This can result in a depletion of calcium in bone structures and higher-than-normal concentrations of calcium in the blood. In , a report was published suggesting that exposure to fluoride before birth could lead to poorer cognitive outcomes in the future. The researchers measured fluoride levels in women during pregnancy and in their children between the ages of 6 and 12 years.
They tested cognitive ability at the ages of 4 years and between 6 and 12 years. Higher levels of fluoride were associated with lower scores on IQ tests. In , fluoride was documented as a neurotoxin that could be hazardous to child development, along with 10 other industrial chemicals, including lead, arsenic, toluene, and methylmercury. According to the International Association of Oral Medicine and Toxicology IAOMT , an organization that campaigns against the use of added fluoride, it may also contribute to the following health problems:.
This will not result from drinking tap water. It is only likely to happen in cases of accidental contamination of drinking water, due, for example to an industrial fire or explosion.
It is worth remembering that many substances are harmful in large quantities but helpful in small amounts. Fluoride is added to many dental products. Some geographical areas have drinking water that is naturally high in fluoride , for example, southern Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and Africa. Flouride has been linked to a reduction in tooth decay. Fluoride is present in natural water. Adding fluoride, says the ADA, is like fortifying milk with vitamin D , orange juice with calcium, or cereals with B vitamins and folic acid.
A Cochrane review published in found that when fluoride was introduced to water:. Fluoride prevents tooth decay by:. Protection from demineralization : When bacteria in the mouth combine with sugars, they produce acid. However, a more intriguing finding of the study was that children younger than 7 years received more numerous interventions for the treatment of cavities in than children who were in the same age group in Once more, the researchers found a corresponding increase in costs for dental care in young children in Since fluoride occurs naturally in water, community water sources for Juneau still contain some of this mineral even after the cessation of artificial fluoridation.
Fluoride is found naturally in soil, water, and foods. It is added to water to help prevent tooth decay, but not everyone agrees with this. Find out…. Drinking raw water is a relatively new health phenomenon, but are the rumors about its health benefits true, or is it dangerous? Find out here.
What is the secret to teeth and gum care? Correct brushing and flossing, knowing which foods and drinks to eat and to avoid, and attending regular…. To choose the best toothpaste, people need to consider a range of factors.
This level, which is used as a guide for most city water sources, is about 0. If you have a young toddler who is just learning to brush on his or her own, your dentist may have suggested toothpaste without fluoride—at least until your little one can spit it all out without assistance.
Contact our office if you feel that you or youngster needs even more fluoride protection. Our Bonham dentists can assess the teeth to determine if a fluoride treatment is needed. To all of Dr. We are looking forward to building a lifelong relationship, while delivering quality and compassionate dental care like you received with Dr.
Bonham Dental Arts originated in and continues to grow and carry on our mission of Changing Lives Through Excellence in Dentistry. Because we are committed to keeping you informed, we send quarterly emails that contain special promotions and information on new services being offered. We look forward to earning your trust and becoming your dentists, Bonham Dental Arts. Fluoride helps keep your teeth free of decay. Fluoridating the water is a cost-effective way to prevent tooth decay.
Adding fluoride to the water helps everyone in the community. The fluoride in your toothpaste is not enough. Receiving fluoride as a child can have a long-term impact on your dental health. Public Health Service was then under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department. In January , Alcoa chemists discovered high levels of fluoride in the water in and around Bauxite, Arkansas, an Alcoa company town. Eight years later, a biochemist at the Mellon Institute, in Pittsburgh, became the first researcher to call for the widespread fluoridation of water.
Additional impetus came during the Second World War. The Manhattan Project—the crash effort to develop the atomic bomb—processed uranium by combining it with huge amounts of fluorine to form uranium hexafluoride.
Large quantities of other fluoride compounds, including the DuPont refrigerant Freon, were needed. Accidents exposed employees to these little-understood substances, killing some and sickening others.
Under the guise of protecting teeth, the Manhattan Project set about obtaining data on long-term fluoride exposure. Both cities added fluoride to their water. In both cases, the control was a nearby city that did not add fluoride. The experiments were supposed to continue for at least a decade, with dentists in each city examining their patients to evaluate long-term effects. As it happened, one of the control cities fluoridated its water within seven years because its citizens had heard rumors about the benefits.
Fluoridation took off. So did the anti-fluoride movement, a loose coalition of Christian Scientists, Boston society ladies, chiropractors, biochemists, homeopaths, anti-Semites, and E. Bronner, the spiritualist soap-maker. The opposition mostly failed. Still more Americans get fluoride from soft drinks, most of which are made with fluoridated water.
Some bottled water is fluoridated too. In , Grand Rapids, celebrating its historic role, erected a foot-high powder-blue sculptural monument to fluoridation. The fluoride revolution was not restricted to the United States. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development regularly surveys the progress of its 36 member nations. One variable it tracked until recently was the number of decayed, missing, or filled adult teeth in year-olds, a measure of overall dental health.
The top graph below depicts the results—uniformly positive—for six nations that have widely adopted fluoridation.
Graphs like this help explain why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in called fluoridation one of the top 10 public-health advances of the 20th century.
Curiously, they also help explain why fluoridation is opposed by the surprisingly durable cohort of activists who barraged me on social media. The bottom graph, based on the same OECD surveys, tracks the number of decayed, missing, or filled adult teeth in year-olds from countries that have not embraced fluoridation in a significant way or at all.
Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland tried fluoridation, abandoned it years later—and saw no rise in tooth decay. Read: The toxins that threaten our brains. In , the Cochrane organization waded into the debate. Founded in , Cochrane is a London-based global network of about 30, medical researchers in multiple countries that provides systematic analyses of medical issues.
Cochrane has a fiercely guarded reputation for impartiality and thoroughness. Its verdicts have global impact. Which may be why the pushback on its fluoridation work was so strong. To evaluate the studies, the team used two simple but strict criteria: They needed to have two large groups of subjects, one with fluoride the intervention group and one without the control group , and each group had to be examined at least two times.
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