Fluoride Treatment at Home Vs. Fluoride Treatment at the Dentist

An excellent technique to supplement your professional fluoride treatment from dentists is home fluoride therapy. Our family dentist in West Edmonton recommend many different options to people depending on their age, risk of tooth decay, and habits.

Over-The-Counter Fluoride Treatments

The optimal home treatment purchased over the counter and recommended by the dentist near you is fluoride toothpaste. The use of fluoride toothpaste to clean your teeth twice daily enables the fluoride to strengthen tooth enamel and protect against cavities.

You can also use fluoride rinses along with your dental hygiene practices of brushing and flossing. The mouthwash is best used once daily. However, you must refrain from eating or drinking for at least 30 minutes after using the mouthwash because it isn’t applied directly to your teeth, as it is familiar with in-office fluoride treatments.

When you use over-the-counter options to supplement professional fluoride treatments, you help yourself maintain the level of fluoride necessary throughout the year.

If you are using over-the-counter fluoride options, ensure that you supervise children to see if they don’t swallow the fluoride. The CDC recommends using a fluoride toothpaste for children under two years or fluoride mouthwash under six. This is because young children are at high risk of ingesting fluoride.

In Office Fluoride Treatments

The CDC recommends in-office fluoride treatments from dentists every three, six, and 12 months. In-office fluoride treatments contain higher levels of fluoride to help strengthen tooth enamel and provide immediate benefits. In addition, the treatments don’t cause any pain or stress, and the dentist providing them completes the therapy in a few minutes.

When you visit the family dentist requesting fluoride treatments, the dentist applies concentrated fluoride varnish, gel, foam, or mouthwash using tiny brushes to the tops and sides of your teeth. In-office fluoride treatments contain more fluoride than is available in toothpaste and over-the-counter mouthwash. While you experience no pain from the treatment, the dentist requests you not to eat or drink for the next 30 minutes after completing the treatment.

If you must have foods or drinks after receiving in-office therapy, you must ensure you have lukewarm or cold foods or beverages to ensure your teeth fully absorb the fluoride from the dentist’s treatment. Fluoride hardens instantly after application over your teeth, making it challenging for you to determine its presence or taste in the mouth. You can brush the fluoride from your teeth after six hours, although dentists recommend waiting until the following morning before brushing your teeth.

Difference between Fluoride Treatment at Home Vs. in Office Treatments

You can get systemic and topical fluoride at home from drinking fluoridated water if available in your community. In addition, fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash help supplement drinking fluoridated water to reduce the chances of cavities on your teeth by 25 percent. Therefore, if you practice excellent dental hygiene routines and use fluoride treatments at home, you can reduce your chances of cavities by some margin.

If you are at high risk of dental caries, you benefit from receiving in-office fluoride treatments from dentists to have an additional barrier of protection over your teeth to prevent holes from developing. In addition, when dentists notice your risk of cavities, they might recommend prescription mouthwashes for use at home with a higher concentration of fluoride.

Crystallized calcium phosphate is a primary content of tooth enamel. Prescription mouthwashes and toothpaste contain tri-calcium phosphate to work with the fluoride in remineralizing your teeth to reverse white spots if you develop them from excessive fluoride.

Prescription mouthwashes and fluoride treatments are best used with your regular dental hygiene routine to provide optimal benefits. If using prescription toothpaste, dentists recommend using it as a substitute for regular toothpaste before bed.

Fluoride treatments do not entirely prevent cavities from developing because a foolproof technique to protect against dental caries is not discovered. However, if you adopt a comprehensive at-home fluoride regimen, you help strengthen and protect your teeth. It would help if you also refrained from indulging in sugary and starchy foods and beverages to ensure you reduce mouth bacteria responsible for dental infections.

Get Fluoride Treatment Near You

If you think your home care regimen isn’t beneficial, you can contact Great Smile Family Dental to get fluoride treatment in Edmonton to keep your smile healthy and gleaming. The dentists at the practice will examine your teeth to recommend an optimal dental hygiene routine with at-home and in-office fluoride treatments to supplement them to benefit your dental health.