ADA Recommends Early Fluoride Brushing in Children

Kids should have their teeth brushed with fluoride toothpaste as soon as they appear, according to the American Dental Association (ADA).

For decades the ADA has recommended that parents should start brushing their children's teeth two to three years after birth. Waiting till a child's baby teeth were fully grown, according to the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), was a precaution taken to reduce the chance of fluorosis in children.

Fluorosis is streaking and discoloration in a child's teeth due to early ingestion of fluoride, the main ingredient in most effective toothpastes. It should be noted that fluorosis has no other known negative effects on children.

But now the ADA is overturning their old recommendation and instead are asking parents to start brushing their children's teeth with minute amounts of fluoride tooth paste as soon as the first few baby teeth emerge. This recommendation was made in the interest of taking even more preventative measures in the fight against a rise in cases of childhood cavities first pointed out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services back in 2007.

The ADA's change in brushing recommendations came after a systematic review of 17 studies published by the JADA earlier this month. The study concluded that brushing as early as the appearance of the first tooth has demonstrated enough evidence of preventing later tooth decay that the risk of fluorosis is acceptable.

Researchers also stated in the study that it will now be up to pediatric dentists to consult caregivers in the proper use of fluoride toothpaste in children younger than two. They are confident, they wrote, that visual aid and actual demonstration showing the appropriate amount of fluoride toothpaste will significantly reduce risk of fluorosis.

The scientific study review was published in the Journal of the American Dental Association on February 1.