There are different types of fluoride toothpastes. These include sodium fluoride, sodium monofluorophosphate, and stannous fluoride. There are different benefits to each, and even if you don’t know the chemistry, they’re important to understand.
What Fluoride does
Fluoride is basically what stops tooth decay, through the use of enamel strengthening, which we find in a lot of oral care items. It actually is considered a big part of toothpaste. If you want the ADA seal on your toothpastes, it must contain it. There are different forms though, and stannous fluoride is one type of it.
Fluoride also has the benefits of fighting tooth decay, and also cavities, and prevents the demineralization of tooth enamel that’s damaged, which is useful before cavities form, and it can also be good for other dental issues that are there.
What Stannous Fluoride Does
Stannous fluoride is basically a very common type of ingredient that you find in different toothpastes, and it’s recognized by the ADA as a big part in reducing overall tooth decay. The difference between stannous and other types of fluoride are the different benefits, such :
It naturally fights cavities, simply by strengthening the dentin and the enamel, and it’s been shown that is’ resistant to a lot of different acids
It’s antimicrobial, so it’ll kill off the plaque that you see that creates gum disease, and also decay in the teeth too.
It helps with sensitivity, since this actually can help to reduce sensitivity that happens with foods and drinks that are there. It creates a layer over the other tubules, which are small channels of the dentin that lead to the pulp, which is the sensitive portion of this.
You might wonder the difference between sodium fluoride and stannous fluoride. Well, the big difference is sodium is used in water, and it's basically used with different toothpastes too. It’s great for strengthening the enamel and also fighting the cavities, but it doesn’t really address the sensitivity and also the antimicrobial sorts of benefits that stannous fluoride tends to offer.
Other ways to fight tooth Decay.
If you’re someone who is already using fluoride, then you might wonder if there are other ways to fight this. luckily, there sure are different ways to do this.
The first thing to look at is your diet. If you consume a lot of foods and drinks that are sugary, try to cut down a little bit on this. When you have sugar, it causes the acids to be secreted, and this wears away at the enamel of the teeth.
You should also make sure that your oral hygiene is also up to snuff. Tht means, you want to brush your teeth two minutes twice daily, and also, you want to consume the fluoride supplements that you can. Using a fluoride toothpaste is a good way to help with this. On top of that, flossing is also good for gum disease, and other concerns.
Finally, your dental health relies on how well you take care of this, but sometimes, there are certain things that the dentist can only treat. Make sure to go to dental cleanings, so that the dentist can give this a deeper cleaning, get rid of any tartar that’s there, and also, you can get further guidance on how to have the ideal oral hygiene that you can, and also other ways to boost your oral hygiene overall, especially for your own personal needs too.
Take care of your teeth today, and make sure that in the care process, you don’t get rid of the one important thing to have: fluoride toothpaste.