Fluoride Therapy
Fluoride therapy is commonly practiced and generally agreed upon as being useful in the modern dental field. Fluoride combats the formation of tooth decay primarily in three ways:
- Fluoride promotes the remineralization of a tooth. Fluoride has been found to enhance the tooth remineralization process. The presence of this fluoride in turn attracts other minerals (such as calcium), thus resulting in the formation of new tooth mineral.
- Fluoride can make a tooth more resistant to the formation of tooth decay. The new tooth mineral that is created by the remineralization process in the presence of fluoride is actually a “harder” mineral compound than existed when the tooth initially formed.
- Fluoride can inhibit oral bacteria‘s ability to create acids. Fluoride decreases the rate at which the bacteria that live in dental plaque can produce acid by disrupting the bacteria and its ability to metabolize sugars.