Do you think fluoridating our water is bad for us?

I would like to add a few facts and opinions.

First off, I voted: "YES" that I think fluoridated WATER is bad for us.

But, I think that what happens is people get kind of lazy with their fact-checking and story telling and pretty soon you have thousands of people who think FLUORIDE is bad for them and they go out of their way and spend extra money to buy expensive, non-fluoridated toothpastes.

MOST of the intelligent debate surrounding fluoride has to do with systemic (or swallowed) fluoride and NOT with topical fluoride. I challenge you to find any credible source showing that topical fluoride is unsafe.

Fluoride is the 15th most abundent elemental mineral on planet earth.

It is found (in some level) in every single naturally occurring water source.

It is found in high concentrations in fish and seafoods.

Fluoride has absoultely NOTHING to do with mercury or amalgam fillings or mercury poisioning or anything like that.

There are 3 minerals needed to remineralize (i.e. repair) teeth and bones: calcium, phosphate and fluoride and they are needed in certain ratios. Calcium and phosphate are pretty easy to get through our diet and multi-vitamins, but to get the correct ratio of fluoride most people would need an additional fluoride source (unless your water source is naturally rich in fluoride).

Most people can get enough additional fluoride through over the counter fluoride toothpastes, rinses, foams gels etc. If you have a person who is able to spit and understand the concept of not wanting to swallow the fluoride, (typically 3-4 years old) then traditional fluoride dental products will usually be sufficient to prevent tooth decay. Some people have higher decay rates and need stronger concentrations of fluoride to accomplish the same thing. (i.e. prescription strength)

I have a problem with fluoridated water for a few reasons:

#1- it is not pharmaceutical grade fluoride, it is industrial waste

#2- it is not regulated by the FDA or the EPA, so each individual county water board is responsible for sourcing, regulating and monitoring it's own fluoridated water program and the standards are all over the place and there is very little sharing of "best practices" or consistency between counties. They generally just let the budget determine the cheapest way they can get it done and leave it at that.

#3-People have the right to refuse ANY medical treatment. Even if it was good for them, a person should have the right to a water source that does not contain a medication. It is essentially MASS MEDICATION of entire counties. I don't agree with that in theory.

However, let me say that I do use fluoridated toothpaste, and I recommend it to all my friends, family and patients. If your toothpaste doesn't have fluoride in it, then you are wasting your money. Fluoride is the ONLY active ingredient in toothpaste. Otherwise, if you want to avoid fluoride then you could just as effectively brush your teeth with a tooth brush and water and get the EXACT same results as non-fluoridated toothpaste....so don't spend $6 a tube on that CRAP!

So, in summary:

Fluoridated water= BAD
Fluoridated toothpaste = GOOD

How interesting. Really? I would get the same results without toothpaste at all? Would non-fluoridated toothpaste as least act as an abrasive to help get more bacteria off of teeth?

I'm going to check out my toothpaste now...

(ETA: I use mentadent which has 0.24% NA Fluoride. Whew~)

Leave Our Water Alone !!!!!

Interesting discussion...
I have always drank tap water, I hate bottled water both in principle and in practice. I'm 30 now, have never had a cavity, never a filling. Both my parents have fillings, all four of my grandparents had no teeth at all. Is it due to the fluoride in the water? Surely there was flouride in toothpaste back in the 60s too? I don't know. Either way...it works for me.
Dental Hygenist...do you oppose Chlorine in the water? How about iodine in table salt? Fortified Milk?

No. I think the myths surrounding fluoridated water fall into the realm of tinfoil hat conspiracy theories, or as I like to call it, the Woo Woo Train.

NBC news runs stories on what people will pay attention to as the are an ad-revenue based company.

The quick rebuttal for me is, "I didn't realize that NBC news is now a peer-reviewed scientific journal".

And these two paragraphs are what we call straw men fallacies, as I've said none of that.

All I care about is the science, not your hyperbolic scare imagery.


For instance, claiming that the H2SiF6 in fluoridated water is somehow lower grade than in other applications.

Let's go back to freshman chemistry, here: H2SiF6 is H2SiF6 no matter what the source. The atoms making up the molecules don't give a hoot about whether they were created as a byproduct in industry or in a pharmaceutical lab, it's the same chemical.

Now, you might say that the H2SiF6 released into the water is impure and contaminated with other products of industrial waste, but last I checked drinking water goes through an insanely thorough cleaning process and the federal, state, and local governments routinely test water supplies for danged near everything with ppm limits.

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Note that I'm all for standardization of practice, which hasn't occurred yet-- clearly the system isn't perfect.

You trust the government? They would never lie to us would they???
Tobacco was safe too, right? How about Celebrex and Vioxx? What about the recent tomato, chicken, beef, lettuce, spinach and the list will go on and on. What about all of those things? What about the airline flaws? I think to blindly believe everything the government tells you is not really smart. I worked for the government. The politicians are well paid by lobbyists. Please try to be a little more open minded. You my not like Micheal Moore but, he was trying to tell another side to a story. WAKE UP PEOPLE. The federal, state and county government staff just want to keep their jobs. I know I was one of them. I took your tax dollars and spent the heck of it. Did very little in return and let the federal and state officials blow smoke up the tax payers.

By the way, I am not proud of the fact I used tax payers money now that I work in a private industry. The government will tell you anything you want to hear. Again, I have been there.