To avoid permanent tooth discoloration, the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) is now advising AGAINST fluoride supplement use for children before their permanent teeth have erupted, usually at about 6 or 7 years of age.

The CDA states in its revised guidlines:

• There is "...weak scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of fluoride supplements."

• "The use of fluoride supplements before the eruption of the first permanent tooth is generally not recommended,"

Anti-fluoridation forces had plenty to say on the matter. Lawyer Paul Beeber is President of the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.

• "Studies show that tooth decay is declining in both fluoridated and non- fluoridated areas while dental fluorosis (white spotted, yellow or brown stained and sometimes crumbly teeth) is increasing, more so in fluoridated areas. Furthermore, fluoride poses harmful systemic damage as well as dental damage," he states.

• The American Dental Association (ADA), which still recommends fluoride supplements for children from 6 months to 16 years old in non or low-fluoridated communities, "is clinging to outmoded ideas," says Beeber. "And they are trailing behind the CDA by failing to protect our children."

• "Fluoride supplements and water fluoridation must stop immediately," says Beeber.

One of Canada's leading fluoride authorities is dentist Hardy Limeback, head of the Department of Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto, and past-president of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

• "New research shows that swallowed fluoride carries little, if any, benefit. Fluoride's enamel strengthening effects are primarily topical, or when fluoride touches the outside of the tooth," Limeback states.

• Additionally, "Fluoride's adverse effects occur upon ingestion. Fluoride gets into every cell of the body and can especially damage the bones and teeth."

• "Half of all ingested fluoride remains in the skeletal system and accumulates with age," says Limeback.

• "Studies have linked fluoridation to hip fractures and high levels of naturally-occurring water fluoride to crippling skeletal fluorosis, a bone deforming arthritic-type disease endemic to India," says Limeback.

• A study in progress by Limeback shows that residents of fluoridated Toronto have double the fluoride in their hip bones than residents of non- fluoridated Montreal.

• "Worse, we discovered that fluoride is actually altering the basic architecture of human bones," says Limeback. Ironically, "Here in Toronto we've been fluoridating for 36 years. Yet Vancouver, which has never fluoridated, has a cavity rate lower than Toronto's," says Limeback.

• "We are now spending more money treating dental fluorosis than we would spend treating new decay if water fluoridation halted," says Limeback.

• "The safety of long-term fluoride ingestion has not been proven. The notion that systemic fluorides are needed in non-fluoridated areas is an outdated one that should be abandoned altogether." says Limeback.

Children may get fluoride from many different sources:

• food and beverages made in fluoridated cities
• fluoridated dental products
• fluoride containing pesticide residues in food
• industrial fluoride air emissions
• fluoride-containing medicines, anesthetics and other products.

Fluoride is also inhaled via ocean mist, showers and humidifiers and is found naturally in some foods such as tea.

Canadian Dental Association Board of Governors March, 2000 and other information obtained from the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation

Other Fluoride News

Ireland considering ending mandatory water fluoridation

Ireland is considering relaxing current laws that require the fluoridation of all drinking water due to mounting controversy and growing public concern over the possible health risks.

Michael Martin, the Irish health minister, has appointed a committee of environmental and health specialists to examine the evidence on fluoridation and make recommendations.

If Ireland does decide to changs it's fluoridation practices, it will not be alone:

• Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland banned water fluoridation during the 1970s and 1980s because not enough was known about the long term health effects.

• Germany rejected the practice in 1975 as "foreign to nature, unnecessary, inefficient, irresponsible and harmful to the environment."

• A year later, the Dutch rewrote their constitution to outlaw fluoridation. France's chief of public health declared in 1980 that fluoridation was "too dangerous."

Ireland is currently one of the only countries in the European Union to insist on mandatory fluoridation of piped water supplies

British Medical Journal June10, 2000; 320: 1560