Healthy Food Choices for Fluoride

Fluoride is an important cavity fighter that helps us prevent tooth decay. Learn how to keep your mouth healthy and bright in this video.

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Oral health is important for nutrition status
Fluoride is a natural cavity fighter
Fluoride is important in preventing tooth decay

About this Author

Alice Merritt is currently the Campus Dietitian at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She has a masters degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in public health with a concentration on nutrition. Alice has worked as a registered dietician for four years, and believes that helping people reach their nutritional goals will lead to a long and healthy life.

ALICE MERRITT: Now I am going to talk to you about fluoride. Oral health is very important to nutrition status and a lot of times when we eat, it gets lodge in our teeth and can--bacteria can grow in it and cause cavities. Fluoride is our natural cavity fighter. Sources that you can find fluoride are things like toothpaste, mouthrinses and community water. It is important that children under the age of six have their fluoride levels monitored because it can cause permanent teeth discoloration. It is also important to make sure that you get adequate fluoride to reduce the risk of tooth decay. If we have decayed teeth and poor oral hygiene then our nutrition status can be compromised. Other things that you can do to promote oral health are things like brushing two times daily with fluoride toothpaste, flossing regularly can help get the hard to get bacteria out of your teeth, and drinking community water that is fortified with fluoride is also a healthy thing. These are all healthy things when thinking about fluoride.

Healthy Food Choices for Fluoride Video

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