Fluoride Exposed

Fluoride was one of 10 great public health achievements from @CDCgov. See jokes and trivia about all 10 here: fluorideexposed.org/fluoridation-o…

Let's do our part!

This resource describes the silent epidemic of tooth decay, the most common childhood disease, and makes the case for fluoride varnish as an intervention. Explore it at the link below. crushcavities.com/the-case-for-f…

#SaturdayScienceShare: This week, the resource we’d like to share is a webpage from the Minnesota Oral Health Project. MNOHP encourages application of fluoride varnish to effectively treat cavities in early childhood.

toddlers - whom a dentist might have to use general anesthesia in order to do traditional fillings. Some black stains on baby teeth instead of putting a toddler under has been a great tool for many families dealing with cavities in early childhood.

wide variety of patients who can't handle getting a regular filling. There is a catch, though. Silver diamine fluoride will also often stain the cavity black. But this aesthetic issue may be quite worth it in back teeth, and even in front teeth for patients - such as

And it uses a fluoride! Silver diamine fluoride will "arrest" a cavity - meaning it stops the cavity from growing and progressing further into the tooth, pulp, and root of the tooth. This fluoride treatment for cavities can be done in one minute, making it very useful for a

Health shouldn't be a luxury!

It’s called “Hydrogen fluoride: dangerous and surprisingly useful.” As in, we wouldn’t have most of our modern technology without it! Fluoride for the win – again! youtu.be/hd3EAzJ_McA

In short, bite-sized portions, they explain chemistry concepts in everyday language. This week’s resource, under two minutes long, illustrates the behavior of a fluoride in acid form.

#SaturdayScienceShare: The American Chemical Society is the leading professional organization for chemists in the US, but you sure don’t have to be a professional chemist to appreciate their videos on YouTube!

Pictured here is Henry Trendley Dean, one of those dental researchers.

The original discovery of fluoride's cavity-fighting properties was made by dentists in the 1930s who found that kids who lived in towns where water naturally had 1 mg of fluoride per liter had fewer cavities than kids in towns with little fluoride in the water.

Photo of Maysville by Greg Hume, CC BY 3.0

Maysville was the first city in Kentucky to start community water fluoridation. In 1951, the Maysville Water Plant added fluoride to the community's water supply. Today, 217 Kentucky communities have fluoridated water serving 95% of Kentuckians.

Science is for everyone

It’s a fascinating story, and you can read all about it at the link below. idsnews.com/article/2019/0…

It’s fluoride toothpaste – the formula that eventually became Crest. Early research at Indiana University drove the development, which is why two IU scientists, Joseph Muhler and William Nebergall, were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2019.

#SaturdayScienceShare: The National Inventors Hall of Fame is full of innovations that have improved life, but they aren’t always gadgets or technology. One such innovation was a chemical innovation, and we’re guessing you use the resulting product everyday.

The fluoride in plaque may also directly counteract the bacteria that cause cavities in the first place.

remineralizing an area that could end up being a cavity if left to demineralize too much. While the fluoride that heads into plaque and saliva helps ensure that there is a reservoir of fluoride for more remineralization after you're finished brushing.

Where does the fluoride in your toothpaste go as you are brushing? There are three places in your mouth fluoride ions go into -- demineralized enamel, the dental plaque, and your saliva. Fluoride heading into deminerlized enamel is doing the hard work of