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Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.
The culture wars have a new target: your teeth.
Communities across the U.S. are ending public water fluoridation programs, often spurred by groups that insist that people should decide whether they want the mineral — long proven to fight cavities — added to their water supplies.
The push to flush it from water systems seems to be increasingly fueled by pandemic-related mistrust of government oversteps and misleading claims, experts say, that fluoride is harmful.
“The anti-fluoridation movement gained steam with Covid,” said Dr. Meg Lochary, a pediatric dentist in Union County, North Carolina. “We’ve seen an increase of people who either don’t want fluoride or are skeptical about it.”
There should be no question about the dental benefits of fluoride, Lochary and other experts say. Major public health groups, including the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support the use of fluoridated water. All cite studies that show it reduces tooth decay by 25%.
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“Medical freedom”, the rallying cry for all kinds of grifters spreading disinformation and wanting to roll back the progress made in public health.
And they don’t seem to like the fact that they have the freedom to filter the fluoride back out of the water.
…what?
AND THEY DON’T SEEM TO LIKE THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE THE FREEDOM TO FILTER THE FLUORIDE BACK OUT OF THE WATER.
fluoride is not easy to filter - its smaller than water molecules.
Right.
Let’s put any amount of contaminates in our drinking water just so people can “filter them out.”
I swear, some of you people are just too far gone.
Again, there are places where fluoride occurs naturally in drinking water at higher concentrations than it is added artificially and there don’t seem to be significant health problems.
Hmmmmm no ! I’m not against fluoride in water, I don’t care since I don’t live in north america but spreading disinformation does not help.
There is regions, especially in India, where fluoride occurs by naturally in water in high concentration which is causing multiple serious health issues.
Cool. I said higher concentrations that are added artificially, not extremely high concentration.
sadfsdfasfasf
The fluoride in your tap water is not a contaminant.
Says who?
Yes, the World Heath Organization (WHO) does say it is not a contaminent and that appropriate levels are needed.
sadfsdfasfasf
Literally every person who understands science and water treatment
Except fluoride isn’t a contaminate.
According to what?
Every single scientific study regarding the use of fluoride in drinking water to help protect oral health. Link me a scientific study that proves flouride in drinking water is harmful.
“Contaminants” 🙄
medical freedom for me, but not for thee who want no more penis.
🥱
Or, give people the option to choose for themselves.
Scientific consensus has been wrong many times before, and it will be wrong many times again.
You do have the option to choose for yourself.
You can not only choose to filter it out, you can choose which filter you want to purchase from a selection. Here you go. https://apexwaterfilters.com/blogs/top-5-water-filters-to-remove-fluoride-from-water/
Right.
Let’s put any amount of contaminates in our drinking water just so people can “filter them out.”
Someone mentioned arsenic earlier in this thread, and I think I can find some study that says arsenic is good for you. Let’s add it to our water and anyone who thinks it’s harmful can just filter it out.
Also, I’m adding my fecal matter to the water supply to improve people’s microbiomes. They can just filter it out if they don’t like it.
Fluoride is not a contaminant, but please do find a study that says arsenic is good for you. This should be interesting.
Fluoride is not a contaminant
Says who?
https://gizmodo.com/hey-remember-when-people-used-to-eat-arsenic-as-a-heal-1676316276
It’s not a study, but there was a time when people believed arsenic wasn’t poisonous. There were most likely scientists back in the day advocating for its usage. You can find their work if you’re really interested.
A more recent and easier to research example would be all the “studies” saying lead is safe. Do I have to specifically point to those, or can you understand my point without it?
It’s not a study
Okay, so note what you claimed.
There were most likely scientists back in the day advocating for its usage. You can find their work if you’re really interested.
It’s not my job to prove you aren’t lying.
I mean, if you don’t want to understand then you won’t understand.
I’ve done my part. If you want to replace arsenic with lead, then will it make sense?
Probably not because you don’t want to understand.
Also,
Fluoride is not a contaminant
Says who?
You conveniently ignored this part.
sadfsdfasfasf
I’m struggling with this.
You’re saying that because science was wrong about something else, it must be wrong about fluoride?
I think that if you really dig into it, you’ll find that arsenic use wasn’t supported by science, but rather snake oil salesmen.
it must be wrong about fluoride?
This is where your confusion comes from. I never said it’s wrong about fluoride.
My point is that unless you understand the science yourself, you have faith in other people who do. Scientific consensus has been wrong in the past, and it will be wrong again in the future.
Everyone saying with such certainty that fluoride is good or bad without understanding the science themselves just highlights how most people treat science like a religion.
most people treat science like a religion.
That’s just not true. By it’s very nature, what we describe as “science” is reproducible. That means faith is not required.
If you understand the science yourself, then you’re correct.
The problem is that most people don’t understand the science and just have faith in other people who might.
No, my point is that because “science” is reproducible, you do not need faith in the people producing said science, nor do you need to understand it.
You merely need to confirm that it has been reviewed and accepted by other people who do understand it.
Have faith.
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Ask the experts. You’ll find their names have “D.D.S” after them.
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Do what they say.
Dentists are not scientists though. They suffer from a limited data set and all the other cognitive problems that we invented science to counteract.
Having said that, scientists should not make policy, but inform public health experts, who understand that science does not tell you what to do, but just the best current view of reality. These experts have to take into account cost/benefit ratios as well as science from a wide set of fields.
Luckily for fluoride in the water, they all agree!
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So we’ve circled back to to water/fluoride water conspiracies again?
History, doomed to repeat, before our very eyes once more…
They have their freedom, they are free to do whatever they want to filter their own drinking water. They’re free to buy or produce distilled water for all their consumption. They’re free to only ever drink beer. But the drinking water provided as a public good should be maintained for the good of the public, and when the studies are pretty clear that fluoridated water fights tooth decay, then fluoridated water it is.
Apparently the Netherlands stopped adding fluoride to the drinking water decades ago (due to idiots). It is in toothpaste. Which then gets into the sewer which then gets into the drinking water.
Dutch article: https://www.drinkwaterplatform.nl/fluoride-in-drinkwater-alle-vragen-en-antwoorden/
I’m very much on the pro-flouride but it came up in a conversation with my coworker who won’t drink tap water.
I said that in a country without universal healthcare, fluoride is free dental care. He said he agreed about the benefit to teeth but his concern was with what it might do to your body. He’s a health nut but not a conspiracy theories and I was really thrown off and didn’t have a counterpoint.
I just assumed it was fine because I knew fluoride is often found in water naturally…but…can someone with more knowledge tell me how they would have replied? I don’t like speaking on things I can’t back up with data so I just let it go
If the stupid motherfucker brushes his teeth twice daily, he’s already introducing loads more fluoride to his body than any of the trace amounts they add into the public water system, which is still standards of deviation less than anything that would introduce fluorosis of childrens’ teeth (since that’s not possible for adults with developed teeth), let alone get to a level of toxicity for an adult.
Now, if he regularly consumes full tubes of toothpaste as a health supplement, then maybe that’s a reason to be concerned about fluoride.
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Flouride helps prevent tooth decay. Tooth decay is painful and can lead to much more serious condition…it’s not just fluorosis it protects against.Misinterpreted their comment
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All right settle down, he’s not a stupid motherfucker. He isn’t advocating to remove it from tap water, he was just saying why HE doesn’t drink tap. He didn’t try to pursuade me.
Perhaps he’s misguided on that but he is not the person you’re probably picturing.
My friend is a doctor and he also doesn’t drink tap but for him it’s the other contaminates, not flouride
As someone who works directly with water treatment systems, at best he’s an ignorant motherfucker. But good news: ignorance can be fixed.
Yes he is. If you’re unironically wary of fluoride you’re a stupid motherfucker
I would’ve agreed with this a few years ago, but when you realize things can have subtle effects on our body that aren’t easy to measure or readily apparent, you shouldn’t fully trust something just because studies say it’s safe. A study can’t really show that “50 years of repeated exposure caused slightly more exhaustion,” for example.
However, we DO know tooth decay is a major health risk for our whole bodies. Avoiding a maybe possibly slightly harmful chemical isn’t stupid, but avoiding something that prevents known and documented dental harm and the effects that has on your entire body, that’s just letting fear override rational thinking.
Hey how come the government gets to put water in my pipes at all? There my pipes! True freedom is them being completely empty.
The thing that seriously hurts those anti-fluoridation nuts is that fluoride can naturally be in water supplies and there are water supplies with higher PPM fluoride amounts than municipalities that add them in the U.S., but there don’t appear to be any increased health issues.
Not that such people generally care.
As I said to a friend years ago: show me one case of fluoride poisoning…just one and I’ll believe you that it’s dangerous.
He couldn’t. End of discussion.
Children can theoretically get fluorosis in their teeth if they chug mouthwash, but it’s a pretty uncommon thing to do.
Found this through a quick internet search if you’re interested.
Internets sleuthing points to you!
A massive accidental overdose (150x) in a water system, leading to acute illness and one death, for those interested.
Hey, a article that bucks Betteridge’s Law.
Of course there’s no question, yes, and Republicans and communities should be ashamed at being this stupid to cater to such a dumb, ridiculous, and small group of idiots and are going to cost everyone more in dental insurance to socialize the cost of their stupidity.
For once, the answer to a question posed in the headline is obviously yes.
yeah. Im happily surprised the article itself was not about the conspiracy nonsense.
Hey, I’m relevant!
You’re blowin up!
It’s not freedom if it contradicts science and goes against healthcare for the public.
…That’s a dangerous position to take.
How many times do you think there have been positions that were generally accepted as being correct that were later found to be wrong? Things that we had evidence at the time that demonstrated they were a net positive, that later ended up being deeply flawed or outright incorrect?
Your version of ‘freedom’ would also say that no person has freedom of religion, both because it contradicts science, and because religion can cause real harms to both physical and mental health.
As we’ve seen in the last few years, you can find experts to say whatever you need. That’ll have a longer lasting effect on the public’s psyche than anything.
You do not have the freedom to make my life worse. Period.
“Worse” is a value judgement rather than anything objective. People that like tinfoil headwear accessories would say that putting fluoride in the drinking water makes their lives “worse”. So where does that leave you?
Conflating well proven science with conspiracy theories is ridiculous at best.
By that logic there should be mandated exercise
Me not exercising doesn’t make you fat.
I absolutely can’t stand minty or cinnamon toothpaste, and have really struggled with brushing my teeth because of it. It drives me absolutely insane that so many of the flavors I can tolerate are only available in fluoride free formulations and/or get discontinued.
I read your comment earlier today and then by chance was going to reorder toothpaste tonight, and I realized the kind of toothpaste I recently fell in love with has a citrus and a grape flavor, so I hunted down your comment to share with you!
The toothpaste has both fluoride and hydroxyapatite, which helps rebuild enamel. Ever since I started using hydroxyapatite, my teeth have that “fresh from the dentist clean” feeling every time I brush them. I was using a Japanese brand of toothpaste for a few years because that’s the only place I found that kind of toothpaste, but it was fluoride free. Just one tube ago I found a brand that has both!
The brand is Carifree, and this is the one I use.
Looks like they also have citrus and grape mouthwash!
And I thought I was crazy when I paid $10 for a 6oz tube! Hahah. I do need a new dentist though, so I might just try one of the dentists near me that carries their stuff so I can grab a tube.
Yeah, I should have mentioned the price is pretty insane… I’d desensitized myself to it a bit because of the whole buying-Japanese-toothpaste thing wasn’t cheap, and now I just can’t stand not using hydroxyapatite for more than like a week, lol.
Medical freedom? Can’t people use bottled or just move to a town with naturally high fluoride?
They’re talking about the freedom of morons to not drink fluoride.
OK use bottled water or move to a city that doesn’t need to add it
It doesn’t make any more sense the second time you say it.
They don’t want to live in a place with naturally high fluoride. They don’t want to drink flouride.
Most bottled water is just tap water with extra plastic waste. Nobody should be drinking bottled water if they can avoid it.
it SHOULD be up to the individual whether they want fluoride in the water they’re drinking. this is not like vaccines, where unvaccinated people are a risk to everyone around them.
edit: adding this https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/fluoridated-drinking-water/
and key takeaway: The Cochrane report also concluded that early scientific investigations on water fluoridation (most were conducted before 1975) were deeply flawed. “We had concerns about the methods used, or the reporting of the results, in … 97 percent of the studies,” the authors noted. One problem: The early studies didn’t take into account the subsequent widespread use of fluoride-containing toothpastes and other dental fluoride supplements, which also prevent cavities. This may explain why countries that do not fluoridate their water have also seen big drops in cavity rates (see chart).
I think a criticism of not fluoridating the water and only buying supplements is its going to favor wealthy people on average and amounts to essentially class warfare.
Imo it makes more sense to fluoridate the water and let rich people buy expensive filters to satisfy their feelings about fluoride. (I’d argue water filter peddlers maybe oversell the dangers of fluoridated water)
