White Fluoride Stains Are Nothing To Worry About

Back when American settlers first built farms and towns in the west, some areas started to develop something called the Colorado brown stain.  This is where brown stains and pits would start to show up on teeth, especially among kids who grew up in the region.  Scientists and doctors soon discovered that these stains were connected to a large concentration of fluoride in the drinking water, but they also noticed that people with Colorado brown stain suffered fewer and smaller cavities than the national average.

In the 1940s, dentists started experimenting with adding very small amounts of fluoride to city water supplies and found out it could protect against cavities without the ugly brown stains.  It wasn’t long before other cities across America started doing the same thing, and these days almost every major city offers fluoridated water.  This helps keep tooth decay down nationwide and especially helps those who can’t afford regular visits to the doctor.  These days, a lot of toothpaste formulas also come with fluoride, improving its ability to protect your teeth from bacteria and decay.

However, there is one side effect of fluoridation you might have noticed, especially on your kids.  The Colorado brown stain is better known today as fluorosis, but the fluoride in water isn’t anywhere near enough to cause brown stains (drink nothing but fluoridated water and brush with fluoride toothpaste twice every day and you still won’t get close to the fluoride you’d need to cause brown stains).  Still, it is enough to cause a milder form of fluorosis that leaves white stains and streaks on your teeth.

Still, not only is this form of fluorosis much less visible, it’s also much less permanent.  In almost every case, the white stains will vanish after a few years.  This is because the stains form on your adult teeth while they’re still developing but then go away as your tooth enamel naturally starts to wear away with age.

So if you ever see an article or image warning you about white stains on your teeth or about the dangers of fluoride and fluorosis, you can rest easy knowing that the fluoride added to water has a strong and proven ability to prevent cavities and won’t do anything permanent to the color or shape of your teeth.  When measured out and applied by professionals, fluoride is definitely your friend.