High fluoride toothpaste (tradename Duraphat 5000ppm toothpaste > 16 years or Duraphat 2800ppm toothpaste < 16 years) can be prescribed by dental practitioners for those patients who require additional help to prevent dental decay. Some patients with disabilities can benefit from the prescription of these toothpastes twice daily on an ongoing basis until their risk of developing dental decay reduces. Good quality scientific evidence exists to show that these toothpastes can reduce dental decay in patients with dry mouth, high sugar diets or other risk factors for decay. These are safe toothpastes with few side-effects and no interaction with other medications.
Currently these toothpastes are not available routinely on the medical card and can be expensive to purchase. However, General Medical Practitioners with a medical card contract can request to add Duraphat toothpaste to a patient’s medical card medications. This can be done using the “add a specific medicine” tab on their online PCRS suite. These will be approved on a patient by patient basis. The ISDH is continuing to lobby the HSE to have their medications approved routinely on the medical card scheme.
