I keep hearing on these news shows how some doctors r saying we should avoid flouride. What’s the deal - is it poison, and worth it to find toothpaste without it? Or is it fine to brush the teeth long as we don’t swallow it? Is it effective to brush teeth with just baking soda?
Who are these “some doctors” and what are their qualifications?
Facts: fluoride prevents tooth decay. It’s a major reason young adults today have far, far fewer cavities than young adults of earlier generations (the other is the promotion of regular brushing). Baking soda will get your teeth clean but it would provide the same level of decay protection. Like many things, too much of it is unhealthy but the levels in drinking water and toothpaste are not harmful unless you make a habit of eating toothpaste sandwiches.
Dentist here, sure it is a poison in the wrong amounts. Plenty of things are dose related. Vitamin A is great for you in small doses but too much will kill you. Chlorine is a great poison but it is in the water you brush your teeth with. In the right amounts floride greatly strengthens your teeth. The amounts we use for brushing are safe, but don’t try to eat a couple of tubes of toothpaste at one time. Baking soda is a great toothpaste for cleaning but doesn’t strengthen the enamel the way flouride does.
fl U O ride
I find it humorous that the anti-fluoride folks have no problem swimming in pools containing chlorine. Don’t they know chlorine is a poison? :eek:
Some places have it in the water naturally. Research showed that children in those places had fewer dental problems than elsewhere. Fluoride is routinely added to drinking water in many places in the UK now.
As I understand it, cooking in aluminium pots is more dangerous.
Dihydrogen monoxide in excessive amounts can be extremely deadly too.
Fluoride is vary bad—for dentists.
The anti-fluoride folks also believe GMO foods are bad, vaccines are bad, etc. It’s all the same crowd.
You ever seen a Russkie drink water?
Vodka. That’s what your average Russkie drinks. There’s no flouride in vodka.
And, did you know that they’re even putting flouride in ice cream? Children’s ice cream?
Here is the American Dental Association’s take on the subject, chock full of cites to studies and papers indicating that fluoridation of water and/or toothpastes appears to be safe. The comprehensive discussion on potential health effects begins on page 22. Enjoy.
If you can’t be bothered, the highest risk seems to be for the development of a condition called dental fluorosis in children who ingest higher-than-recommended amounts of fluoride (usually through fluoridated toothpastes, as fluoridated water alone normally does not reach concentrations that could result in the condition).
Ok, I’m not a dental professional, but I don’t see anything to dispute in the referenced paper.
My understanding is that fluoride is primarily helpful for infants and has little effect on people over twelve. It has been shown to weaken bone strength in the elderly, and that it’s inclusion in baby formulas, juices, and other sources of fluoride can lead to fluorosis in children.
Of the three specific claims made in the quoted post, the first two apparently are bogus:
Only the last assertion appears to have any basis in fact, but the issue of fluorosis is somewhat complex, so interested parties should read pages 28-31 of the cited paper to have a better understanding of the issue.
Even here:
In other words, fluorosis, which in its mildest forms is a condition that primarily affects tooth appearance than actual health, generally results from overuse of fluoride-containing supplements which are easily controlled.
[Tin Foil Hat on]FLUORIDE IS THE GATEWAY TO LSD IN THE WATER AS PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST CONSPIRACY!!!1!!ONE[/Tin Foil Hat off]
Increased risk of hip fracture and fluoridation bibliography: FLUORIDE & BONE: An Annotated Bibliography
It needs re-emphasizing how frail any argument is that rests upon claims by “some doctors” - without specifying who these doctors supposedly are, what their fields of alleged expertise comprise and (if they have any actual training/expertise in the subject under discussion), what percentage of their peers agree with them.
For virtually any health claim (especially ones popular in the world of woo) you can find “doctors” who support it. You can find online lists/petitions citing an array of doctor types. Typically however the vast majority of these doctors are chiropractors, naturopaths, folks with PhDs in English, holders of dubious degrees from online schools - hardly ever physicians or dentists who are knowledgeable in the subject area.
The evidence is solid that fluoride added to drinking water and toothpaste is a safe and effective means of lowering incidence of cavities* (note should be made of the fact that dentists overwhelmingly support fluoridation, even though it costs them money to be earned by treating rotten teeth).
*“These systematic reviews concluded that:
• Water fluoridation reduces the prevalence of
dental caries (% with dmft /DMFT > 0) by 15%
and in absolute terms by 2.2 dmft/DMFT (5).
• Fluoride toothpastes and mouthrinses reduce the
DMFS 3-year increment by 24–26% (7, 8).
• There is no credible evidence that water fluoridation
is associated with any adverse health
effects.”
Note: DMFT = decayed, missing and filled teeth. DFMS = decayed, missing and filled surfaces.
“The overall effectiveness of fluoride supplements has been estimated to provide 20% to 30% reduction in dental disease.”
http://health.mo.gov/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Adair-2006.pdf
The chemical name for water is oxidane, not dihydrogen monoxide as commonly/wrongly mentioned. It is a chemical like methane that does not follow standard naming protocol. Even at that, they still recommend you just use the word water.
So if you’re going to be witty, say that oxidane is fatal.
Most of those references are in respect to the therapeutic use of fluoride and, absolutely, show that fracture rates are increased. But, please, no one is suggesting that we prescribe pharmacologic doses of fluoride.
The “controversy”, if any, is over fluoridation of drinking water where fluoride levels are an order of magnitude lower (at least). For fluoride at those much lower levels, the evidence suggest a protective effect of water fluoridation on the development of fractures (cited in the Wiki article here. Other references, older, also exist to show the same result).
My high school chemistry teacher called it hydrogen hydroxide.
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Hydrolysis.html
Well… dihydrogen monoxide is dangerous non the less