The darker side of fluoride

Do you drink your tap water?  If not, why not? Is fluoride, perhaps, one of your concerns?

Many cities add fluoride to their water supply because it strengthens teeth.  The controversy is over what else fluoride does that is not so desirable.

There’s a fluoride war in Albuquerque right now.  The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority is proposing to put fluoride back into the water supply after removing it a few years ago.  Passions are high.

While the Albuquerque issue is local, the fluoride question affects all communities.

According to Rudy Blea of the Office of Oral Health in the New Mexico Health Department, the following communities have adjusted water systems to accommodate the appropriate levels of fluoride:  Chama, Cimarron, Cuba, Estancia, Farmington, Los Alamos, Milan, Pecos, Raton, Ruidoso, Santa Fe, Santa Rosa, Springer, Taos, Villanueva, and White Sands. These communities add supplemental fluoride to naturally-occurring fluoride to bring the level up to an accepted standard.  Other communities don’t fluoridate, either because naturally occurring fluoride levels are high enough or because they choose not to.

Is fluoride a solution to New Mexico’s well-publicized lack of access to dental care?  That depends whom you ask.  Both sides were out in force at a recent hearing of the water board in Albuquerque.

Pro-fluoride advocates say, in effect, that fluoride is good for teeth; the studies show in the right quantities it’s not harmful to human health; and our communities have a dental health problem.  Watch that “right quantities.”

The anti-fluoride argument is more complicated.  A few major points:

–Fluoride is beneficial when applied topically to teeth – not swallowed.

–Fluoride is the only health remedy that is forced on the whole population with no control of dosing.

–Fluoride in higher doses is toxic.  Among other things, it reportedly affects the brain and reduces intelligence.

–The toxicity is cumulative, may take a long time to build up, and may be  complicated by other toxic substances in food and the environment.

–If mothers feed powdered formula to their babies, they are overdosing the babies if they mix the formula with fluoridated water.

Both sides cite stacks of studies, some proving fluoride is safe and others proving it isn’t.  The most up-to-date studies seem to support the anti-fluoride position, including studies from China that show lower IQ in children exposed to fluoride.

So much public comment has poured in that the water board has scheduled a special town hall meeting on the issue.  Tentative date is April 9.

After the recent hearing, one board member, County Commissioner Art de la Cruz, announced he had already made up his mind.  In a statement, he said, “I cannot support adding fluoride to our water. While there are two sides in this matter, what is clear is that it is not clear.  …  I would prefer to give free toothpaste to children who cannot afford it than force everyone to ingest fluoride.”

Ironically, some authorities believe a substantial percentage of New Mexico residents – numbers unknown – aren’t drinking their local water anyway.  They’re drinking bottled water. Even Rudy Blea thinks that.

The Office of Oral Health has a number of programs to help low-income children and adults, including education and dental services such as sealants.  This being New Mexico, the programs are underfunded and don’t reach everyone who needs them.

The water pipes of ancient Rome’s famous aqueducts were made of lead.  Lead is toxic and affects the brain, and some historians think that was the cause of the fall of the Empire.  Our society is experiencing exploding rates of autism, auto-immune diseases and other health conditions we can’t explain.   As long as we don’t know, I vote for toothpaste, which we spit out.  And more funding for oral health programs, and figuring out how to get dental therapists into every community.

Triple Spaced Again, © New Mexico News Services 2014

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