Suara.com – Fluoride is the main ingredient in toothpaste. Are you curious about the benefits and uses?
According to a pediatric dentist from the Indonesian Dental Association (PDGI), drg. Eka Sabaty Shofiyah, Sp. KGA, fluoride is a material that is safe and useful for maintaining dental health.
“Don’t be afraid of fluoride. Actually, fluoride is the golden standard or the recommended material of choice as an effort to prevent cavities,” said drg. Eka who received a specialist degree in Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Indonesia.
Fluoride has the benefit of strengthening the outer layer of the teeth to make it more resistant to acids from the food you eat. In developed countries, known restrictions on the use of this substance because it is usually contained in their drinking water.
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Unlike in developed countries, in Indonesia, there is no drinking water with added fluoride so that toothpaste is the only hope to get fluoride which is useful for preventing cavities.
Fluoride toothpaste can be used since the first teeth erupt to prevent cavities and there is no need to wait for the child to rinse his mouth because if used according to the dosage guidelines, the amount is monitored and it is safe to swallow.
The dosage guide from health experts is that at the age of under 3 years it is enough for a grain of rice and at the age of over 3 years, who can usually rinse their mouth, it is as big as a corn seed (0.25 mg fluoride).
“It is safe to swallow if used according to the dose. The optimal dose of fluoride is 0.05 mg per kg per day. Even though children can’t rinse their mouths yet. Children aged 1 year and weighing 10 kg, the optimal dose of fluoride is 0.5 mg. Use only the size of a grain of rice. , 0.1 mg. Brush your teeth twice, for example, if you swallow it, it’s still below the optimal dose,” explained Eka.
In building a child’s habit of brushing teeth, one of the important factors is the taste of a good toothpaste. For that, you can give non-fluoride toothpaste to your child, as long as he has used fluoride toothpaste first.
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Toothpaste with hydroxyapatite can be an option and has the benefit of repairing the weakened tooth surface, so it can be used from the beginning when a child’s teeth grow as a companion to fluoride toothpaste.