Februari 01, 2017
how do my teeth look? pretty good? okay great. fluoridein the water might be helping that, but it might also be doing other things. fluorine is the 13th most abundant elementon the planet. it's in seawater, foods like fish, tea and gelatin contain it, and it'sa naturally occurring substance in minerals -- that is to say, it's in all the rocks,because it's everywhere, fluorine is washed into the water supply during erosion. fluorideis just fluorine with an extra electron, and when we see it in toothpaste, food or drinkingwater, it's actually sodium fluoride, or in our bodies it's calcium fluoride. in the 1940s, scientists found that peopleliving near natural water sources with 1 part
per million of fluoride had fewer cavities.so, they decided to add fluoride up to that concentration to reduce cavities for everyone.unsurprisingly, controversy ensued. today, two-thirds of americans have fluoridated publicwater, but studies have thrown into question the benefit of water-borne fluoride comparedto topical fluoride… or toothpaste with fluoride. a study of 23,000 skeletons frommedieval archaeological sites found people who live near the coast and consumed fluoride-richfish had fewer cavities. another cdc study compared kids in the late-60s to kids fromthe early 90s, and found a 68 percent drop in cavities. though this could be due to fluoridetoothpaste, not fluoridation as communities without fluoridation also saw a decrease.
in the right concentrations -- that is, point-8to 1.2 parts per million -- fluoride reduces tooth enamel solubility during its formation,helping it solidify and form teeth that are more resistant to bacterial attack. afterthe enamel is formed, fluoride helps prevent bacteria from producing acid that causes toothdecay. of course, higher concentrations of fluoride can cause pitting in teeth, decay,and major health problems. anything over 1.5 ppm can cause tooth decay, and 3 to 6 ppmcan cause skeletal problems. and though there are some chinese studies correlating highfluoride with iq problems, no us city is even close to the 4 ppm epa limit. whether it’s cool to add fluoride to thewater is still a political and social point
of contention. from a healthcare perspective,if we want our teeth to last, we've gotta keep the enamel free of harmful bacterialdeposits - which fluoride does. enamel, the outermost layer of the tooth, is the tougheststuff the body can make, but it can't repair itself. it needs help. whether it belongs in the drinking water isa complicated question, because for those of us who didn't grow up with municipal drinkingwater, like me, we had it in our well water because the earth put it there. municipalsources get it as an odourless and tasteless byproduct of phosphate fertilizers that makesno perceptible change to the water, according to the world health organization. the whoalso recommends community water fluoridation
as the "most effective public health measurefor the prevention of dental decay." countries and states seem to be on board withfluoridation until someone finds damning evidence they shouldn’t be, which, in 70 years, noone has yet found. so, for the moment, water fluoridation is still a thing, but what doyou think about it? do you care?
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