Tag: topical/systemic

When water fluoridation first began in the 1940s, dentists believed that fluoride’s main benefit to teeth came from being swallowed during the tooth-forming years. Today, the overwhelming consensus by dental researchers is that fluoride’s primary effect is topical, not systemic, and that this topical effect occurs after the teeth have erupted into the mouth (i.e., post-eruptive), not before. There is no need, therefore, to swallow fluoride, especially during infancy and early childhood.