Because any time I hear someone warning me about the evils of fluoride, I check my wallet. I mean, my wallet-sized map of southern Utah, because I wonder if I'm in one of those towns where people keep watch nights, waiting for the black helicopters to come stealthing over the hill, and to paint laser sights on the foreheads of the poor suckers whose mouths are so jacked up with fluoride, they glow on the UN peacekeeper's scopes.
I guess what I mean is, I was surprised when K2's dentist told me that she should switch to a non-fluoride toothpaste. Kids who don't spit out their toothpaste might be getting a fluoride overdose, she said. In fact, it's become such an issue these days, she said, the EPA has ratcheted back the fluoride levels in the water. There's just too damn much of it. Causes fluorosis, permanent white splotches on the little brushers' teeth.
Is this for real?
Pretty much, yeah. HHS proposed to cut recommended water fluoride levels from a range of 0.7-1.2 pmm to the lower limit, 0.7ppm in January 2011. The proposal is based on a review begun in 2006 by the EPA of fluoride and fluorosis studies, which, apparently for the first time, looked at overall levels of fluoride ingestion, not just water. And when kids swallow toothpaste, their fluoride levels increase.
All well and good, I suppose. But though the American Dental Association promptly wet its pants with glee over the HHS announcement, the Toothpaste Industrial Complex is dragging its feet. The only fluoride-free toddler toothpaste we could find has My Little Freakin' Pony all over it and tastes like corn syrup. Not helping.
HHS and EPA announce new scientific assessments and actions on fluoride [hhs.gov]
Fluoride Risk Assessment and Relative Source Contribution [epa.gov]
Orajel Toddler My Little Pony Training Toothpaste 1.5 oz (42.5 g)
Tom's of Maine flouride-free strawberry for kids
It tastes so good that they don't actually brush their teeth; they just slurp down the toothpaste and chew on the toothbrush for a little while.
We're on well water (amazing luck & an odd exception in a metro of almost 2 million) so my little devil is on fluoride, and Mrs. Teufel and I are both using fluoride rinse in addition to the toothpaste.
Gotta LOVE the taste of real, hard, unchlorinated water, and well worth the bother.
Just imagine ice cubes that DON'T taste like the local pool. :)
Fluorosis is for real, and causes pitting, striation, and permanent discoloration. My husband and I both have it from fluoride supplementation as babies. Several of the Oragel toddler pastes have sucralose (Splenda) as well. The ones with Little Bear and Thomas the Train do not. We use Spry for Toddlers with xylitol.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I don't think fluoride is safe and I don't like that it is in our drinking water!
Many adult toothpastes contain triclosan as well. Google that one...
Second that fluorosis thing. Never saw it in Canada but over in Hong Kong you'll see a few folks with the condition, definitely not uncommon from overflourdation in the 60/70's so I was told. Fortunately less of a problem now, just encourage them to spit and rinse, seems to work so far...
I guess that's a good thing?
clearly, the spit&rinse is the end game here, but it's complicated when the toothpaste tastes like candy.
Earth's Best has a toddler toothpaste that is floride free too.
Weleda makes one too.
However, my kid ended up with cavities because she didn't switch to a flouride toothpaste early enough. And this is a kid that has never tasted soda, has very limited access to candy, etc.
We taught spit and rinse at age four and have been very successfulw ith it.
Burt's Bees too: http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/toothpaste/natural-toothpaste-kids-berry-bee-without-fluoride.html
3B likes it but demands a chaser, so the taste is good, but the aftertaste...not so much.
My kids like mint, which is hard to come by as far as fluoride free kids toothpaste goes, so we use the Tom's of Maine fluoride free. My older son took a while to learn the whole spit thing, but my 23 month old does it, so sometimes when we have to use fluoride toothpaste with him I don't worry about it.
Earth's best makes one, too. But yes, Tom's is the only brand that makes a fluoride-free mint, and my little lady LOOOOOVES the mint....
Which is worse, the floride or the sugar in the flavored toothpaste? Seriously. Does your dentist even realize that kids' toothpaste often has sucrose as an ingredient?
If your toothpaste doesn't have fluoride, why even use toothpaste?
Could you just skip it and brush without?
We use the Weleda stuff, and the pediatrician prescribed fluoride chewables since our town doesn't fluoridate the water.
The first pediatric dentist we had said just use water, not toothpaste. They're too little for the spitting and the brushing is the important thing. And my 7 year old still prefers to brush with plain water if we'll let him. (not often :)
And this is why I double-checked the label of those wonderful flavored (grape, apple, etc.) kid's toothpastes I wanted to bring back from Japan -- they have flouride.
We're using the Tom's Strawberry as well.
Woah, Burt's Bees has toothpaste again? Will have to track that down. I was disappointed when they discontinued their previous toddler toothpaste. Since then, we've used mostly the Earth's Best that was already mentioned, but recently tried Melvita which has gone over well with the picky preschooler.