Your smile can develop cavities if the bacteria in your mouth has the opportunity to exploit a weakened area in the tooth enamel. Cavities are more likely to occur if you drink unfluoridated water, drink a lot of acidic beverages, or don’t practice an effective oral hygiene regimen. Fortunately, our dentist can detect problems with your tooth enamel during your routine dental checkup and help prevent any cavities with fluoride supplements.
Should a weakness in the dental enamel become apparent, Dr. Mark P. Swensen and Dr. Haslam might recommend that you receive fluoride treatment at the end of your dental checkup, and this can be accompanied by a prescription for fluoride supplements to take every day.
There are many forms of fluoride supplements–they can come as gels, mouth rinses, sublingual tabs, or a concentrated fluoride toothpaste. If you are receiving an ingestible fluoride supplement, it’s important that you take it as directed. Similarly, if our dentist prescribes concentrated mouthwash or fluoride toothpaste, these should be applied your teeth at night before going to bed so that they can saturate your smile while you sleep.
You can apply supplements to your teeth at any time so long as you will be alright to avoid eating or drinking for a minimum of half an hour so that the supplement can deeply penetrate the tooth enamel through its microscopic pores.
If you have concerns about the health of your teeth or would like to receive fluoride supplements in Corvallis, Oregon, we warmly welcome you to contact North Point Dental Group, LLC at 541-754-4017 today.