My wife swears adults are not given a fluoride treatment during a routine cleaning, but I could swear my (prior) dentist always did! She claims adult teeth don’t need it, but doesn’t the enamel wear away without the routine cleanings WITH fluoride treatments?
Also, my wife swears she always had a gentle, light cleaning - even as a child (circa early 1970’s). Maybe my dentist was from the old school, but I could swear such gentle cleanings are a more recent development in dentistry…or my dentist simply didn’t trust these advancements (like my 98 yr old grandma has never touched her dishwasher claiming it ain’t good enough!)
Has my dentist been lying to me all these years? No wonder I once (as a boy) bit him! Well, at least I never had a cavity!
I’ve always ended a cleaning with a fluoride treatment – and this at my father’s office (he is a dentist). My brother (also a dentist) uses a fluoride rinse after brushing daily and recommended that I do so as well.
They are both primarily pediatric dentists – but as I understand it, while fluoride treatments are probably more important for children, it is still helpful for teeth of all ages. I don’t know if all dentists do it for adult patients on cleanings, but they still do for any adult patients they see.
Not only do I get a fluoride treatment after cleaning (I’m going to be 43) my dentist also gives me a 6 month supply of Gel-Kam which has about 3X the fluoride of regular toothpaste, and is used after regular brushing.
This may be a bit off topic but I was recently talking to an ethnic Armenian woman from Russia who I am helping teach English to (in the U.S.) and she said, quite eloquently I think, after being told that both of her daughters needed to have their wisdom teeth removed, “Why such a problem in U.S. in Russia, no problem, teeth good, in U.S. big problem, why in U.S. teeth no good?” Its funny to me to think about, in the U.S. I think we are a little fanatical about our teeth…but then, considering that my Grandmother was in dentures at 43, I guess it pays to be a little bit cautious about what happens in there.
That said, I don’t think I have had a flouride treatment since I was a kid…but then, I also thought that since there is flouride in a lot of our drinking water and in some toothpastes that we are pretty much covered…maybe I’m wrong though?
I lived my first 14 years where the natural fluoride content in the well water was high. A dentist told me when I was 21 that I would never have a cavity due to the fluoride. So far he was right… I’m 68 and no cavities and have all my teeth.
The addition of fluoride in the water is another can of worms. Many argue we are over-fluoriding (fluoridizing?) ourselves. The body actually gets enough from a regular diet…but then again, who eats a regular diet anymore?
We’re on unfluoridized well water, but at one point, it was suggested our little girl be given a daily dose of fluoridized liquid vitamins (via an eye-dropper). It’s so hard to know…
I gave my daughter fluoride as drops and then as tablets when we lived in an area with unfluoridated water. When she was a teen, I took her to a new dentist. He took one look at her teeth and said “She’s had fluoride tablets and drops, right?” Seems that the dentists can tell if someone has had enough fluoride in their diet to make a difference in their teeth. I’m glad I gave it to her. YMMV.
