The truth about fluoride

[poisontap]

I want to say that I am totally shocked by the advice given on the creators of this forum when it comes to fluoride and its advocacy for consumption. Fluoride is a topical agent meant to kill germs on contact. It was NEVER meant to be consumed. Please do your own research on this before accepting fluoride drops or pills from pediatricians. On the subject of water fluoridation, I am a firm believer that it should be stopped. The question is not whether or not water fluoridation is good for you. The question is why any municipality would medicate the water supply without
your consent. Why not dump multivitamins into the water? Vitamins are also good for you right? The answer is obvious. Just because I get all my vitamins from one source doesn't mean my neighbor does. Please think about the logic here. I personally don't really care about the 'why'. I just want it stopped!

Steve
www.PoisonTap.org

[nyscof]

Fluoride: An Unnecessary Drug with Side Effects


New York -- June 4 -- "There is weak and inconsistent evidence that the use of fluoride supplements prevents dental caries [cavities] in primary teeth," according to a systematic review of fluoride supplement research published in the November 2008 Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA).

The authors could find only one study, from China, showing any fluoride cavity-preventing benefit to primary teeth and that study was probably biased with a high withdrawal rate, the authors write.

Mild -to-moderate dental fluorosis (white spotted and/or yellow teeth) is a significant fluoride supplement side effect, they report.

Fluoride supplements, although a prescription drug, were never FDA [Food and Drug Administration] tested for safety or effectiveness because sodium fluoride was on the market pre-1938 before FDA testing laws were enacted. (1)

In 2007, the American Dental Association (ADA) reported on its web site that fluoride supplements put children six and under at significant risk of permanently discolored teeth; but never shared that information with the American public, pediatricians or MD's who still prescribe fluoride supplements to toddlers. (2)

"This review confirmed that, in non-fluoridated communities, the use of fluoride supplements during the first 6 years of life is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing dental fluorosis, write researchers Ismail & Bandekar and first published in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, February 1999, (3) but posted to the ADA's website July 2007.

Fluoride supplements sought to achieve a similar effect as fluoridation of the water supplies when it was believed that ingested fluoride reduced tooth decay. However, the Centers for Disease Control now reports that fluoride's purported beneficial effects are topical (4). Swallowing fluoride only exposes children to fluoride's adverse health effects ( http://www.FluorideAction.Net/health ), such as dental fluorosis.

"So there is no good reason to swallow fluoride via supplements or the water supply," says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. "Further, fluoride is neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth. Poor diets decay teeth and fluoride won't stop that," says Beeber.

Even the American Dental Association admits that no fluoride supplements should be prescribed to children who aren't at high risk of cavities.


Studies link dental fluorosis to children's kidney damage (5) and bone fractures (6).

"While fluoride ingestion is proclaimed a significant cavity reducer, there is no valid science to support that," says Beeber.

Up to 48% of school children sport dental fluorosis, the outward sign of fluoride toxicity, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (7) Yet tooth decay is growing in our most fluoride-exposed population - toddlers, according to CDC data.

In the Fall 1999 Journal of Public Health Dentistry, dental researcher and former dental journal editor Brian A. Burt, Ph.D., M.P.H., B.D.Sc., University of Michigan Emeritus Professor, writes:

"It is therefore concluded that the risks of using supplements in infants and young children outweigh the benefits. Because alternative forms of fluoride for high-risk individuals exist, fluoride supplements should no longer be used for young children in North America."(8)

Even fluoridated toothpaste hasn't been proven to prevent toddlers' cavities. According to the June 2009 JADA (9) Only one study shows 1,450 parts per million fluoridated toothpaste is effective in primary dentition; but 25 - 35% of the test subjects developed fluorosis although living in a non-water-fluoridated area of England. (10)

Doubts persist about fluoridation also: "It may...be that fluoridation of drinking water does not have a strong protective effect against early childhood caries (ECC) reported Pollick and colleagues in the Winter 2003 Journal of Public Health Dentistry.

Casamassimo and colleagues report in the June 2009 JADA that high levels of ECC persist despite water fluoridation and use of fluoridated toothpaste. (11)

A study in the Fall 2008 Journal of Public Health Dentistry reveals that cavity-free teeth have little to do with fluoride intake. Researchers report, "The benefits of fluoride are mostly topical…while fluorosis is clearly more dependent on fluoride intake."

"Fluoridation began with the untested belief that ingested fluoride prevented tooth decay in small children, only. Evidence-based-dentistry now shows that swallowing fluoride poses dental risks without benefits to the very children fluoridation was supposed to help," says Beeber. Fluoridation must be stopped immediately and parents and physicians must be notified of these new scientific developments."


References:

1) August 2000 letter from NJ Assemblyman Kelly to Senator Robert Smith http://www.fluoridealert.org/fda.htm

2) http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/ebd/reviews/fluoride_supplements.asp

3) "Fluoride supplements and fluorosis: a meta-analysis," Community Dentistry & Oral Epidemiology, 1999 Feb;27(1):48-56, by Ismail & Bandekar .

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=10086926

4) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5014a1.htm

5) "Dose-effect relationship between drinking water fluoride levels and damage to liver and kidney functions in children," Environmental Research,2007 Jan;103(1):112-6. Epub 2006 Jul 10, by Xiong, et. al

http://tinyurl.com/34lj92

6) "Dental and Early-State Skeletal Fluorosis in Children Induced by Fluoride in Brick-Tea," Fluoride 2005;38(1):44-47 Cao, et. al
http://www.fluorideresearch.org/381/files/38144-47.pdf

7) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/figures/s403a1t23.gif

8) "The case for eliminating the use of dietary fluoride supplements
for young children," Journal of Public Health Dentistry, Fall 1999, by
Burt

http://tinyurl.com/2bnoff

9) Journal of the American Dental Association, June 2009, Guest Editorial

"Fluoridated Toothpaste and the Prevention of Early Childhood Caries

A Failure to Meet the Needs of Our Young." by Peter M. Milgrom, DDS, Colleen E. Huebner, PhD, MPH and Kiet A. Ly, MD, MPH

10) http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=CRE2006040001066

11) Journal of the American Dental Association, June 2009, "Beyond the dmft: The Human and Economic Cost of Early Childhood Caries," by Casamassimo, Thikkurissy, Edelstein, Maiorini

[poisontap]

Excellent post with good information. I've also launched my own crusade against fluoride and artificial fluoridation at http://poisontap.org. People: Please go read your toothpaste tube. It says it in plain English: "If swallowed, call poison control". Why knowingly give it to an infant or toddler? One of the side effects is decreased IQ levels in children.

[Jill_at_StorkRadio]

Interesting. I had too much flouride as a kid -- it was both in the water and supplemented by my parents and because of that I had dark yellow teeth that later had to go through numerous expensive whitening procedures. Evidently this was somewhat common.

[H.Starr]

I've drank regular tap water with fluoride in it my whole life, and my kidneys/liver work just fine and my teeth are white.
Its always something anymore these days. It seems like every month there's some "study" proving that some other regular routine thing causes some disease. Just about everything supposedly causes cancer these days. Now vaccines cause autism and tap water causes kidney failure? Give me a freaking break.
I think medical dollars could be spent in A LOT more important and useful places than ridiculous experiments/tests/studies like these.
Just my opinion.

[H.Starr]

Oh and about "Don't let your infant/toddler swallow toothpaste" Its because it will cause them to be very SICK, not very stupid.
I think anyone who believes that swallowing toothpaste will cause a lower IQ, must have swallowed too much toothpaste. Ha.
If you eat a tube of toothpaste, you're going to get sick. Small children could potentially die if they ate enough of it.
Lower IQ? COME ON! Ridiculous.

[poisontap]

"Heather". It sounds as if you didn't read my website at all because you are truly missing the point. FLUORIDE IS MASS MEDICATION. I truly DO NOT care if it works or not. It is forced medication. I should have a choice on whether I take vitamins everyday but I wouldn't want it in my water. Furthermore, you are trying to tell a cancer patient that cancer does not exist. Your post defies logic.

[poisontap]

It’s actually ironic that you mention vaccines and autism because mass fluoridation and vaccines are in the same category. We really must get away from this “one size fits all” mentality when it comes to medication. Because it does not affect ‘person A’ does not mean that it does not affect ‘person B’. Try telling the parents of a brain damaged child affected by vaccines and suffering seizures only 24 hours after receiving them that they are crazy or paranoid. Its absolutely gut wrenching to witness so many obtuse people that refuse to understand this, or are simply too lazy to do independent research. They don’t question the status quo *only* because it’s something that has been practiced for over 40 years.

[craftyashley]

Interesting thread. Our water wasn't fluoridated until somewhat recently. I just couldn't understand why we were going to spend so much money to put fluoride in the water. It's so ridiculously unnecessary! Perhaps we could be spending what little money we have on other projects?

[poisontap]

Well, as I mention on my website there is no shortage of conspiracy theories. My personal belief is that polluting industries are trying to save money by dumping the fluoride. In the battle against air pollution, factory scrubbers produce a liquid by-product that contains fluoride and must be disposed of possibly ending up in water supplies. It’s very costly for polluting factories to dispose of it. However, this is an area that I haven’t spent much time on so you should probably form your own opinion after info gathering.