High Fluoride Toothpaste

Toothsmith

Those that make the case against fluoride in toothpaste (whilst not even taking the trouble to learn how to spell it correctly) deserve no time whatsoever.

They have no concept of scientific study which shows it to be one of the most effective preventative measures ever introduced.

The worst thing is that these people are allowed to breed, and inflict fluoride free toothpastes on their children!

The internet is full of nonsense, and few things are more nonsensical than the case against fluoride toothpaste!

Fluoride in drinking water, I can see both sides of and have sympathy for those who argue against it (but not if they try and pretend it's poisonous -which at 1ppm it isn't, or if they bring up any thing about mind control or concentration camps!) There are plenty of good arguments for not fluoridating drinking water with out going into that!

But there is no good argument whatsoever for not having fluoride in toothpaste.

cepheus

Is there a chance of fluorosis with high fluoride products during development of teeth, especially through swallowing? I think this is more cosmetic but can in the worst case produce brown stains.

I don't think all toothpastes did contain fluoride in those days, and decay seemed to be assumed as unavoidable by the public. Personally I would have rather risked mottled marking on teeth, rather than decay as a child.

Toothsmith

cepheus wrote: »

Is there a chance of fluorosis with high fluoride products during development of teeth, especially through swallowing? I think this is more cosmetic but can in the worst case produce brown stains.

I don't think all toothpastes did contain fluoride in those days, and decay seemed to be assumed as unavoidable by the public. Personally I would have rather risked mottled marking on teeth, rather than decay as a child.

That's true - there is.

Which is why it's important to use just a little bit on a child's brush, and not to encourage swallowing the stuff (actually eating it rather than stressing about a little bit that might find its way down).

To get fluorosis though, a lot of toothpaste would need to be swallowed over quite a long period of time.

You just need a degree of responsibility over a child's access to the stuff.

DUTR

Stompa wrote: »

My NHS dentist just gives me a prescription for Duraphat 5000, 3 tubes on a single prescription. So that's £8.05 for 3 tubes, or £2.68 per tube. Can you not persuade yours to do the same?

I can beat that, I had 6 tubes of duraphat 5000 on a prescription this week. :cool:

Stompa

DUTR wrote: »

I can beat that, I had 6 tubes of duraphat 5000 on a prescription this week. :cool:

I think I'll have to have a word with my dentist!

brook2jack

I am very surprised some chemists will dispense this amount of duraphat toothpaste. Around our area chemists will only dispense two or at most, three tubes per prescription so three is the most we can write. Some areas it is only two.


To reiterate fluorosis can only affect developing teeth . The crowns on most adult teeth are formed from roughly the last three months of pregnancy to age three. This is why children use a children's toothpaste with lower fluoride until age three and then transfer to an adult toothpaste.

faithcecilia

Toothsmith wrote: »

And GPs tend to get quite annoyed if you try asking them to provide the NHS prescription too!

'Luckily' I use this toothpaste due to some on my asthma medication causing tooth problems. I feel a bit silly asking for toothpaste on prescription, bit but has reduced the rate my teeth are deteriorating and its beginning to look like I might make 40 without dentures!

AshfordSteve

brook2jack wrote: »

I am very surprised some chemists will dispense this amount of duraphat toothpaste. Around our area chemists will only dispense two or at most, three tubes per prescription so three is the most we can write. Some areas it is only two.

It's nothing to do with the pharmacist dispensing the prescription. CCGs or NHS England area teams may have guidelines on how much to prescribe but they are only guidance. The pharmacist may have an issue with dispensing a large quantity of medication if there are clinical issues such as monitoring requirements, but there are no hard and fast rules.

Edwardia

When I lived in Canada, all fluoride toothpastes carried a warning on them to seek medical advice if you swallowed more than a pea-sized amount.

Fluoride is toxic and the amount in a whole tube of toothpaste is enough to kill a small child whereas 2mg in one dose is enough to kill an adult male.

In areas of US where fluoride occurs naturally people often suffer brown mottling on their teeth.

I use salt toothpaste which is fluoride free as my (private) dentist says it's only useful for children.

My local water is spring water but if they wanted to adulterate that I would just switch to bottled non fluoridated water for cooking and tea.

I hate the very idea of something being added to all our water because it may be useful for some sections of the community. Give high fluoride toothpaste, supplements and water to the people who need it.

Toothsmith

Edwardia wrote: »

My local water is spring water but if they wanted to adulterate that I would just switch to bottled non fluoridated water for cooking and tea.

You do know that tea contains a fair bit of fluoride don't you?

The tea plant absorbs it from the soil.