Birth to 5

Editor’s Note: Fluoride added to tap water has, for a generation, been a controversial issue in Southern California. However, it is supported by the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, which supplies this monthly article and sees, firsthand, the challenges of early-age tooth decay. For comments, go to ocfamily.com and click on “Feedback.”

It’s a month into the New Year, and how are those resolutions? Whether or not you made any (or already broke them), here’s a resolution that your whole family can keep without straining your pocketbook or your schedule: Have healthier teeth.

How to do it? It’s easy: Drink your tap water. Most water has some natural fluoride in it, some at higher levels than others, and this is how the benefits of fluoride in water first became known. More than 60 years of scientific research and experience have found that people living in communities with fluoridated water have healthier teeth and fewer cavities than people living where water is not fluoridated.

How does that work?
Tooth enamel and the material underneath are made mostly of calcium and phosphate. Tooth decay occurs when acids from bacteria in the mouth dissolve or “demineralize” the tooth. Fluoride strengthens the protective layer of tooth enamel and slows down or stops tooth decay. In fact, fluoride can reverse newly formed cavities by “remineralizing” the tooth. Water fluoridation has made such a difference in preventing tooth decay, it has been called one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

Orange County gets fluoride boost
Orange County’s water does not contain enough naturally occurring fluoride to provide the optimum benefit for preventing tooth decay. So last October, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California began adding fluoride to drinking water in Orange County to reach the optimal level that has been set by the California Department of Public Health (0.7-1.2 parts per million).

Be careful about giving too much fluoride to infants
Fluoride is important for the health of your child’s teeth (and teeth of all ages). Specifically for baby teeth, studies have shown that fluoridated water reduces tooth decay between 30% and 60%.
Breastfeeding your baby is best, but if your baby (under 12 months) gets most of his or her nutrition from formula, the American Dental Association recommends ready-to-feed formula instead of formula mixed with fluori-dated water to help ensure that your baby does not get too much fluoride.

If you do use concentrated infant formula (liquid or powdered), mix it with water that is either fluoride-free or water that contains low levels of fluoride (such as water labeled as purified, demineralized, deionized, distilled or reverse-osmosis filtered water). But don’t worry – the occasional drink of water containing optimal levels of fluoride should not increase your baby’s risk for dental fluorosis

(a minor cosmetic effect resulting from too much fluoride).

This article was supplied by the Children and Families Commission of Orange County. For information, visit ochildrenandfamilies.com. For opposing views, go to Fluoride Action Network, at fluoridealert.orghttp://www.fluoridealert.org.

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Resources:

>> For information on fluoride in Orange County’s water, visit the Metropolitan Water District’s website: mwdh2o.com.

>> For information on fluoride and young children, see the American Dental Association’s website: ada.org.

>> Did you know there are dentists who are trained to provide care specifically for young children? Find a pediatric dentist in Orange County by logging on to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry website: aapd.org.

>> Beginning this month, the new exhibit “MouthPower” at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana will give kids 8 hands-on stations where they can discover the power of a healthy smile.