# What's the straight dope on fluoride? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-fluoride/272191 "2004-10-31T20:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-fluoride/272191/21 "2004-11-01T16:47:11Z")
> [@jacknewton423](#): > > I understand that ANYTHING, in sufficient amounts, can be lethal, but is fluoride especially nefarious? Help me, my whole world is in turmoil! Relax! The amount of flouride in the water supply is quite safe. It is lower than that in some naturally occurring water supplies. Chlorine is also a highly toxic gas but is used to setrilize the water supplies across the nation. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-fluoride/272191/22 "2004-11-01T17:24:22Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Why does it matter where it comes from? True, fluoride is fluoride, acetic acid is acetic acid, and vanillin is vanillin (whether it comes from an orchid, petroleum, or from the paper industry by the oxidative breakdown of lignin.) The problem is that one cannot completely get rid of all of the possibly nasty biproducts that are floating around with the desired product. True, we can get pretty darn close. There are certain “acceptable” levels as designated by some government organization, but some people may not want to eat the levels of eugenol or hydroxybenzaldehyde that are allowed in the final product. I don’t know much about where the fluoride used in water comes from, but I wouldn’t be surprised if different sources also include different proportions of undesireable contaminants. Whether the concentrations of these contaminants are even detectable or high enough to worry about is an other matter. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-fluoride/272191/23 "2004-11-01T20:47:51Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > The amount of flouride in the water supply is quite safe. It is lower than that in some naturally occurring water supplies. Indeed, that’s how it was discovered that fluoride is beneficial for teeth - communities with fluoride-stained teeth (caused by too high natural fluoride levels) were unusually cavity-free. It took years to figure out that the fluoride was what caused both the staining and the health. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-fluoride/272191/24 "2004-11-01T22:17:25Z")
As I said before, toothpaste has fluoride up to a few parts per _thousand_. If you want to worry about anything, worry about that rather than tap water with one part per _million_. (But actually, don’t worry about that either!) ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-fluoride/272191/25 "2004-11-02T01:17:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Cool! Am I going to have a hardened flouride skeletal structure like Wolverine’s titanium bones? Ahem! Wolverine’s skeleton is plated with Adamantium, not Titanium. That is all. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-fluoride/272191.md?page=1)