California Dental Insurance – Knowing the Risks of Tasty Toothpaste for Kids.
There are many tasty toothpaste available to kids to make brushing fun and easier for the child. Kids may really love toothpaste that taste like bubble gum, therefore brush their teeth without complaint. This is helpful for a parent trying to make sure their child developing good dental habits.
However the risk is that kids toothpaste may taste too good. Therefore a child may start to eat or use too much toothpaste. Check your child toothpaste you will see that most children toothpaste will have the warning about using only a pea size amount of toothpaste and that young children should have adult supervision.
This is because of the fluoride in the toothpaste. Fluoride is good for teeth and it can strengthen teeth as well as prevent dental cavities. That’s why there is fluoride in toothpaste. But it is not good to have too much fluoride. It can cause dental fluorosis (white or brown spots on the teeth.) Preventing fluorosis is the main reason that you need to supervise brushing for young children. Also too much fluoride at once can become toxic. Many parents are surprised to learn that children’s toothpaste contains the same amount of fluoride as adult toothpaste.