Fluoride has been under fire since the 1950’s when it was first recommended as a public health measure.

I first want to say that neither I, nor the dental profession as a whole, have any reason to defend the use of fluoride. Fluoride has been shown to make tooth enamel more resistant to decay and thus to prevent tooth decay. Our primary job as dentists is to treat tooth decay. If fluoride were eliminated tomorrow, it would cause a financial boom for the dental profession as decay rates rise and more dental treatment is needed. If any ulterior motive did exist then it would be to eliminate the use of fluoride!

If you do not want to use fluoride for yourself or your children, I certainly understand and would not insist that you do.

Then why am I writing this article about the safety of fluoride? I have had a few people ask about the safety of fluoride. I believe my patients and friends deserve to know the truth about fluoride so they can make their decisions based on facts and not distortion.

Question #1: Isn’t it true that fluoride was used in rat poison and insecticide? Isn’t that reason enough to ban its use?

Answer: Yes, in high doses fluoride is poisonous. Sodium Fluoride (the primary form used) is very similar chemically to Sodium Chloride. Sodium Chloride is also poisonous if taken in much higher doses than the optimum amount. Yet, we do not think that table salt (Sodium Chloride) is dangerous! Just because a substance is poisonous in extremely high doses does not mean that it is bad at low doses.

Question #2: Isn’t it wrong to take an artificial chemical to improve health?

Answer: I agree that we need to be careful about taking artificial chemicals to improve health. The interesting thing about fluoride is that it occurs naturally in many water supplies around the world! In the 1930’s, Army dentists noticed that recruits from certain areas of the country had dramatically fewer cavities than the average. They wondered what the reason was. The dentists studied this and discovered that the Army recruits all came from geographic locations that had water supplies that naturally contained 1 part per million or greater fluoride. The sodium fluoride that is added to drinking water is exactly the same as this naturally occurring fluoride.

Question #3: Is it wrong for me to refuse fluoride for myself and my family?

Answer: NO! IF you have heard all the undistorted facts but still feel that way, you are right not to take it. Scientists don’t know everything, perhaps there is some way that it is effecting you that has not been discovered yet. All that might happen if you don’t use fluoride is that you might get some more cavities and get to see me more often J .

Question #4: How do we know that fluoride is safe?

Answer: Fluoride safety has been studied for over 50 years! It is probably the most extensively studied health supplement in the history of science. Every major health related organization in the world has endorsed it as safe; the American Dental Assn., the American Medical Assn., the Environmental Protection Agency, the World Health Organization, the National Research Council, the U.S. Public Health Svc., and many, many more.

Question #5: What kinds of studies have been done on fluoride safety?

Answer: Over the years, questions have been raised about fluoride safety in a number of areas. Every time a person writes a book or gets on TV and states that fluoride causes some specific health problem, scientists do studies to make sure that fluoride is safe and there isn’t something that they missed. The following is a list of some of the areas that have been studied extensively and found to be unaffected by fluoride:

Tooth enamel, Enzymes, AIDS, Cancer, Genetic damage, Downs Syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, Heart Disease, Kidney disease, Skeletal disease, Allergies, Growth rate, Thyroid function, Eye disease, Mental illness, and Hyperkinesis

Question #6: Haven’t there been studies that have shown that fluoride can cause health problems?

Answer: Yes, there have been a few such studies over the last 50 years. An example of this would be two studies published in 1956 and 1963 by Rapaport, a psychiatrist with no experience in epidemiology or dental research. Data he collected in several Midwest states in 1956 formed the basis for two articles he published in French journals, purporting to prove a relationship between fluoride in the water and Down Syndrome. Experienced epidemiologists and dental researchers from the National Institute of Dental Research and staff members of the National Institute of Mental Health have found serious shortcomings in the statistical procedures and design of these two studies.

In spite of the fact that researchers thought Rapaport was wrong, further studies have been done on any connection between Downs Syndrome and fluoride. Absolutely no relationship has been shown between fluoride and Downs Syndrome.

In every case, the few studies like this one that have indicated a health problem from fluoride have later been proven wrong.

Question #7: Isn’t it true that fairly small amounts of fluoride over the optimum level can cause damage to tooth enamel.

Answer: Yes, it is called fluorosis. Some natural water supplies in various locations have such high levels of naturally occurring fluoride that the children in the area develop staining in their teeth. When the excess fluoride is removed from these water supplies to the recommended level, the fluorosis stops. I do not prescribe dietary fluoride supplements to my child patients any more because the water supplies in Southern California are too varied in their fluoride content. The safest way to benefit from dietary fluoride is to have it in the public water supply or (if your community does not have fluoridated water) get fluoridated bottled water. It is virtually impossible to get too much fluoride using this technique.

I hope that this article has helped answer some of your questions. My goal (and the goal of the many dental researchers who study these things) is to provide the safest dental treatment possible. Please feel free to contact me with your questions.

Please feel free to contact me with your questions.