Can we talk fluoride supplements?

[cilantro]

My pediatrician told us to give them until age 9.

However, I'm seeing lots of articles like this:  www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491930/pdf/ehp.1104912.pdf 

Any of you smarty pants looked into this and care to comment?

[karinothing]

That link does not work

[cilantro]

Feb 16, 2014 12:11:35 GMT -5 karinothing said:

That link does not work

Sorry!  I think the PDF link I changed it to should work.

[karinothing]

Oh, ok I just kind of skimmed it. I don't think this is talking about flouride supplements. This is talking about large large amounts of flouride. Like more than you would receive in a supplement or in your water. Flouride is kind of like every other element. Too much of iron or calcium could be deadly too you know? If you are concerned about the supplements I would talk to your dentist about flouride toxicity

[bunch]

Dd's dentist said he liked topical treatments more than oral dosing so that's what we're doing for now. We have a well. At some point ill have it tested just to make sure it doesn't have any natural fluoride.

[runner09]

I haven't done a lot of research but my DH has. He had a pediatric cancer that there is some research that links fluoride to this type of cancer. My pedi only gives fluoride 3x weekly vs. daily dosing. Their reasoning is that it's hard to account for all sources of flourude (for exame we don't have it in our water at home due to a reverse osmosis water system but it may be in water at daycare). DH is ok with the 3x weekly.

[ellipses84]

I didn't read the article but I'll tell you what my pedi dentist said. She checked our city water supply and the amount of fluoride in the water is half the recommended amount. She did not recommend fluoride drops because they can cause white spots on the teeth if they are used when not necessary, he is getting some flouride from the water (even Brita filter water), and we use a flouride toothpaste (tom's strawberry). He got a fluoride varnish from the pedi when he was 1 and from the pedi dentist when he was 2. She said if he starts getting cavities we can re-evaluate. Check your water supply and ask about the varnish.

[runner09]

Feb 16, 2014 13:28:01 GMT -5 runner09 said:

I haven't done a lot of research but my DH has. He had a pediatric cancer that there is some research that links fluoride to this type of cancer. My pedi only gives fluoride 3x weekly vs. daily dosing. Their reasoning is that it's hard to account for all sources of flourude (for exame we don't have it in our water at home due to a reverse osmosis water system but it may be in water at daycare). DH is ok with the 3x weekly.

I will add that I had a large amount of cavities as a kid. I never had flouride. DD had her first cavity at 3.5 yrs, so this also pushes my toward flouride. (And we don't allow juice, bottles in bed, gummy candies and she still ended up with a cavity )

[ilikedonuts]

We give a supplement. We have a well. Our pedi actually never even asked about our water, but I asked for it because our dental hygenist mentioned something about it to me while I was pregnant with DD1. DD1 just saw the dentist last month and the dentist confirmed that we should keep giving it to her. And she had some long explaination about the different levels, but it went right over my head.

[mrsfarmer]

DD1 Got Tablets From PEdi And Broke Out From Them.

[mainelyfoolish]

I'm assuming you have a well. Did you have the water tested? We have well water and I was able to send a sample into our state's lab for fluoride analysis for $20. We found out we have naturally occurring fluoride at 1 ppm so we don't need to give supplements.