You may already know that fluoride is healthy for the teeth and provides protection against harmful, oral conditions and diseases.
You may even opt for a fluoride treatment from your dentist.
However, some don’t know just how important fluoridated water is for their oral health.
Some don’t even know whether or not their drinking water is fluoridated.
Why is fluoridated water so important? Aren’t fluoride treatments at the dentist enough?
We only go to the dentist twice a year, so we only receive few good fluoride treatments a year to keep our teeth strong and healthy. When fluoride is added to our water in small amounts, this helps keep our teeth stocked up on fluoride the remainder of the year.
Fluoridated water alone keeps cavities down a whopping 25%! This is huge. Saving us from just one cavity can save plenty of pain, money, and a trip to the dentist for a filling. Plus, over 70 years of science has found fluoride to be beneficial for the teeth and our oral health in general.
We should upkeep our oral health for this reason. Doing so will ensure we don’t face other dental-related struggles in the near future such as gum disease, oral cancer, or gingivitis.
It’s important that we also drink plenty of water. Besides providing fluoride, water also washes away stray food particles and excess oral bacteria to promote a healthier and cleaner mouth, limiting oral-related conditions and diseases, and even giving us fresher breath.
Fluoride facts:
- Most adults still have their healthy, permanent teeth because of fluoridated water.
- A $1 investment into fluoridating water can prevent $38-worth in costs to treat dental conditions and diseases for patients.
- Fluoride exists naturally in many sources of water.
- Children should be exposed to fluoride in hopes to have healthier teeth, even when they reach adulthood.
- One study in 2010 found that fluoridated water can prevent tooth loss for an additional forty to fifty years.
- Because tooth decay is still a major problem for children, fluoridated water and fluoride treatments significantly help. In fact, tooth decay is the most common health-related problem among children in the U.S.
- A lot of the fluoride used in fluoridated water is extracted from phosphate rock.
Next time you go to the dentist, say “Yes” when given the option for a fluoride treatment. It can save you dental problems, expenses, pain, and many trips to the dentist soon! Keep your pearly whites beautiful and healthy through drinking fluoridated water as well.