Medical freedom vs. public health: Should fluoride be in our drinking water?
Medical freedom vs. public health: Should fluoride be in our drinking water?
Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.
Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.
The culture wars have a new target: your teeth.
Communities across the U.S. are ending public water fluoridation programs, often spurred by groups that insist that people should decide whether they want the mineral — long proven to fight cavities — added to their water supplies.
The push to flush it from water systems seems to be increasingly fueled by pandemic-related mistrust of government oversteps and misleading claims, experts say, that fluoride is harmful.
“The anti-fluoridation movement gained steam with Covid,” said Dr. Meg Lochary, a pediatric dentist in Union County, North Carolina. “We’ve seen an increase of people who either don’t want fluoride or are skeptical about it.”
There should be no question about the dental benefits of fluoride, Lochary and other experts say. Major public health groups, including the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support the use of fluoridated water. All cite studies that show it reduces tooth decay by 25%.
The thing that seriously hurts those anti-fluoridation nuts is that fluoride can naturally be in water supplies and there are water supplies with higher PPM fluoride amounts than municipalities that add them in the U.S., but there don't appear to be any increased health issues.
Not that such people generally care.
They have their freedom, they are free to do whatever they want to filter their own drinking water. They're free to buy or produce distilled water for all their consumption. They're free to only ever drink beer. But the drinking water provided as a public good should be maintained for the good of the public, and when the studies are pretty clear that fluoridated water fights tooth decay, then fluoridated water it is.
Hey, a article that bucks Betteridge's Law.
Of course there's no question, yes, and Republicans and communities should be ashamed at being this stupid to cater to such a dumb, ridiculous, and small group of idiots and are going to cost everyone more in dental insurance to socialize the cost of their stupidity.
I'm very much on the pro-flouride but it came up in a conversation with my coworker who won't drink tap water.
I said that in a country without universal healthcare, fluoride is free dental care. He said he agreed about the benefit to teeth but his concern was with what it might do to your body. He's a health nut but not a conspiracy theories and I was really thrown off and didn't have a counterpoint.
I just assumed it was fine because I knew fluoride is often found in water naturally...but...can someone with more knowledge tell me how they would have replied? I don't like speaking on things I can't back up with data so I just let it go
All cite studies that show it reduces tooth decay by 25%
But because of my sugar intake, my teeth are shit anyway
/s
Yes. The answer is yes.
The only thing "bad" about flouride I know that is true is that it can lower DHT levels in your blood. I put bad in quotes because I don't know what DHT actually does, but the conspiracy I've heard is that DHT is needed to dream and imagine, so by drinking fluoridated water you're destroying your own creativity or whatever.
I always thought it was funny.
Man, are these conspiracy nuts gonna be mad when they accidently ban us removing fluoride from water with dangerous concentrations. The amount of fluoride we shoot for would require a 155 lb person to drink around 5000 gallons.
Apparently the Netherlands stopped adding fluoride to the drinking water decades ago (due to idiots). It is in toothpaste. Which then gets into the sewer which then gets into the drinking water.
Dutch article: https://www.drinkwaterplatform.nl/fluoride-in-drinkwater-alle-vragen-en-antwoorden/
Just let the fuckers teeth fall out already. I am tired of so much effort being spent on people who clearly want to die. It is everything, from seatbelts to motorcycle helmets to vaccines to transfats to HFC drinks. They want to die? Let them. Maybe darwinism will save us from them maybe it won't but at least we can all stop hearing about it.
Flouride my drinking water all day long baby!
Yes
I tried fluoride-free toothpaste for one year during college. Came home for the summer with 12 cavities.
Fluoride works people.
General Ripper has entered the chat.
it SHOULD be up to the individual whether they want fluoride in the water they're drinking. this is not like vaccines, where unvaccinated people are a risk to everyone around them.
edit: adding this https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/fluoridated-drinking-water/
and key takeaway: The Cochrane report also concluded that early scientific investigations on water fluoridation (most were conducted before 1975) were deeply flawed. “We had concerns about the methods used, or the reporting of the results, in … 97 percent of the studies,” the authors noted. One problem: The early studies didn’t take into account the subsequent widespread use of fluoride-containing toothpastes and other dental fluoride supplements, which also prevent cavities. This may explain why countries that do not fluoridate their water have also seen big drops in cavity rates (see chart).
I am once again saying: Why not hydroxyapitite? A form of calcium, same as our teeth/bones. It even has water management uses because it adsorbs other stuff like fluoride and lead, which actually makes finding info about its addition to water for the purpose of teeth health difficult.
Though it seems like hydroxyapatite water would also make fluoride toothpaste even more effective.
The mineral ions introduced during remineralisation restore the structure of the hydroxyapatite crystals. If fluoride ions are present during the remineralisation, through water fluoridation or the use of fluoride-containing toothpaste, the stronger and more acid-resistant fluorapatite crystals are formed instead of the hydroxyapatite crystals.
Hey how come the government gets to put water in my pipes at all? There my pipes! True freedom is them being completely empty.
I'm a sane libertarian (I promise some of us do exisit). People absolutely have a right to determine what goes in to their body, but fluoride is such a weird hill to die on. In particular when fortified grains are a mandate of the same ilk. All of this has a history, and shocker, it was always steeped in the same "but our culture" wrapping...
Edit: tl;Dr if you don't want to watch the video: and pellagra was proven to be one of those diseases that is zero problem... So long as your diet doesn't suck. The science had push back because it upset the economics. We're fighting the same battles now we were then.
Edit2: yes. I'm a libertarian, because as much as they're freaking nuts it still stems from a disagreement of a stated principle. A principle which had them back a ton of LGBTQ rights before anyone else. I'm voting Biden in 2024, strictly because I'd like to vote in 2028, but godamn this is how 2016 happened.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=reYKBgdrZsM&pp=ygUWUGVsbGFncmEgZXh0cmEgaGlzdG90eQ%3D%3D
This comes up in Portland periodically as we are one of the few places that DOESN'T fluoridate water.
When you do the research on it, you find some fascinating things:
Applying fluoride topically through toothpaste or mouthwash unequivocably works wonders for tooth decay.
There is no evidence drinking it as part of the water supply does ANYTHING. Positive or negative.
You have to understand one big thing... The first municipality to add fluoride to water did so in 1945.
The first fluoridated toothpaste wouldn't hit the market until 1955, 10 years later (thanks Crest!)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/second-thoughts-on-fluoride/
So when you look at studies trying to determine if drinking water as a source is effective, you need to immediately ignore any study done before the introduction of fluoridated toothpaste and mouthwash.
Isn't fluoride in drinking water illegal in quite a few countries?
Anyway, I intentionally bought a home with a well and will be outfitting the home with a reverse osmosis system that also re-mineralizes the filtered water.
Fluoride is the least of my worries.. all the byproducts that are in the water drinking supply (from city controlled water) is wild. Endocrine disruptors? No thanks, brah. Also don't forget plastic bottled water is also a big no no. But that's my opinion for my health.
Ok so seems clear to me there's no real harm, but is there alleged benefit for adults? I've never had to rely on a municipal well so as a kid I had fluoride treatments and used fluoridated paste, but always thought it was just for kids. Is there benefit for me as a 40yo (with no cavities if it matters)?
Imagine how cheap flouride would be if big aluminum lost that contract. Big Toothpaste at it again.
I've heard fluoride builds up in your bones so it's one of those negative health effects that's hard to study. But even if fluoride is safe I think it's effect is way oversold by pro fluoride people.
The dental health in the US is absolutely atrocious with fluoride in the water and it's primarily due to a lack of healthcare coverage.
It's pretty clear to me that pro fluoride advocates are hypocrites more interested in imposing their authority on people and collecting moral and political authority then doing anything that would substantially help people suffering from poor dental health.
No, but not for any health reasons, it just tastes like shit lol
Even prominent evidence based nutrition doctors have changed their tune on fluoride. WFPB promoting non-profit NutritionFacts.org put out a couple videos detailing the history of use, current and past medical literature on the topic, as well as the recent change in support by some doctors. The issue here shouldn’t be the crazies, as they will always be crazy. The issue here should be the changing science which has recently changed some minds.
Fluoride does in fact reduce tooth decay and cavities. It can also have effects on young children which has been a recent development. Some doctors have even recommended that children under 2 not use fluoride.
I always think the crazies need to be dismissed, as they will always be crazy, but the media will try to paint all who are sceptical with the same brush for ease and to preemptively insinuate if anyone questions fluoride, you’re joining their company.
Vid1 - Is Water Fluoridation Safe?
Vid2 - Why I Changed My Mind on Water Fluoridation
Vid3 - Medicines Response to the Changing Science on Fluoride Safety