Do your children need more fluoride?
Have an appointment with your child's paediatrician and ask whether you child needs fluoride supplements. These supplements are important if your drinking water does not have sufficient fluoride in it. Teeth need fluoride to develop and strengthen.
How much fluoride is enough for your children?
The American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry have developed the following guidelines in order to determine whether a child will need fluoride supplements or not.
For children that are less than six months old, no fluoride supplementation is needed. If the fluoride in the water is more than 0.6 parts per million then no fluoride supplementation is needed. If your child is six months old to three years old and if the fluoride is from 0.3 to 0.6 parts per million of water then no fluoride supplementation is needed. 0.25 milligrams of fluoride supplements per day is needed if your child is six months to three years old and is receiving less then 0.3 fluoride parts per million of water. This level of fluoride supplements is also needed if your child is three years old to six years old and is receiving 0.3 to 0.6 fluoride parts per million of water. 0.5 milligrams of fluoride supplements per day is needed if your child is three years old to six years old and is receiving less then 0.3 fluoride parts per million of water. This level of fluoride supplements is also needed if your child is six years old to sixteen years old and is receiving 0.3 to 0.6 fluoride parts per million of water. 1 milligram of fluoride supplements per day is needed if your child is from six years old to sixteen years old and is receiving less than 0.3 fluoride parts per million of water.
How will you find out whether your water is fluoridated or not?
If you are drinking public water then all you have to do is to contact your town or your city office. If you don't have a telephone directory then look for your water bill. There will be a contact number for your water supplier there.
If you are drinking well water then you should contact your state or county health department for a list of approved laboratories that can test your water for fluoride levels. You may have to pay a fee ranging from twenty to forty dollars in order to have your water sample tested.
Aside from the water your drink at home, you should think about the other sources of water your child drinks from. Think about the water that your child will drink from your child day care centre, the school, or maybe the house of their grandparents. Moreover, some foods and beverages may contain fluoride too. If the food was made with fluoridated water then you can be certain that the food or beverage has fluoride in it as well.
Most bottled water does not contain fluoride but some bottled fluoridated water is made specifically for children.
Can you get overdosed with fluoride?
It is possible to get overdosed with fluoride. The most common result is a condition called fluorosis. This is when the teeth have white spots or streaks on them. Severe fluorosis will result in pits in the teeth. There will also be gray, black, and brown spots. There are also instances where the enamel is misshaped.
Just like any prescription, fluoride supplements must be used as directed. It must be kept out of reach of children. Fortunately, fluoride is only toxic at very high doses. For instance, the toxic dose for a twenty two pound child is three hundred and twenty milligrams whilst for a forty five pound child it is six hundred and fifty five milligrams. Note that an eight ounce glass of water fluoridated to one part per million parts of water contains only a quarter of a milligram of fluoride.