How Fluoride Boosts Children’s Dental Health

Fluoride is highly recognizable as an essential part of modern children’s and preventive dental health care. That’s because the fluoride offers several unique benefits to strengthening children’s developing teeth and adults’ already formed teeth, allowing for better protection against harmful oral bacteria. When your child visits the dentist, the dentist will carefully examine the health and integrity of the tooth enamel to determine if fluoride treatment can boost your child’s dental health and chances of avoiding cavities.

What Fluoride and Enamel Are Made Of
The enamel that surrounds teeth is highly mineralized, and though it’s made mostly of calcium and phosphate, fluoride is also highly compatible with enamel’s composition. When it’s applied to the surfaces of teeth, fluoride bonds to the mineralized enamel layers, making it strong and resilient against food particles, oral bacteria, and other substances that could otherwise compromise healthy tooth structure. This means your child’s teeth can better withstand bite pressure and avoid the erosion of their tooth enamel that is followed by tooth decay.

The Science of Cavity Prevention
Oral bacteria attack your child’s tooth enamel by turning nutrients into harmful substances, like acids. Enamel can withstand these attacks on occasion, but as it does, the protective layer grows weak. To stay effective, enamel has to replenish its minerals before the next attack (the next time your child eats). Routinely brushing and flossing away oral bacteria is an important part of giving enamel time to remineralize, though a protective layer of fluoride can boost your child’s chances of avoiding excessive enamel erosion.

Find Out if Your Child Can Benefit from Fluoride Treatment
As part of a comprehensive hygiene and preventive dental routine, fluoride treatments can greatly benefit your child’s dental health by making it easier to prevent cavities. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Oxnard Dentistry in Oxnard, CA, today at (805) 604-9999. We also proudly serve patients from in and around Camarillo, Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Moore Park, and all surrounding communities.