How Long After Fluoride Treatment Can I Brush My Teeth?

Fluoride treatment is essential for healthy teeth. It adds a protective coating to your teeth that fights off bacteria which helps prevent cavities. The benefits of fluoride treatment have made it an essential component in many tooth cleaning and mouthwash products. This article aims to provide more information on fluoride treatment and how it is essential for strong, healthy teeth.

How Long Should Fluoride Stay on Teeth?

Your dentist will first do a checkup to determine if you are a good candidate for fluoride treatment. After we find you suitable for treatment, we will proceed to administer treatment in the dentist’s office.

We usually apply fluoride after cleaning, usually in the form of varnish. Once applied, the varnish sticks to the teeth for approximately 4 to 6 hours and then gets absorbed into the teeth enamel, forming a protective layer coating. The layer formed provides your teeth with additional protection from bacteria but for a limited period. Therefore, you’ll need to visit a dental clinic at least 3 times a year as the coating starts to wear off to ensure treatment is effective.

What Do You Do After Fluoride Treatment?

Before you finally decide to get fluoride treatment, you should be well aware of what we’ll be expected of you after treatment is complete. You should follow these tips after treatment to ensure your fluoride gets properly absorbed into your teeth so that the coating lasts for longer:

• Stay away from hot food and drinks shortly after the procedure.
• Don’t take alcoholic beverages.
• Avoid hard or crunchy food for the first 6 hours after the procedure is done. Instead, consume soft food such as mashed potatoes, yogurt, minced meat, and porridge oats.
• Wait for 6 hours to pass before brushing. This will ensure only the residue from the fluoride treatment comes off.

Why You Should Get Fluoride Treatment

Your mouth normally has lots of bacteria, in the count of millions, that can stay there for most of your day. The bacteria thrive on the food you eat, as it feeds on the sugar. Sugar from the food and drinks you consume gets converted into acid, which attacks the outer coating of the tooth enamel.

Usually, brushing and flossing are effective in controlling the population of bacteria in your mouth. However, since the standard toothbrush may not be able to access and clean every inch of your teeth, it may fail to clean some food particles. Accumulation of these food particles can cause bacteria to thrive, resulting in cavities.

Furthermore, the treatment can be beneficial to patients with certain conditions. For example, patients with dry mouths may be more susceptible to dental caries because of a lack of enough saliva to wash away food particles. Patients who previously had periodontitis and cavities will also benefit from the protection offered through fluoride treatment.

When you finally decide to get fluoride treatment in Edmonton, AB, the natural mineral can be absorbed into the enamel and replace most of the minerals lost after acid accumulation. This creates a vicious cycle where the minerals lost after acid attacks the tooth enamel gets replaced with the minerals from the fluoride treatment. So, the more you go to a dental clinic for fluoride treatment, the stronger your teeth’ enamel gets to repel acid attacks that usually lead to cavities in teeth without fluoride.

Why You Should Get Fluoride Treatment From a Dentist

You can get fluoride treatment from toothpaste, mouthwash, diet supplements, and regular tap water. So that begs the question, why get fluoride treatment from a dentist?

First of all, the level of fluoride concentration varies depending on where you get the fluoride. The fluoride we use at the dental clinic is highly concentrated and rich with minerals that prevent dental carries. Therefore patients can expect the fluoride treatment they get from their dentist to be much more effective against cavity-causing bacteria compared to alternative methods.

Cost of Getting Fluoride Treatment

Fluoride treatment is a part of preventive dentistry which helps save you from future dental problems, including tooth loss. Adults usually pay anything from $20 to $50, but this might be significantly lower for children since most dental insurance will cover the cost of their treatment.

Conclusion

Fluoride treatment is one of the most affordable ways to prevent dental problems in the future. We usually recommend getting fluoride treatment from a dentist near you because it’s more effective against decay and because overdosing on the treatment can harm your teeth. Visit Ellerslie Dental Clinic today for the best fluoride treatment in Edmonton, AB. Our dentist has years of experience offering affordable and effective preventive dental care.