Interesting info about brushing teeth

[SobranieCocktail]

DD's nursery has an ongoing dental hygiene campaign and DD came home a few weeks ago saying that the tooth-brushing teacher had told her not to use water on her toothbrush. I assumed DD had got the wrong end of the stick and encouraged her to put a bit of water on her brush at least before putting the toothpaste on.

Anyway, I bumped into the toothbrushing teacher yesterday and asked her about it. Turns out that DD had been absolutely right

The new advice is that you brush your teeth with JUST toothpaste...no water at all. And you're not meant to rinse afterwards!

She also said that toothpaste should have at least 1000ppm of fluoride (so not to use "children's" toothpastes, which we don't anyway). Also you shouldn't use mouthwashes immediately after brushing your teeth (again, we don't).

Just thought I'd pass on that info, as I had NO idea!

Really?? How?

DH (son of a dentist) does this with DS. I always think it sounds disgusting but it doesn't seem to bother him.

Its horrid to brush without a bit of water though! We always brush straight out of bed, before eating/drinking and we don't rinse.

I will continue to put a bit of water on though, ohterwise I'd be like brushing your teeth with putty!

The heart disease thing I heard the other day (think it was on QI?) - something to do with bacteria in the gums having a direct link with heart disease. I had no idea!

Not sure I like the idea of no water, I've done it accidentally before and it just seems so dry.

I find the current campaigns on how to brush your teeth quite irritating, as they are extolling the virtues of fluoride without providing any sensible warnings on the consequences of excessive use. Ingestion of too much fluoride can result in ugly staining, called fluorosis, in adult teeth, which can vary from mild to pretty hideous and can only be hidden by putting false veneers over the real teeth (and rarely, in severe cases, it can cause more than just ugly markings on the teeth, and results in more brittle, easily chipped teeth). No-one actually knows what a safe level of fluoride consumption is - but about 47% of children in areas with fluoridated water have signs of fluorosis on their adult teeth, so it is not something that only happens to people who eat toothpaste. My dentist actually advised me not to use a full strength fluoride toothpaste on my ds2's teeth until he had learnt to spit instead of swallow (it was too late to follow this advice for ds1, as I'd already been using small amounts of adult toothpaste on him since the beginning as a consequence of the HV's advice). Therefore, not all dentists actually sing from the same hymn sheet on this one, so I personally would rather not fully embrace the current no water, full-strength fluoride toothpaste blanket advice that is currently being handed out and intend just to do exactly what I did with my teeth from childhood, water and all, as that's served my perfectly well (she said smugly, showing off her cavity free, flawless smile). Better to cut back on sweet foods and drinks than to up the intake of a toxic chemical, even one that appears to be helpful in minute doses.

Interesting stuff.

I would've thought that people who drink heavily and smoke are less likely to brush teeth regularly and have more of that bacteria/ higher risk of heart disease anyway.

Ds refuses to rinse, so we're accidentally doing well.

What about sparkly bits in pink toothpaste. Is it ok for him to swallow this?

Looks v unappealing to me, but he hates minty stuff.

I have fluorosis, very badly.
All my front teeth are crowned and have been since I was about 12, when in the olden days they didn't use veneers. This is my 10th set and I have spent 10's of thousands at the dentist and still have poor teeth.
I am very cynical about anything that comes out regarding teethcare. You either have good strong teeth and regular care will keep them in good condition for most of your life or you don't.
As my fluorosis was caused by eating paste as a tiny girl and experiments with fluoride in the water in the NE, I won't be encouraging my ds' to use paste with no water.

Yuck @ not rinsing! I don't understand that. All those little bits of old food swirling around in your mouth mixed with toothpaste...

You are supposed to spit MrsMattie!

The 1000ppm advice as a blanket recommendation is wrong. The strength of toothpaste that you choose ought to be made on the basis of the concentration of fluoride in the water that you drink.

As for not rinsing - that is completely wrong, as it is very important NOT to swallow fluoridated toothpaste. Fluoride is not very good for general health.

Yeh, but without the water, how do the little bits of food you've brushed actually come out of your mouth? Even if you spit?

The rinsing thing is right actually anna. You spit the toothpaste out, but you don't then rinse with water - thus washing the flouride away.

It might be good for your teeth, CoV, but it is very bad for your general health to swallow toothpaste. Dentists might want one thing and doctors another!

How do you find out about the fluoride levels of the water in your area?

But you don't swallow it you spit it out!

I dunno MrsMattie, personally I like to collect them in a corner of my mouth with a bit of toothpaste and use it as gum.

I don't know other than having a very conscientious dentist! Which we have. She is manic about this and gives fab personalised advice about tooth cleaning after every check up (each of which lasts half an hour).

If it is remaining on your teeth, you will swallow it.

Our dentist says to brush teeth 3x a day (for extra cleaning and extra exposure to fluoride) but to ensure NONE is swallowed by rinsing lightly.

Anna if you use toothpaste you will swallow flouride it is impossible not to.

And if it doesn't remain on your teeth (which some will anyway even with rinsing), then it won't do anythin so why bother with it.

The idea is to maximise the exposure of teeth to fluoride and minimise the exposure of the rest of your body to fluoride. Frequent brushing with rinsing is one way of achieving this. I agree that there is no perfect solution, though.