Caries: And what about fluoride? - DocCheck

Fluoride is considered essential in tooth decay prevention, including in children. But how much is too much and are tablets better than fluoridated pastes? This is the first time that there is agreement on this.

How much fluoride should children get - and in what form? So far there has been no agreement on this. While paediatricians generally advocate fluoride tablets and toothpaste without fluoride, most dentists recommend pastes containing fluoride, as the Pharmazeutische Zeitung also reports.

Vitamin D and fluoride from birth

Now, for the first time, there is a uniform recommendation: Children should be given a supplement containing 400-500 IU of vitamin D and 0.25 mg of fluoride in tablet form every day between birth and the first tooth eruption. After the first milk teeth have erupted, parents should start teaching them how to brush their teeth. From this point on, there are two options for the following supplementation:

1. One tablet daily with 400-500 IU of vitamin D and 0.25 mg fluoride to accompany brushing your teeth without toothpaste or with a little fluoride-free toothpaste.
2. One tablet daily with 400-500 IU of vitamin D and brushing your teeth up to twice a day with up to 0.125 g of toothpaste with 1,000 ppm fluoride (approx. the size of a grain of rice).

Supplementation changes with age

As soon as cleaning is done more frequently and independently, the supplementation also changes. The diagram of the Healthy into Life network, part of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, provides an overview of how to proceed. The network coordinated the compilation of the uniform recommendations by various professional societies.

When buying, you should pay attention to the fluoride content of the toothpaste. Important information that you parents can give: Fluoride tablets and toothpastes containing fluoride should not be combined.

You can find more information about this here.

Image credit: Diana Polekhina, Unsplash