|
By Sally
Stride, Manager of the Fluoridation site at Suite101.com
American children consume so much fluoride
that it may actually cause
rather then prevent tooth decay.
A new study shows that, otherwise fluoride-free,
South African children who drink naturally fluoridated water,
at 3 parts per million (ppm), have more tooth decay than South
African children drinking much lower concentrations, 0.48
PPM and 0.19 PPM fluoride, according to a September 2001 International
Journal of Pediatric Dentistry.
"Significantly more
children had decayed teeth in the high fluoride area
than in the other two areas," write authors Grobler,
et al.
"The results suggest a positive association
between high fluoride levels in the drinking water and dental
caries (cavities)," they conclude. Tooth decay rates
ranged from 1.54 drilled, missing or filled teeth (DMFT) in
the low fluoride areas to 1.98 DMFT in the high fluoride area.
With virtually no dental care or fluoride
therapy, these South African children have less
tooth decay than fluoride-saturated American children.
By comparison, American 12- to 18-year
olds, had 3.08 DMFT, according to the Journal of the American
Dental Association. African American children have even higher
rates. Americans spent 56 billion dollars on dental care in
1999 - up 5.6% from 1998.
Neglecting poor diet, organized dentistry
prescribes more and more fluoride, as the only antidote for
cavities, in more and obscure ways without concern for individuals'
total fluoride intake.
Sadly, most dentists refuse to actually
treat America's poorest who have over twice the decay rate
as the non-poor. As a result, tooth decay is of epidemic proportions
in the US poor and minority populations at the same time fluoride
overdose, dental fluorosis, is growing in incidence and severity.
Cavities increase in people with severe
fluorosis according to the dental textbook, "Dentistry,
Dental Practice and the Community," by Burt and Eklund.
But few practicing dentists seem to know this.
Burt and Eklund explain that fluoride
concentrations in drinking water, form a J-shaped curve. With
increasing fluoride levels, cavity experience diminishes to
a certain point and then starts to rise again.
The true relationship between water fluoride
levels and dental decay is the J-shaped curve, with the turning
point in the J being something between 3 and 4 times the optimal
level, they write. Studies show many
American children already exceed this level.
Besides the better known fluoridated dental
products, American children are exposed to artificially and
naturally fluoridated water, and the foods and beverages made
with that water then sold in non-fluoridated areas as well.
Some dental products like cements, filling and bonding materials,
are little-known fluoride sources
Medicines, ocean fish, tea, soy baby formulas,
fruit juices and mechanically deboned meat products, and even
soda are fluoride sources most dentists overlook. Air pollution,
ocean mist, inhaled shower and humidifier steam add to a body's
fluoride burden, as does fluoride containing pesticide residues
on fruits, vegetables and grains.
Look Ma! More Cavities!!
"Here in Toronto we've been fluoridating
for 37 years. Yet Vancouver, which has never fluoridated,
has a cavity rate lower than Toronto's," says Hardy Limeback,
head of the Department of Preventive Dentistry, University
of Toronto
Despite decades of fluoridation, Connecticut,
New York City, and Boston report oral health care crises.
Ireland is the only country in Europe
to fluoridate most of its population (73%). Yet, Ireland ranks
6th in Europe in dental decay behind 4 countries that don't
fluoridate and the 10% fluoridated UK. And non-fluoridated
Norwegians, reportedly, enjoy good dental health.
Back here in America, after over 50 years
of fluoridation and scrutiny, more severe fluorosis and more
children's tooth decay occurs in fluoridated Newburgh, New
York, than in never-fluoridated Kingston, New York, according
to the NYS Department of Health.
Based on thirty years of study on nearly
half a million children, Teotia and Teotia report "Our
findings indicate that dental
caries was caused by high fluoride and low dietary
calcium intakes, separately and through their interactions,"
according to the journal, Fluoride.
In fact, according to the US Centers for
Disease Control "The prevalence of dental caries in a
population is not inversely related to the concentration of
fluoride in enamel, and a higher concentration of enamel fluoride
is not necessarily more efficacious in preventing dental caries."
So what good
is fluoride, after all?
Fluoridation gave organized dentistry
long-desired but little earned credibility and respect
in the 1950's. Dentists are still at the forefront of virtually
every fluoridation initiative across the country. And fluoridation
has given them political viability, according to their journals.
But, it seems fluoride may only be giving our children more
cavities.
Suite
101 September 14, 2001
| 