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"Tooth decay is back -- it's worse
than ever -- it's coming to a tooth near you," said
a dentist to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel
convened to evaluate tooth decay research this past March.
Most tooth decay research is poorly
done, the panel concluded.
Despite water fluoridation, a glut of
fluoridated products, and skyrocketing children's fluoride
overdose symptoms (dental fluorosis) in fluoridated and
non-fluoridated communities, tooth decay is still a major
problem.
"While fluoride is proclaimed
a significant cavity reducer, there is little, if any, science
to support that," says lawyer Paul
Beeber, President, New
York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. "Furthermore,
there's no evidence that lack of fluoride puts children
at high risk for cavities," he says.
An NIH news release supports Beeber's
assertion. It states "... the (NIH) panel was disappointed
in the overall quality of the clinical data that it reviewed.
According to the panel, far too many studies were small,
poorly described, or otherwise methodologically flawed"
(over 560 studies evaluated fluoride use).
Tooth decay is epidemic in poor and
minority populations, according to the Surgeon General,
the same groups that suffer a disproportionately high amount
of almost all recorded diseases including obesity
and diabetes -- both linked to sugar overconsumption.
Many poor continue to eat diets that lack several key nutrients
and are high in sugar.
Dentists also report tooth decay
increases in soda drinking children despite ingesting
recommended fluoride.
Dental researcher, Professor Brian Burt,
BDS, University of Michigan, reported to the NIH panel,
"... avoiding consumption of excess sugar is a justifiable
part of caries prevention, if not the most crucial aspect."
"We are wasting taxpayer dollars
promoting fluoride when, it's clear, that improper diet
leads to tooth decay," says Beeber. "Sadly,
fluoride's adverse effects hurt the malnourished the most,
including:
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neurological impairment,
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bone deformities,
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dental defects,
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thyroid dysfunction
and more."
Fluoride varnish is painted on young
children's teeth in many U.S. "Head Start" programs
even though the NIH panel found no research supporting its
effectiveness on primary teeth.
A toxic amount of fluoride (22.6 milligrams),
painted on children's primary teeth, stays on for an hour
or more.
"This is outrageous," said
Beeber. "High levels of ingested fluoride before the
age of seven can forever discolor the permanent teeth,"
he said.
"If the current weak trend of caries
research in the United States continues, history will be
harsh on all of us for our failure to use our knowledge
and resources to reduce, if not eliminate, the burden of
one of the world's most prevalent diseases," wrote
Amid Ismail, BDS, Professor, University of Michigan School
of Dentistry and prominent dental researcher, in a report
to the panel.
New York
State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof/
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