What is fluoride?
Fluoride is more than just a gross tasting liquid the dentist makes you put in your mouth! It's actually a chemical that's found naturally on Earth, and it has some really good benefits for teeth. It mixes with enamel (the hard outer part of your teeth) to make teeth stronger, so sugar and germs can't get in and cause cavities and toothaches. One of the most common places to find fluoride is in water. It shows up there on its own, but many cities choose to add even more fluoride to their water, so that people will have stronger teeth! So, you don't just get fluoride when you're at the dentist. You also get it when you drink water. It also shows up in a lot of toothpaste too!
(by Lauren Orkus)
Exploration
Tooth TriviaHuman beings (people) have a single row of teeth on the top and bottom of our mouths. Most people have 20 baby teeth, which fall out and get replaced by 32 adult teeth.Sharks are a bit different. Some sharks have two or three rows of teeth, one behind the other. And they fall out a lot more than humans' teeth do! Some sharks lose over 30,000 teeth in their lifetime! That's much more than 20. This is because sharks have many rows of replacement teeth, so teeth can keep falling out again and again. New ones will grow back.Humans aren't as lucky. We have only one set of adult teeth, which is why it's super important that we take care of them.