Expert advice on oral health care throughout the life cycle | Use fluoride toothpaste to brush your teeth and clean the gaps between teeth

Author: Tai Baojun and Liu Chang, Wuhan University Stomatological Hospital

Fluoride toothpaste is a functional toothpaste containing fluoride. The fluoride in fluoride toothpaste has the effect of preventing caries. Under normal circumstances, there is a dynamic balance of demineralization and remineralization on the surface of teeth, just like a "balance". If oral hygiene is poor, the bacteria increase, enamel demineralization worsens, the balance tilts towards demineralization, and caries forms. When brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste, fluoride can remineralize the enamel that has undergone local early demineralization in time, making the crystal structure of the teeth stronger and less susceptible to acid damage, and the balance gradually returns to balance. Therefore, fluoride toothpaste can help maintain the balance of demineralization and remineralization of enamel, preventing or reversing the occurrence of caries (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the anti-caries effect of fluoride toothpaste

Brushing teeth with fluoride toothpaste is a safe and effective anti-caries measure. When the first deciduous tooth erupts, parents can start brushing their children's teeth with fluoride toothpaste with a fluoride concentration of 500-1100 mg/kg. Infants under 3 years old can use a fluoride toothpaste about the size of a grain of rice each time. After brushing, parents use gauze to remove or tilt the child's head down to spit out the remaining toothpaste in the mouth; children aged 3 to 6 years old use a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste each time. It is recommended that parents check the effect of their children's brushing and insist on helping their children brush their teeth carefully and thoroughly every night; children over 6 years old and adults use toothpaste with a fluoride concentration higher than 1,000 mg/kg to brush their teeth, and use about 0.5 to 1 gram (about 0.5 to 1 cm in length) of fluoride toothpaste each time (Figure 2). It is recommended to brush your teeth at least twice a day, and brushing your teeth before going to bed at night is more important.

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of fluoride toothpaste dosage

Pregnant women have a higher chance of developing dental caries due to changes in hormone levels, oral environment, eating habits and oral hygiene behaviors. Therefore, pregnant women are advised to use fluoride toothpaste to brush their teeth to prevent dental caries. Elderly people are very likely to develop dental cervical and root caries due to physiological gum atrophy, which exposes tooth roots. Using fluoride toothpaste to brush teeth can effectively prevent dental caries.

Brushing teeth is a good self-care method for cleaning teeth, but it cannot clean the gaps between teeth, so it is necessary to use dental floss or an interdental brush to clean the gaps between teeth every day. For people who do not have receding gums or exposed tooth roots, dental floss should be used to clean the gaps between teeth; if the gums have already receded, an interdental brush should be used to clean larger gaps between teeth. It is recommended to use dental floss or an interdental brush to clean the gaps between teeth after each meal, and clean again before going to bed at night. After the deciduous teeth of infants and young children erupt and establish adjacent relationships, parents need to help them use dental floss, and school-age children should take the initiative to learn to use dental floss. When flossing teeth, be careful to be gentle to avoid abrasion between teeth or damage to the gums. Correct use of dental floss can prevent gingivitis and will not widen the gaps between teeth.

Figure 3 Use of dental floss

Figure 4 Use of interdental brushes

(Contributed by the Popular Science Department of the Chinese Stomatological Association and the Oral Preventive Medicine Committee of the Chinese Stomatological Association)