It’s déjà vu all over again! Once again, dentists and taxpayer-paid officials swarm out to maintain or introduce mass medication of a very hazardous and toxic substance to your water supply. Whoever made the decision to stop fluoridation of the DeLand water supply made the right decision and saved money to boot. Orange City has saved close to a million dollars since the 1997 decision not to fluoridate the Orange City water supply when the issue came up in Orange City (using the figures quoted in the May 7-10 Beacon).
These dentists represent the same trade group that for 150 years has told the world that mercury in our mouths is good for us (even though it becomes a hazardous substance when removed). The world at large now knows that mercury is toxic in an ever more toxic environment and is to be avoided. The dental profession still hasn’t admitted the obvious.
Since the 1940’s dentists have told us that fluoridated water is good for us because of its effect in preventing and controlling tooth decay. That’s the dance of the one-trick pony. The human being is more than teeth. We do know that the abundant element fluoride is very low in mother’s milk. What happens when we upset the balance of nature and give infants 100 times as much fluoride in formula from our water supply? We simply don’t really know. What happens when an entire population is deliberately mass-medicated with a substance even more toxic than lead? Again, we don’t really know. In a chaotically contaminated chemical environment, it is difficult, if not currently impossible, to separate out the confounding factors in any of the studies for or against fluoride. We do know that fluoride is not a nutrient. We do know that dental caries are decreasing in countries that do not practice fluoridation. We do have reasonable suspicion that fluoride may be associated with increased incidence of cancer (e.g., osteosarcoma), premature aging, genetic changes, and nervous system problems including lowered IQ. We do know that life is tenacious and will adapt, persist, and respond to, and in spite of, noxious influences.
And we do know that fluoridation costs money, someone gets paid that money, and we get stuck with the bill. But Environmental Protection Agency employees (not management!) in a July 2, 1997 press release devoted to fluoride concluded “As professionals who are charged with assessing the safety of drinking water, we conclude that the health and welfare of the public is not served by the addition of this substance to the public water supply.” For those who in the back of their minds, think that fluoride, somehow, purifies water and makes it safer, let it be known that fluoride makes water less pure and less safe.
As a physician, I would not dream of indiscriminately administering such a drug without consideration of need and without consent. I would consider it malpractice. I have no serious quarrel with physicians and patients who, with informed consent, elect fluoride treatment. I do have a problem with taxpayers being forced to swallow their medicine whether or not they want it. For those who, somehow, still support fluoridation, do you really want to impose fluoride on others, knowing that today’s dogma is tomorrow’s myth? Authorities and their opinions come and go.
There is an alternative to fluoride for those who believe it’s helpful. It’s called toothpaste and it’s more than enough. But even swallowed fluoride toothpaste is harmful to young children. Read the label. Children, infants with lots of cavities? - stop the soda, sweets, and juices at every opportunity. May cut down on obesity, too. A two-for-one benefit.
Finally, I quote the Beacon: “They showed a horrifying photo of a young woman’s mouth full of caries and threatened that people can die from poor dental health. They said DeLand had showed leadership and was making dental-health progress, but was in danger of backsliding if fluoridation wasn’t restored.” That was a cheap trick and unworthy of their cause. I can imagine that at least some of the public health professionals there, still capable of thought, must have been inwardly cringing at such tactics.
In the end, money started this fluoridation misadventure in DeLand and money ended it. But it behooves us to be alert to that still, small voice that tells us, somehow, it’s not smart to poison our well.
