Fluoride and dental health

Abstract

Fluoride plays an important role in the prevention of dental caries. Dental caries has remained  a global public health concern and is  responsible for the highest cause of patient visits to the  dental clinic. To review fluoride and dental health, an electronic search of  scientific literature  was conducted. Database searches were carried out using the terms: “fluoride and oral health”,  “sources of  fluoride”, “water fluoridation”, “fluoride application”, “adverse effects of fluoride”,  and “functions of fluoride in dental health”. There  were several works of the literature identified  to be related to the subject but only 50 met the inclusion criteria of being published from  2017 to  2021 and they were subsequently reviewed. 32 of the literature reviewed were selected from  peer-reviewed journals, 6 from  corporate organizations and 12 were articles assessed via Google  Scholar. The review observed that fluoride was effective in the control  of dental caries and by  extension improvement of dental health. However, excessive ingestion of fluoride was  responsible for certain  side effects, chiefly, dental fluorosis. Therefore, fluoride when delivered  appropriately is safe and an effective means of curbing dental  caries without any corresponding  side effects.