Topical fluoride is fluoride applied directly onto the outside of a tooth.

In kid words

"Topical fluoride just means the fluoride that goes right on the outside of your tooth, like the shiny coat painted on at a visit or the toothpaste on your brush at home." It sits right on top of your tooth rather than anywhere else. That is really the whole idea behind the word topical.

The parent version

Topical fluoride refers to fluoride applied directly to the outer surface of a tooth, rather than taken in through the body. The varnish painted on at a dental visit and the fluoride in a daily toothpaste are both topical, working right where they are placed.

That differs from fluoride reaching a tooth after being swallowed, such as through drinking water, sometimes called a systemic source, which works by a different path while teeth are still developing. Mainstream groups treat both routes as ordinary, well-established parts of children's dental care. For brushing at home, general guidance from the American Dental Association points to a smear about the size of a grain of rice for children under three, moving up to an amount about the size of a pea afterward, always with a grown-up supervising. What fits your own child's routine is worth confirming, so ask your pediatric dentist.

Where you might hear it at our office

The topical kind is what actually happens at a visit: toward the end of a routine cleaning and exam, a thin varnish gets brushed onto clean, dry teeth and sets within minutes. It is one of the last steps before your child hops out of the chair.

Whether a varnish visit fits your child's plan is worked out with your pediatric dentist, based on their own teeth. More entries from today's visit are waiting in the rest of the Kids' Dental Dictionary.

Related words

Words often mentioned nearby: fluoride, varnish and enamel.