According to an article published online by webmd.com – a medical news site, fluoride is a mineral that occurs naturally in many foods and water.

The site added that fluoride also helps to prevent tooth decay by making the tooth more resistant to acid attacks from plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth. It also reverses early decay.

However, speaking with PUNCH Healthwise in an interview Ehizele who is also a periodontist said, “If what you are using the toothpaste for is just to clean the teeth, that is your daily routine oral hygiene, rinse it out.

“You don’t need to leave toothpaste on your teeth. The fluoride in our environment is good enough for what you want but if you have a softened enamel, you need to see a dentist to fill it up, just leaving fluoride on the surface of the teeth will not be beneficial. Fluoride can be found in your salt, milk, and water.

“You don’t need to leave fluoride in your mouth, it is not necessary. Even if you leave fluoride until tomorrow, you still need to work on the underlying condition you have. But if it is just normal oral hygiene, just rinse after brushing.”

Ehizele also noted that there can be an overdose of fluoride called fluorosis, especially in children.

To curb the overdose, she cautioned against filling the toothbrush with paste stating that a pea-sized quantity is ideal for children. “You don’t need to cover up the whole toothbrush,” she said.

Ehizele added that applying toothpaste containing fluoride and other necessary components is a therapy prescribed by dentists to patients who have a tooth condition.

“Some toothpaste doesn’t have only fluoride they also have some irons that would be used to block tubules so if that is what you are using, the dentist would ask you to apply and leave it on the surface but if it is just the normal daily toothpaste for brushing, you just need to brush and rinse out because there are other sources of fluoride,” she said.

source: Healthwise