What is Flouride Treatment?

Prevent tooth decay by strengthening your teeth with fluoride.

Our teeth loses minerals everyday when acids produced by plaque and sugars in our mouth attack the enamel layers of our teeth. This process is called demineralization. When demineralization occurs, our teeth weakens and makes it more prone to developing cavities or tooth decay. Luckily, minerals found in our food and water such as fluoride, calcium and phosphate are able to help protect and remineralize our teeth. Fluoride from other sources such as toothpastes and mouthwashes also helps remineralize our teeth.

Advantages

Fluoride can make our teeth healthier and stronger and more resistant to dental cavities.
helps reduce teeth sensitivity.

Disadvantages

Too much fluoride can cause white patches (fluorosis) on your teeth.

Sources of fluoride:

Water fluoridation (public water supply)
Toothpaste (used 2-3 times a day)
Mouth rinse
Gels and foams
Fluoride varnish
Dietary fluoride supplement

Daily fluoride treatment can be in the form of toothpastes or mouth rinses, however, these types have low fluoride content. For a more specific treatment with a higher concentration of fluoride, one must look into professional fluoride application. Professionally-applied fluoride can be in the form of gels or varnish.

Procedure

The fluoride gel is usually placed in a foam tray, just enough to cover all the teeth in the arches. The teeth are dried with a few blasts of air then the fluoride tray is inserted into the patient’s mouth. The patient is asked to bite the tray to keep it stable and is kept in the mouth for 1 to 3 minutes.