Which toothpaste would you recommend at the beginning of the most frequently asked questions by our patients? income. My answer is generally the same: Use fluoridated toothpaste.
In this article, I would like to diversify our recommendations on the use of toothpaste and talk about the differences that you should pay attention to when choosing a paste.
As a dentist, the pastes we recommend for children and adults have certain features; contain enough fluorine, do not contain abrasive particles, foam as little as possible and be FDI (World Dental Association) approved.
Now let’s express these features a little more descriptively:
Toothpaste Should Contain Sufficient Fluoride: Fluoride toothpaste can be used for children from 6 months. Toothpastes containing 500 ppm fluoride should be preferred for 6 months-2 years old. Opt for pastes containing 1000ppm of fluorine for 2-6 year olds and 1450ppm for children and adults over 6 years old.
Why are there different fluorine contents?
Because toothpaste should contain fluoride in an amount that will prevent the formation of caries on the teeth, but at the same time harmless for children. For this reason, there are toothpastes containing different amounts of fluoride for different age groups.
It Should Not Contain Abrasive Particles: In particular, toothpastes that promise whitening contain abrasive particles. However, although the abrasions on our teeth provide a whiter appearance at first, it causes more staining in the long term due to the placement of tea, coffee and coloring foods in the spaces formed due to wear on the teeth. Since it can cause serious sensitivity problems, if you want to buy products that write whitening when choosing toothpaste, make sure that there is “NO CORROSIVE” written on it. If you want your teeth to be whiter, please share this with your dentist. Today, teeth whitening methods that do not cause sensitivity in the teeth are applied.
Why Should Toothpaste Be Low Foaming?
Too much foaming of toothpastes reduces their cleaning properties, so I recommend you to choose less foaming pastes.
Need Approval for Toothpaste?
In order to prove that all products and foods produced are not harmful to consumers (in our country by the Ministry of Health), there are various institutions where the products are approved. FDI (World Dental Association) toothpaste is an institution that needs to be approved, and if the toothpaste you use is not FDI approved, it is not possible to check whether its content is harmful. For this reason, we cannot use every paste that claims to have organic content. Remember that the presence of fluorine does not make the paste harmful. On the contrary, a fluorine-free toothpaste will NOT protect you against tooth decay.
So which paste do we recommend?
Please note that our recommendations on this subject are independent of brands. In recent years, caries preventive ingredients have diversified, so our recommendations have also increased. For example, xylitol (xylitol) is an anti-caries sugar alcohol and is used especially in chewing gums. It is now possible to see xylitol pastes in the markets. However, if you pay attention, many xylitol pastes do not contain fluorine, so your preference should be fluorine first. In addition, current studies show that arginine’s caries preventive effect increases with fluorine. Arginine, which has many benefits for general health, has also started to be used in toothpastes. For this reason, using pastes containing fluorine and arginine strengthens our hand in our fight against caries. You can also find these pastes in our country.
