Question For Dentists re Toothpaste

Toothsmith

I agree with Welsh, and would be cross if I knew my receptionist was giving out advice like that.

They know not to though (I hope!)

The problem might be that your son gets the idea that these tablets WILL help, and excuses him to continue with his bad diet. He needs to realise that HE needs to do something more proactive than pop a pill or two that mummy has bought for him.

Fire_Fox

Alison_B wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I spoke with the receptionist at the dentists this morning as I needed to get some more toothpaste and mentioned about taking supplements and she said to get some, they would not do any harm, that is why I was wondering.

He has an appauling diet, although I do try with him (try getting an 18 year old to eat what he doesn't want to). Won't eat hardly anything. He is on medication for an illness and the decalcification started after he went on the medication.

:eek: Receptionists should NEVER be giving medical/ dental/ veterinary advice, sorry but I would raise that with the practice manager! I work in lifestyle healthcare: indiscriminate supplementing can most definitely do harm even in a healthy person, more so if there are medical conditions or prescription medication to consider.

brook2jack

Alison_B wrote: »

.

He has an appauling diet, although I do try with him (try getting an 18 year old to eat what he doesn't want to). Won't eat hardly anything. He is on medication for an illness and the decalcification started after he went on the medication.

Some medications such as antidepressants cause dry mouth. With dry mouth you have to be meticulous in cleaning and meticulous in keeping sugar attacks in a day to no more than three. Your son , from what you have said , needs to be more meticulous in cleaning and cut down on sugary foods/drinks. That may help with his general appetite as well.

No supplement in the world with stop tooth decay and decalcification of teeth is just a fancy way of saying your son has the early stages of tooth decay.

tbs624

welshdent wrote: »

However the systemic effect of fluoride ceases to be beneficial once the hard tissues of the tooth have taken hold. That means that in simple terms, once the tooth is through there is no added benefit of ingesting fluoride. Hence calcium/fluoride supplements will not have any effect. TOPICAL effects of fluoride i.e. through toothpaste IS effective however.

My bolding.

Marvellous

And yet there is all that pressure for us to have to have additonal fluoride popped into our water supplies so that we can *all* be dosed up systemically...........

welshdent

Actually fluoridated water works topically ;-) but that's a whole other discussion!!

MrPearlyWhite

I just would like to add sometimes having too much flouride in a tooth paste ain't a good thing. Plus it depends where you live. Many neighbours have flouridated water. Increasing the amount of consumption of flouride through tooth paste, food, beverages can lead to dental fluorosis. you can learn more from wikipedia on Dental Fluorosis .

Miss_Havisham

on the subject of cleaning teeth - I'v started to use those TeePee brushes and already finding my gums look better. My question is - do I use them before or after I've brushed my teeth ? Also how many times do I push and pull them between each tooth ?

One more - is here any advantage to brushing more than twice a day and how soon after eating should I brush ?

Thanks

brook2jack

Preferably brush before eating, it removes alot of the bugs that will convert your food to acid.

Preferably don't brush for an hour after eating as if you have had anything acid like citrus fruits, fizzy pop etc it rubs the acid into your teeth increasing the likelihood of acid erosion. Ditto leave it an hour if you have been sick for the same reason.

Use your tepee when you like , and for how long it takes to remove all the gunge between your teeth. Just don't fall out of the habit of using them otherwise 40% of your gum line doesn't get cleaned!