When you go to buy toothpaste, you probably just grab your favorite flavor off the shelf. Have you ever wondered if that’s good enough for your teeth? In many cases, the answer is yes. If you have low risk of cavities and no oral complications, you may be fine using your regular Crest or Colgate Total. If you’ve had some dental work done and are at a higher risk for things like cavities and gum disease, however, you many want to talk to your dentist about getting yourself on a prescription toothpaste.

There are several reasons why you would need prescription toothpaste, and those are the things you will want to discuss with your dentist. Flintlock Dental will take a look at prescription toothpaste and list a few of the reasons you may want to use it below:

What’s Different About Prescription Toothpaste?

A good prescription toothpaste is one that has a higher concentrate of fluoride in it. This higher ratio in your toothpaste can help with a wide variety of issues, depending on why you need it. This is a toothpaste that your dentist will need to prescribe to you. They should also give you instructions on how to use it safely and effectively.

Who Needs Prescription Toothpaste?

There are many more people out there who need to be using a prescription toothpaste than currently are, and most of these people are unaware that they could benefit from the change. Let’s go over some causes and symptoms that may make a patient want to use a high-fluoride prescription toothpaste:

• Active cavities.
• Exposed root surface.
• History of cavities within the last two to three years.
• Dry mouth.
• Any type of tooth or gum sensitivity.
• Large numbers of fillings or crowns present.
• Currently in braces.

As you may imagine, there are more people than not who will fall into any one or more of these categories. With regular visits, you should be able to stay on top of these issues and talk to your dentist about a prescription toothpaste that will work best for you.

What are the Benefits of Prescription Toothpaste?

With a wide range of patients needing to use prescription toothpaste, it’s designed to offer several benefits. Let’s take a look at some of those benefits:

• It will reduce your risk of developing cavities.
• It can remineralize the areas of demineralized enamel. (But does not patch up enamel that has completely worn through.)
• It can stop the existing cavities form getting larger.
• It has a lower abrasiveness than most over-the-counter toothpastes.

In tests, the use of prescribed toothpaste has helped many people have far fewer active cavities and far more arrested cavities. The higher fluoride toothpaste prescribed by a dentist can actually help to stop the spread of existing cavities and help prevent them from forming!

If you think that you may need to have higher fluoride toothpaste, then it’s best for you to set up an appointment with your dentist and see what they have to offer you.

If you want more info on oral health, check out Flintlock Dental’s other blogs, such as this one that goes over tooth whitening techniques!