It is a basic overview. For extra in-depth data, see our well being skilled reality sheet.
What’s fluoride and what does it do?
Fluoride is a mineral that helps stop tooth decay and helps maintain your bones sturdy.
How a lot fluoride do I would like?
The quantity of fluoride you want every day depends upon your age and intercourse. Listed below are the typical day by day advisable quantities in milligrams (mg).
| Life Stage | Advisable Quantity |
|---|---|
| Start to six months | 0.01 mg |
| Infants 7–12 months | 0.5 mg |
| Youngsters 1–3 years | 0.7 mg |
| Youngsters 4–8 years | 1 mg |
| Youngsters 9–13 years | 2 mg |
| Teenagers 14–18 years | 3 mg |
| Grownup males 19+ years | 4 mg |
| Grownup girls 19+ years | 3 mg |
| Pregnant teenagers and girls | 3 mg |
| Breastfeeding teenagers and girls | 3 mg |
What are the sources of fluoride?
Meals and water don’t naturally include a lot fluoride. Fluoride is usually added to public faucet water—known as fluoridated water—and a few bottled waters. You should utilize this Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention useful resource
to see in case your faucet water is fluoridated.
Many of the fluoride folks get every day comes from consuming fluoridated water and from consuming meals and drinks made with fluoridated water, like tea and occasional.
Most toothpaste and a few mouthwashes additionally include fluoride. Though you shouldn’t swallow these, they nonetheless add barely to the quantity of fluoride you get every day.
What sorts of fluoride dietary dietary supplements can be found?
Just a few dietary dietary supplements, together with some multivitamin/mineral merchandise, include fluoride. Liquid fluoride drops for kids are additionally out there. Fluoride in dietary dietary supplements is normally within the type of sodium fluoride.
Am I getting sufficient fluoride?
Most individuals in america get sufficient fluoride from what they eat and drink in addition to from any dental merchandise they use.
What are some results of fluoride on well being?
Scientists are learning fluoride to know the way it impacts well being. Listed below are a number of examples of what they’ve realized.
Tooth decay
Fluoride helps defend your tooth by strengthening the outer enamel floor. When you get too little fluoride, your tooth may weaken and develop cavities. Cavities can result in ache, tooth loss, infections, and different well being issues.
Surveys present that youngsters and youngsters who drink fluoridated water have fewer cavities. Additionally, adults who drink fluoridated water have fewer decayed and crammed tooth and lose fewer tooth.
Youngsters who take dietary dietary supplements that include fluoride have a decrease danger of tooth decay and tooth loss. Many dentists suggest fluoride dietary supplements for kids dwelling in areas the place the water provide isn’t fluoridated or incorporates too little pure fluoride. We don’t know the way fluoride dietary supplements have an effect on adults.
Research recommend that giving a pregnant girl fluoride dietary dietary supplements doesn’t assist stop cavities in her baby’s tooth.
Bone fractures
Fluoride helps bones develop and keep sturdy. Some research present that taking fluoride dietary dietary supplements or consuming fluoridated water may decrease the chance of damaged bones. Different research present no impact on bone power or fracture danger.
Extra analysis is required to raised perceive if fluoride dietary dietary supplements and fluoridated water assist enhance bone well being and stop fractures.
Can fluoride be dangerous?
Infants and kids who get an excessive amount of fluoride whereas their tooth are forming can develop a situation known as dental fluorosis. This may trigger white strains or dots, stains, or small dents on the tooth. Extreme dental fluorosis is uncommon, nonetheless, and isn’t attributable to normal quantities of fluoride in public faucet water.
Swallowing extraordinarily giant quantities of fluoride from dental merchandise or dietary dietary supplements could cause nausea, vomiting, stomach ache, diarrhea, bone ache, and even loss of life in uncommon circumstances.
Getting an excessive amount of fluoride over a protracted time period can result in a situation known as skeletal fluorosis. This very uncommon situation causes joint ache and stiffness, weak bones, muscle loss, and nerve issues. It’s not attributable to normal quantities of fluoride in public faucet water.
The day by day higher limits for fluoride are listed under.
| Life Stage | Higher Restrict |
|---|---|
| Start to six months | 0.7 mg |
| Infants 7–12 months | 0.9 mg |
| Youngsters 1–3 years | 1.3 mg |
| Youngsters 4–8 years | 2.2 mg |
| Youngsters 9–13 years | 10 mg |
| Teenagers 14–18 years | 10 mg |
| Adults 19 years and older | 10 mg |
| Pregnant and breastfeeding teenagers and girls | 10 mg |
Does fluoride work together with drugs or different dietary dietary supplements?
Fluoride isn’t identified to work together or intervene with any medicines or dietary dietary supplements.
Inform your physician, pharmacist, and different well being care suppliers about any dietary dietary supplements and prescription or over-the-counter medicines you’re taking. They’ll inform you if these dietary dietary supplements may work together together with your medicines. They’ll additionally clarify whether or not the medicines you’re taking may intervene with how your physique absorbs or makes use of fluoride or different vitamins.
Healthful consuming
Individuals ought to get most of their vitamins from meals and drinks, based on the federal authorities’s Dietary Pointers for People. Meals include nutritional vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and different elements that profit well being. In some circumstances, fortified meals and dietary dietary supplements are helpful when it’s not attainable to fulfill wants for a number of vitamins (for instance, throughout particular life phases akin to being pregnant). For extra details about constructing a wholesome dietary sample, see the Dietary Pointers for People and the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) MyPlate.
The place can I discover out extra about fluoride?
- For extra data on fluoride
- For extra data on meals sources of fluoride
- For extra recommendation on selecting dietary dietary supplements
- For details about constructing a wholesome dietary sample
Disclaimer
This reality sheet by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) Workplace of Dietary Dietary supplements (ODS) supplies data that ought to not take the place of medical recommendation. We encourage you to speak to your well being care suppliers (physician, registered dietitian, pharmacist, and so forth.) about your curiosity in, questions on, or use of dietary dietary supplements and what could also be finest to your total well being. Any point out on this publication of a selected services or products, or advice from a corporation or skilled society, doesn’t signify an endorsement by ODS of that product, service, or professional recommendation.
