There are varying natural amounts of fluoride in the ground water, so you want to figure out what yours has before supplementation.
Anecdote time: I had well water as a kid and had fluoride supplements and I had fluorosis related snow-capping in my secondary dentition. This is just a PITA/esthetic problem and I had professional bleaching which masked it for the most part. More sever fluorosis is brown, though, and you do want to avoid it if possible thus the testing.
There are varying natural amounts of fluoride in the ground water, so you want to figure out what yours has before supplementation.
Anecdote time: I had well water as a kid and had fluoride supplements and I had fluorosis related snow-capping in my secondary dentition. This is just a PITA/esthetic problem and I had professional bleaching which masked it for the most part. More sever fluorosis is brown, though, and you do want to avoid it if possible thus the testing.
Pilsy, I am not a pediatric dentist, so I don't deal with this a lot, but for friends and family who ask, I am very PRO-fluoride.
Affluent privilege means that most of us don't see rampant decay, but I happen to (with my job and my research) travel to places where there are no dentists in the county and 50% of families live below the poverty line. In places like these dental caries are endemic and a HUGE problem. The poorest county in America is less than 90 minutes from where I live and practice. >80% of middle schoolers living there have decay. ETA: The average kindergartener has active decay. It is unbelievable and so, so sad.
It is hard for us to believe this, but tooth pain is the most common reason kids miss school. The ideal way to dose fluoride is to assess fluoride levels in local water sources and supplement with topical and systemic fluoride based upon those findings (like you are doing). The problem is that many, many kids (and adults) don't have access to a dentist, so municipal water fluoridation casts the widest net. From a public health standpoint, it is a good system, but it may not be ideal on an individual level (some will be over/under dosed). Also, our crumbling infrastructure means that water fluoridation in many places is no longer going on or adequate and--let's face it--if we aren't fixing roads and bridges, water fluoridation is a low priority for most politicians.
I would absolutely have my water tested and supplement if recommended.
Post by ilikedonuts on Jan 31, 2015 12:11:40 GMT -5
We do supplement because we have well water, but I didn't realize we were supposed to test our water (our pedi and dentist never mentioned that). Now I'm all freaked out my kids don't need it and we've been doing it.
DD1 is 3 and DD2 is 15 months. We've been super consistent with remembering with DD1 since about 15 months. DD2 has been consistent since around 12 months.
I guess I need to call and start to figure out how to test our water.
Our pedi said he does not recommend fluoride supplements for well water. He said the supplements haven't been shown to be very helpful, and too much fluoride can be harmful. He said as long as DS drinks bottled water sometimes (which he does) that should be fine.
We do supplement because we have well water, but I didn't realize we were supposed to test our water (our pedi and dentist never mentioned that). Now I'm all freaked out my kids don't need it and we've been doing it.
DD1 is 3 and DD2 is 15 months. We've been super consistent with remembering with DD1 since about 15 months. DD2 has been consistent since around 12 months.
I guess I need to call and start to figure out how to test our water.
You can ask about how to get it tested now, but I wouldn't worry too much about overdosing. If your pedi/dentist wrote the Rx, they likely know that water in your area is generally deficient. Around her, there is no adequate naturally occurring fluoride.
ETA: Also, my DDs don't drink juice, bottled water, or very much water at daycare (like two dixie cups). I forget how much fluoridated water they have to drink to reach optimal levels, but I think it was at least a couple of liters per day when I looked it up. There is no way that happens at our house. So our pedi and pedi dentist recommend following the AAPD recs.
And honestly, my MIL "forgot" to give fluoride supplements to kids 2-3 (they also have a well), and my H and his younger brother have tons of cavities. My H never wants the girls to go through that.
Okay good this makes me feel better. I just feel so uninformed on this. Mom fail.
My kids only drink our filtered well water except for the small cup of juice DD1 drinks at preschool twice a week so they don't really ever drink fluoridated water.
I just remembered that DD2 has a pedi appointment on Monday so I can ask the pedi again about it.
I belong to a local "crunchy mom" group on facebook, and basically it's full of batshit crazy moms. I've never posted and should probably leave the group, but they just astound me on a regular basis and I haven't been able to bring myself to leave yet. Anyway, they don't believe in fluoride, toothpaste, or regular dentists. Diets to reverse tooth decay are popular discussions. They post pics of their kids' teeth and it is so horrible and sad. Rotting out of their heads, literally.
My dd is drinking bottled water right now since our city water is too high in something (we got a notice) and we just got fluoride drops for her.