So whats the big deal about fluoride, I hear you ask?? So controversial and getting more so as the argument polarises and people on the anti side are marginalised as extremists and lunatics. Kids like me who grew up in the 70s, the first generation of fluoride supplementation, often have fabulous teeth to thank it for and so it is hard to understand what all the HOO HA is about. So I thought Id try and outline the some of the main points of the argument. As a child growing up in the 70s, ground breaking research had just been done about the benefits of fluoride and tooth health and while some areas immediately added fluoride to their drinking water, it has taken decades for other areas to jump on board and some places still have not and in the mean time the debate gets more and more intense. I did not grow up in places with fluoridated water but I remember taking tiny chewable fluoride supplements. I do not know what the dose was, but I do have strong healthy lovely teeth today. So do my siblings and I can not blame it on good genes as both my parents have disastrous teeth. So whats the drama then? While it is proven that we need fluoride to develop strong healthy teeth, a safe dose has not been established. Like everything in life, too much of a good thing, is no longer a good thing! Too much fluoride leads to brittle, patchy teeth and a whole range of dental disasters that are becoming more and more evident in young children who live in areas of fluoridated water supplies. Too much fluoride can disrupt the delicate balance of others minerals we need in our body for healthy teeth and bones, like calcium and magnesium. All the minerals in our body in fact are a finely tuned machine and supplementing one deficient mineral for a while in a time of need is fine, but ongoing supplementation can cause havoc with our body, inhibiting the absorption of other minerals or increasing the excretion. A lack of balanced minerals leads to a lack of general balance and can possibly be connected to the epidemic proportion of diseases such as osteoporosis and thyroid disorders. Last but not least, fluoride in high doses has been proved to be a neurotoxin. Just like lead poisoning caused brain damage to certain groups of children before it was acknowledged and tAken out of petrol and house hold paints and kids toys, fluoride in high doses has the potential to do the same. So to fluoride or not to fluoride? I am of the firm belief that while fluoride in small doses can be beneficial at a certain age to children with developing teeth as it was administered to me as a child, putting fluoride in a whole cities water supply is Big Brother and bordering on criminal behaviour. Safe levels have not been established and with fluoride in the water we have no control over safe levels for our kids. If they drink lots of water, or tea and we cook with fluoridated water and they swallow their highly fluoridated toothpaste and they get another high dose of fluoride treatment twice a year at the dentist, the chances are they are getting way more than they need and for much longer. We need to be able to control the level and length of time our kids are getting fluoride, not have it literally forced down our throats in a way that is out of our control. The first signs of fluoride poisoning are white patches on your childrens teeth. If the water in your city is fluoridated you might want to opt for a fluoride free toothpaste and refuse the fluoride treatments at the dentist. Certain water filters can rid the water of the fluoride too, but not all. These issues are well worth looking into to protect our children. It can be very confusing but the anti fluoride movement are trying to do just this, to bring the issues to the forefront, to inform us, to give us choice, instead of letting all the facts be covered up because governments have too much to lose by admitting that fluoridating water supplies was a mistake.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 05:58:13 +0000
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