What's wrong with Flouride, exactly?

[Nikose Tyris]

Okay bit of a broad topic here, but I've been invited and pestered to join a bunch of anti-flouride things lately, and I'm actually kind of confused. Googling it only brought me to a big propoganda page that had nothing that resembled verified evidence or any real scientific backing, and the only thing they listed [despite labeling it repeatedly as deadly, toxic, going to kill me, etc] was flouridation of the teeth in young children, causing a white spotty appearance.


Flouride is naturally in the drinking water, and we add more to it in the city of Toronto that remains within the concentration levels as set out in health and safety guidelines.


I'm just really confused. Can someone explain the fear, and explain to me if it's justified?

[Aldurin]

I think this one of those things along the lines of banning hydrogen dioxide, given how flouride is beneficial in numerous ways. Really people should be focusing on real issues regarding unhelpful ingredients in products.

[akaSM]

Originally Posted by Aldurin

I think this one of those things along the lines of banning dihydrogen monoxide, given how flouride is beneficial in numerous ways. Really people should be focusing on real issues regarding unhelpful ingredients in products.

FTFY

I haven't seen anything like that around here...yet. If it's so bad, I wonder why a salt company advertises their product as "fluorada" (fluorinated).

[Aldurin]

Originally Posted by akaSM

FTFY

And that's why I'm not going into chemistry.

[Archbio]

Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water?

[bluestarultor]

Since I happen to be here anyway, basically fluoride being good for your teeth is unsubstantiated bullshit based on one guy observing one town back in the 1800s and despite all of its 2 inhabitants having disgustingly brown teeth from the high fluoride levels in the well water, nobody happened to have cavities at the time. From that point forward we've spent a good hundred years not going back and doing any fact-checking.

Some contested info asserts that fluoride collects in the brain and can cause developmental problems and such, which is why most toothpastes say kids shouldn't swallow them.

But, really, even if it's not causing brain damage, the fact of the matter is it's not helping our teeth, either. Better to just drop the whole thing and, y'know, actually study it for once than to find out in another 100 years our IQs should all have risen an extra 60 points and that it causes autism and cancer and herpesyphilAIDS.

[Marc v4.0]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

Since I happen to be here anyway, basically fluoride being good for your teeth is unsubstantiated bullshit based on one guy observing one town back in the 1800s and despite all of its 2 inhabitants having disgustingly brown teeth from the high fluoride levels in the well water, nobody happened to have cavities at the time. From that point forward we've spent a good hundred years not going back and doing any fact-checking.

This seems a rather suspect presumtion.

[phil_]

I bet Dr. Strangelove was funnier back when the audience could pretend that the people in power couldn't possibly be that crazy.

Dr. Strangelove makes me cry and I never want to watch it again.

[pochercoaster]

This topic interests me as well. I've drunk distilled water for the majority of my life and have had few problems with my teeth besides some of them growing at weird angles and not being able to afford braces. (Yeah, I know anecdote =/= evidence...) It is difficult to find an unbiased source of information on the topic. On the one hand it seems like many people believe fluorine is good for you just because it's hammered into your head by Crest commercials. On the other hand I don't have any relevant education in biochemistry and I'm not going to pretend I'm more informed than a dentist. However it wouldn't surprise me if the addition of fluoride to water is unnecessary and actually doesn't make much of a difference in terms of your dental health.

Does the body actually require fluoride to be ingested? Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't fluoride benefit your teeth by coming into contact with the surface of the tooth (hence fluoridated toothpaste), not by being ingested? And if so, is simply brushing your teeth twice a day with fluoridated toothpaste so insufficient that we must drink it as well?

(This reminds me of how people react when I tell them I don't drink milk and consume very little dairy- they freak out because they think it's simply not possible for me to get enough calcium from other sources...)

That said, I don't think the city adding fluoride to water makes it EEEVIL or some weird conspiracy theory, just that it's some kind of semi-myth that councilors with good intentions believe and wish to implement because that's what you're supposed to do... Wouldn't surprise me if it falls out of practice.

Edit: Personally it doesn't bother me that much because I already filter my water (dunno if it filters out fluoride, though). If I'm missing out on some benefits eh, it's my fault. After living with well water for nearly a decade though I can't stand the taste of city water. I can even smell the chlorine in it when I shower and it drives me nuts, although that's unavoidable if I don't want to be contaminated XD

[Orcmeat]

Originally Posted by phil_

Dr. Strangelove makes me cry and I never want to watch it again.

That movie also greatly disturbed me. Much like the thought of being stuck in a Cracker Barrel during an earthquake. I mean, really; at what point did it become a great idea to hang farm utensils from the ceiling?

But in regards to the topic at hand.

This seems a rather suspect presumtion.

Agreed. While I'm obviously no fluoride doctor (my own studies having been completed in the related, albeit tangentially, field of looking on in helpless despair as something dubious transpires in the foreground), a thorough search of Wikipedia has revealed that a 2000 'systematic review' of the efficacy of water fluoridation demonstrated an association of fluoridation with decreased cavities in children. This suggests that there's been a few less years than 100 spent without fact checking.

Of course, the link cited is now dead. Take that for what you will.