So the makers of non-fluoride toothpaste have so riled the dental profession that it was forced to make a statement. The news headline said: “Toothpaste WITHOUT fluoride: Dentists urge people to stop ‘ridiculous’ trend as they warn ‘brushing alone is note enough’.”
Uh, say again? We’re wasting our time brushing our teeth with non-fluoride toothpaste if we want to prevent cavities? (Toothbrushing has some obvious effect in reducing plaque and maybe even restoring whiteness.)
So before you stop brushing your teeth altogether the precise wording of a recent study that prompted this news headline is reprinted verbatim below. Here it is (from the journal Gerodontology:
Personal oral hygiene interventions failed to influence the incidence of dental caries despite meticulous deplaquing of teeth…. Personal oral hygiene in the absence of fluorides has failed to show a benefit in terms of reducing the incidence of dental caries.”
Correcting the Vitamin…
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The same goes for flossing. Reviewers found children who underwent flossing by a professional hygienist every weekday reduced their risk for cavities by 40% but those who flossed at home experienced no reduction. Flossing + toothbrushing only produces a small reduction in dental plaque.
Sunlight better than water fluoridation?
Severe dental caries (cavities) in preschool children are more related to low blood levels of vitamin D rather than lack of use of fluoride toothpaste or fluoridated drinking water. (Fluoride helps harden dental enamel and thus makes teeth resistant to acid-forming bacteria that induce cavities.)
One study reveals children with vitamin D blood levels…