Fluoride – Good or Bad?

April 19, 2015
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fluoride

The internet is a wealth of information. There are so many things that many of us would never have learned if it weren’t for the immeasurable amount of information readily available through the web.

Most of us grow up with our parents, teachers and dentists telling us that daily fluoride toothpaste usage is important to our dental health. Seventy percent or more of the tap water in the United States is fluoridated. Have we been sold a lie?

Fluoride – Good or Bad? You can find many websites on one side of the fence or the other. I have read a few and made my own choice. Here are a few points that helped me make my decision.

 

  • Fluoride is classified as a drug by the FDA when it is used to prevent disease. Therefore, water fluoridation is a mass involuntary medication of society.
  • About ninety percent of the fluoride used in water fluoridation is a byproduct of phosphate fertilizer manufacturing.
  • Research has found that fluoride is most effective when applied topically, as in a fluoride toothpaste.
  • Excess fluoride can cause skeletal fluorosis or pitted and discolored teeth and bones.
  • Fluoride accumulates in the body. The liver helps to get rid of about fifty to 60 percent of fluoride, but the rest is left to accumulate.
  • Animal research has shown fluoride to be a neurotoxin, meaning it can cause damage to the brain.
  • There are many different sources of fluoride besides water and toothpaste.
  • Once fluoride is put into water, there is no control over the dosage that each person gets.

fluoride

My family & I are still involuntarily drinking fluoridated water, but we have stopped using fluoride toothpaste.  When we were still using fluoride toothpaste, my daughter had four cavities at one dentist visit. We have been using non-fluoride toothpaste for more than three years now, and she hasn’t had a single cavity. My grandmother was a dental assistant, so the whole fluoride toothpaste thing was drilled into me, so I was more than a little worried about what my daughter’s first dental visit was going to be like after we made the switch to non-fluoride toothpaste. And when I told the dentist that we had done that, he didn’t freak out and try to push us back the other way. He just said that as long as she brushes and flosses well, there shouldn’t be a problem.

You can do some research and learn more about it yourself. Here are a few websites that have good information.

Water fluoridation controversy

50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation

Skeletal Fluorosis

Facts About Fluoridation

What’s your take on fluoride? Are you keeping or quitting fluoride? Let me know in the comments section.