Transcript The Mineral Project: Fluoride Edition

The Mineral Project:
Fluoride Edition
By: Jack C and Lucas D
Question History:

We have had many different iterations of this question. Here is our question
history:

What minerals are in our toothpaste?

How does Fluoride in our toothpaste affect our teeth?

How does Fluoride affect our breath and the strength of our teeth when we
brush?

How does the Fluoride in our toothpaste affect the strength and color of our
teeth?

How does Fluoride in our toothpaste affect our tooth enamel, in terms of
color and strength of our teeth? (Final Question)
Original Assumption

We original assumption was that when you wet the toothpaste on your brush
and it makes contact with your teeth, the tooth absorbs the fluoride, and
strengthens the roots of your teeth. We also assumed that the fluoride
bleaches your teeth to make them whiter.
Definitions:

Tooth Enamel: One of the four major tissues in our teeth. It is the white part
of the tooth that you can see and feel, as it covers the crown.

Tooth Decay (Demineralization): The breakdown of your tooth enamel through
bacteria

Remineralization: The restoration of your teeth’s minerals

Plaque: A think, sticky substance that covers teeth enamel, making their
appearance darker

Acids: A substance that breaks down tooth enamel, and causes
demineralization of teeth
How does Fluoride help your tooth enamel, in
terms of strengthening your teeth?

Some toothpaste’s contain fluoride. Fluoride is a mineral that, when comes in
contact with the outer layer of a tooth (Tooth enamel), it attacks acid and
bacteria (Plaque). After it targets and eradicates the bacteria, it helps with
the remineralization process, in which it rebuilds and heals tooth enamel.

Fluoride in our toothpaste doesn’t fully prevent cavities, but it does control
the rate at which they form. So if someone brushes their teeth a lot, they
won’t get cavities.
How does fluoride in our toothpaste help
our tooth color?

Fluoride doesn’t directly affect the color of your teeth, but it does affect
your tooth enamel. Like we said in the previous slide, fluoride targets and
eradicates plaque and bacteria.

When you smile, light reflects off your teeth. So, if you have more plaque
covering your teeth when you smile, the light won’t reflect as bright, making
your teeth have a duller look. If you brush your teeth a lot, and there isn’t a
lot of plaque covering your enamel, the light will reflect off your teeth, and
shine brighter.
Wrap-Up:

Why is this important:
Teeth are very important to how a person looks, and people don’t want to see
teeth with holes in them. This is also important because we believe that people
would want to know how to prevent their teeth from decaying, so they can live a
cleaner, happier life. Now, please take the survey we are about to give.

What did we wanted to learn/ accomplish:
We didn’t just want to learn our topic, we wanted to lean how to narrow down
our research, and really focus on one topic. We also learned and accomplished
delving further into information.
Wrap-Up (Continued):

Obstacles:
We faced many different obstacles while doing this project. We went through
about three different topics about baseball bats and evoshieds, and finally found
the topic about fluoride. We got shot down many different times when we called
different places, yet we kept on going, and found the answer to our questions.

Moving forward:
We will continue to look into this topic. We actually found this really, really
interesting. This taught us a lot about tooth care, and what toothpastes were
most affective in taking care of plaque.
Soures

Sighted Sources:
"Learn More About Toothpastes." Learn More About Toothpastes. N.p., n.d. Web. 26
Mar. 2015.
"How Does Tooth Whitening Work?" Dental Tooth Bleaching. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar.
2015.
"How Does Fluoride Strengthen Teeth and Why Add It to the Public Water Supply?"
Tufts Now. N.p., 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
"Search for Colgate-Palmolive Products and Information." Search for ColgatePalmolive Products and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
"How Does Tooth Enamel Affect the Color of My Teeth? - Healthy Teeth & Mouth."
Sharecare. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Picture Sources

Picture Sources:
"Good Oral Hygiene Starts at a Young Age." Good Oral Hygiene Starts at a Young Age. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
"The Tooth Decay Process: How to Reverse It and Avoid a Cavity." NIDCR-. N.p., n.d. Web. 29
Mar. 2015.
"Adding Fluoride to Public Water Supplies." Biology Notes for IGCSE 2014. N.p., n.d. Web. 29
Mar. 2015.
"TopDentist-NY.com." TopDentist-NY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
"Question Mark Clip Art | Clipart Panda - Free Clipart Images." Question Mark Clip Art |
Clipart Panda - Free Clipart Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Questions? Concerns?