Canadian city votes out fluoride

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Well, that was as close as I am willing to go.

Fluoride compounds are very cheap and can be bought without prescription at a fine drugstore near you.

If you live in England they can be had at a fine chemist's shop near you.

ruveyn

If you don't like that the government-managed water supply is flouridated, quit bitching and arrange to get your water from a private source. By the reasoning of all the people objecting to water flouridation, there's no real need for government to be involved in managing the water system anyways, so you should show a principled protest by refusing to use the government-provided water regardless of whether it's flouridated. As for me, I rather like the aqueduct the Romans gave us.

There have been plenty of studies on the subject, going back to about the 1950s if I recall correctly.

That amounts to double taxation. The tax-payer pays the bonds on the construction of the water system, then you suggest that he not use what he pays for and buy drinking water privately. How about making those who want fluoride treatment pay for their own.

ruveyn

I was making a joke based on a movie reference.

Dr. Strangelove?


ruveyn

Indeed.

My daughter's dentist actually felt the need to prescribe her additional fluoride, and she's a great little brusher, but the cavities were out of control. We have many families around here who intentionally avoid anything fluoride, and he says the increase in cavities is obvious. Anecdotal, I realize, and I've read some of the research on why fluoride can be dangerous, so I actually sit very on the fence about the question as a whole.

I take fluoride to help slow my hearing loss. No easy answers to anything, are there?

Now that is the obvious question. Some considerations: the cost individually v. the cost in massive bulk, and societal interest in keeping it's overall health maintenance costs as low as possible. Should good teeth be only available to those who can afford the fluoride? Young children can and do die from health conditions that appear to start as unchecked tooth decay. I'm actually not sure how I feel about it as a policy, just noting those factors that I am aware of.

I love it how people worry about fluoride in tap water being supposedly toxic yet still buy tooth paste quite eagerly.

Anyway, I never really got why include fluoride in tap water. It seems like a huge waste of money. Like it was mentioned, bad teeth is not a transmittable disease and it does not halt the work force or anything, so I don't get why would the government have to spend tax money to prevent that...

Perhaps the reason is that the people in high government position want to ensure the country's hookers have pretty teeth to prevent any unfortunate encounter.

Last time I checked you don't swallow toothpaste or mouthwash. You can choose to use toothpaste without fluoride if you please too. You don't have much of a choice when they contaminate the drinking water with it.

I've avoided tap water as much as I can in my life. Fluoride not being the reason. Have had some bad experiences to say the least as a Milwaukee resident. We had the largest outbreak of cryptosporidium in human history I believe, certainly at least in the US. Over 400,000 people got sick and more than 100 people died.

Even with this avoidance, I've been exposed to enough fluoride that it has permanently stained my teeth with a very mild case of fluorosis.(basically it's some white blotches on my two front teeth) It's impossible to not be exposed to tap water. The government has no right to put fluoride in the drinking water against my consent.

Fine. Then as a private citizen help start an organize a charity to provide fluoride toothpaste, mouthwash and pills to the Poor. No one is stopping you. People who want to help the Poor should be free to do so, but at THEIR expense.

ruveyn

It's the commercial fruit juices and soft drinks/soda pops that are causing the most tooth decay. Put the fluoride in those drinks and leave it out of the water - if people want to poison their bodies with those types of drinks then they may as well poison themselves with a bit of fluoride as well.
When I drink water I just swallow it - I don't tend to swish it around in my mouth - so the fluoride is basically bypassing my teeth and then going to work on all the organs in my body. Also I don't see what benefit my skin gets from it when I shower in it. Also the dishes I wash in the sink, or watering the garden....
It's a ridiculously stupid practice and its safety is unproven.
If people stop eating so much junk food there won't be so much tooth decay. Simple as that.

Nobody is talking about it but it is obviously a program to support the dental industry which will have a treasure of filling all those cavities from people stoutly defending their freedom to have toothaches.

Which can be gotten from toothpaste and fluoride mouth washes.

ruveyn

I'm torn (as centrists are, so often).

From a public health perspective there is no question that an investment in fluoridation has significant impacts, not just on dental health, but also on public health generally. (For example, there is a strong link between oral health and cardiac health).

Water is an essential public service in densely populated municipalities. Modern cities simply cannot exist without water and sewage infrastructure. Fluoridation of water supplies provides a very cost-effective means of deliverying a universal public health benefit.

Disaggregating that benefit by requiring each individual to make that purchase is an enormously ineffecient practice. Fluoridation probably costs not much more than $2 per person per year. It is not possible to provide for one's own fluoridation at that price.