in this country get fluoride from their drinking water, toothpaste and the casual treatment in the dentist’s office.

But what is fluoride and why does it support healthy teeth?

Sarah Clark, MPH, Researcher in Pediatrics Department At Michigan Medicine and co-director of the University of Michigan Health CS Mott Children’s National Poll for children’s healthanswers other questions.

Why is fluoride important for children’s oral health?

Clark: Fluoride is a mineral and when it intersects with teeth, it reminds the enamel and makes it stronger.

This prevents the cavities, because this stronger tooth is more resistant to decomposition that comes when the bacteria in your mouth are combined with sugar and form an acid that then attacks the teeth.

Thus, fluoride helps make the tooth stronger. And prevents the growth of these cavity bacteria.

How did fluoride became part of children’s oral health?

Clark: Scientists have studied the relationship between fluoride and oral health in children for over 100 years. And somehow they were stuck by mistake.

Fluoride occurs naturally in water.

In most cases, it occurs at levels that are too low to really get this protective effect against the cavities.

But in some communities, the level of fluoride in water is of course higher.

The way they discovered these areas was that children had what was called fluoridation– discoloration of excess fluoride. It may look like brown spots or white streaks on the teeth.

But the amazing thing was that children with fluoridation had fewer cavities!

Fluoride protects their teeth.

This prompted scientists to work to calculate the amount of fluoride that would be effective in preventing the cavities, but not so much that it causes fluoridation.

And they continued to work all these years.

There was a rehearsal of the target amount in 2015 by public health officials in the country, reducing the target to 0.7 parts per million to the best level.

From these discoveries, how do public health experts determine how much are fluoride children need?

Clark: In general, we want children to have fluoride protection throughout the day and especially at night.

Tooth decay occurs when the sugary particles on or between the teeth are combined with bacteria in the mouth to form acid attacking the tooth enamel. During the day, saliva is washed some of these sugar particles away–But at night, we have less saliva to do this job.

So how can children get fluoride at different times per day?

One ordinary way is to spend the children with fluorid toothpaste in the morning and during bedtime.

Only a small amount (about the size of a pea) is required and children should spit on toothpaste rather than swallow.

Another common way is to consume fluoridated water, which gives a protection coating while washing the sugar particles in the teeth.

It can be difficult to understand how fluoridized a child consumes. It’s not something most parents watch.

And remember, bottled water usually does not fluoride.

In addition, the dentist can apply fluoride, foam or gel lacquer after cleaning the child’s teeth to give a good protection coating.

So there is no answer – it is a combination of the water that the child drinks, the toothpaste that the child uses and everything the dentist applies.

It is really important for families to work with their dentists to understand what this child needs.

And most importantly, fluoride is not magical! Children still need to brush the thread to prevent tooth decay.

How does water fluorization work in Michigan?

Clark: Individual communities really decide what they want to do with water supply.

Each community can make this decision on whether this water will fluent–And here in Michigan, most of them do. But in some areas, the natural level of fluoride in water supply is high enough to require no additional fluoridation.

But important, the Ministry of the Environment, the Great Lakes and the Michigan Energy cooperate with the water supply principles of each community that does fluoridation.

What they do is test and technical assistance to help communities get as close to this target of 0.7 parts per million.

And importantly, they have a regular test program so that community members can see how well they do.

Grand Rapids was Actually the world’s first city to fluctuate its waterIn 1945.

For the research study, Grand Rapids and Muskegon were the couple – Muskegon was the control community that did not receive fluoride.

The results were so positive, they actually stopped the research study early.

They did not think it was moral to withhold Community fluoridation of water from Muskegon, because what they saw in Grand Rapids was so positive.

Some parts that have just fluorized their water have chosen to remove it, such as Kalgari, Alberta. How were children affected in these places?

Clark: Calgary was a great natural experiment.

Voters have chosen to interrupt a Community Fluoride of Water Program.

Then after the interruption, Researchers examined the teeth of 7 and 8 years.

They then compared these results with the children in Edmonton, where fluoridation was not interrupted.

And what they discovered was that the kids in Calgari had significantly more dental decomposition than children in Edmonton and that the gap worsened over time and was further away from fluoridation.

It is clear that fluoridation helps.

The question you are considering if you remove fluoridation from community water supply is: You feel confident that children have another way of synthesizing what you simply remove, so that children do not run a greater risk of dental decomposition?

A recent review in Jama discussed the relationship between the fluoride exposure and the IQ ratings of children. What did he find? And has this review changed the perceptions of water fluoridation?

Clark: It is important and good to reassess public health recommendations periodically to make sure they continue to achieve their goals and do not have a negative impact.

Before 2015, officials had a recommended target of 0.7-1.2 parts per million.

Then, in 2015, they brought it to 0.7.

THE Jama The article is a meta-analysis–It is not a new research program, but rather a fluoride -related research synthesis.

These studies were carried out in different countries with different water quality and different methods.

No study is perfect – some are less perfect than others.

The authors chose the studies they thought were more relevant and had a good methodology. When composing the results, they concluded that there is a correlation between fluorid water and lower IQ scores.

Before you go, “we have to get fluoride out of water”, I think it’s important to consider some of the reviews of Jama article.

The biggest criticism is that meta-analysis did not examine the connection between fluorid water and IQ at flat fluorization levels-the levels were much higher.

So it’s like comparing apples with oranges.

One second thing is the quality of the water of communities involved in some of the studies. If the supply of water contains higher amounts of lead or other heavy metals, this could affect IQ.

Finally, reviews point out that if you look at the individual studies included in the meta-analysis there is a large variant in their results–Some with union and some without.

So, the upshot, for me, is that it is good to ask the question, but I am less convinced that this meta-analysis should cause an immediate change of policy-or to prompt people immediately decide that we should not do any Water fluorization.

First, we need more data that reflects the current goal level of 0.7 ppm, so we understand the real world.

Then, once these data is available, it would be important to gather a different group of stakeholders–People who may have different views on water fluoridation, but who are committed to working together to review the data and think of the need for changes in recommendations.

How would you summarize the overall significance of fluoride for children’s oral health?

Clark: I really like this explanation that a colleague at the Ministry of Health and Human Services of Michigan: “Fluoride in toothpaste, water fluoride and fluoride treatments to dentists to keep you and your family safe.”

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