 Hi everybody Andrea here. So I wanted to talk to you guys about the difference between xylitol and fluoride and what every patient should know. A lot of patients have heard about fluoride in a dental office. We apply fluoride to your teeth. That's the stuff where you typically have to wait a half an hour before eating, drinking anything because it is protecting your teeth against cavities, against sensitivities. I tell my patients it's like fluoride or sorry it's like vitamins for your teeth. It's amazing. I apply fluoride to my own teeth every six months. Actually every three months usually. I'm a mobile dental hygienist so I have all of my own supplies and materials. I just do it to myself. It's amazing. But then a lot of patients have not heard about xylitol and xylitol and fluoride work hand in hand. So what is xylitol? I might have heard of xylitol being a natural sweetener. But for your teeth, xylitol actually helps to limit the bacteria in your mouth. If there's no bacteria there's no cavities. If there's no bacteria quite often your plaque is a lot less, your tartar is a lot less. So xylitol is actually needed. For a lot of people though your mouth is fairly basic, fairly healthy so you might not need xylitol. But I feel everybody needs sodium fluoride and that can be maintained by using the right toothpaste twice a day and having your teeth cleaned every six months, at least every six months by your dental hygienist who will also apply a fluoride treatment to your teeth. But for those, and this might be you, for those who get cavities at every dental visit, you have so much plaque, so much tartar, you do brush twice a day, you don't understand how this is happening, or maybe you have cold sensitive teeth all the time. You've tried many things but nothing works. That means you also need xylitol added. There are toothpaste out there that have xylitol and sodium fluoride. You also need both. The xylitol helps to limit the bacteria in the mouth, whereas a sodium fluoride helps to actually protect the teeth so you can't get cavities. If there's a cavity in there already it helps to prevent the cavity from getting worse. So do you see how they work hand in hand xylitol preventing the bacteria and the sodium fluoride helps against cavities. They're both amazing, right? But not a lot of people know that and they just kind of brush twice a day. They wonder why they're getting cavities. It's not always as simple as eating less sugar and brushing better. But there's also mouth washes as well. So if you want to do everything you possibly can, use a toothpaste with xylitol and sodium fluoride but also a mouthwash with xylitol and sodium fluoride. If you're a dental hygienist they can kind of show you what toothpaste are out there that have both because I know the toothpaste aisle, the mouthwash aisle can be very overwhelming because you see all these toothpaste. You see all of these mouth washes and to have to look at the back and look at the ingredients is really, really difficult. I can leave some links for you guys down below but keep in mind I'm not being paid for this video so that company is not sponsoring me. This is just my personal opinion and what I recommend to my patients. So if you guys have any questions let me know to do everything you possibly can use a mouthwash and a toothpaste with xylitol and sodium fluoride. And of course you want to brush twice a day. I love to use the water pick to get in between the teeth. You also want to see your dental hygienists at least once every six months. Okay you guys, let me know if any questions and I'll see you guys in the next video.