Guest post: The Anti-Fluoride Campaign

The Anti-Fluoride Campaign:

Fluoride is a horrific substance. It is a systemic poison, causing skeletal fluorosis, organ failure, and lowers children’s IQ. Upon consumption, it is converted to hydrogen fluoride in the stomach, an equally dangerous and damaging substance. Chemically, fluoride is very corrosive, and has been given an NFPA 704 rating of 3, meaning that it should be handled with extreme care. The worst part about this chemical is that it is in drinking water and nearly all modern toothpaste! It should be banned immediately!

I’m sure we’ve all been alerted to the toxicity of apples too. They contain amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside that releases hydrogen cyanide. And don’t forget potatoes too! They contain solanine, a ‘glycoalkaloid’ that causes gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. And I hope nobody has been eating radishes, spinach, peaches, broccoli or cauliflower either, due to the toxic thyroid suppressors found in them. In fact, it is possible to die from ‘water poisoning’, if someone is foolish enough to drink six litres of water in one sitting.

Those promoting anti fluoride campaigns can be likened to conspiracy theorists, homeopaths and chiropractors – raging lunatics who, with their ‘unparalleled knowledge’ of science (or complete lack thereof), wish to make their impact in the world by preying on the innocent and naïve, infesting them with buzz phrases such as ‘dental fluorosis’, ‘developmental neurotoxin’ and ‘highly toxic’. The campaign can be likened to the anti-vaccination movement, an equally idiotic, albeit more dangerous, concept. You may ask – what’s the harm? 137,900 is the number of illnesses that would have otherwise been prevented without anti-vaccination campaigns. The number of deaths? 6265.

Of course, it would be inappropriate of me to issue bold statements without scientific evidence. Let us start with sodium fluoride, the agent used to fluoridate toothpaste, and another similar salt to fluoridate water, sodium fluorosilicate. Teeth, in order to retain their strength and structure, must have a sufficient level of minerals. Ideally, these minerals should include fluoride. Teeth are usually quite porous, and the bigger the pores, the greater the rate of decay. When teeth have the correct levels of minerals, these pores are at a minimal size. The optimum level of fluoride consumption is approximately 3 mg per day, as this not only remineralises the teeth, but also slows the rate of demineralization. With the fluoridation levels of water at 1ppm (one part per million), drinking one litre of water is the equivalent of consuming 1 mg of fluoride. Hence, by drinking three litres of fluoridated water a day, a person is consuming the ideal amount. This fluoride enters the body systemically – that being, it is actually consumed. The fluoride in toothpaste is applied topically, and benefits teeth in a slightly different fashion, creating fluorapatite. This is a type of hard crystalline substance, composed of calcium, phosphate and fluoride ions. Teeth naturally have a similar substance, known as hydroxyapatite. However, this regenerates slowly, and with society’s constant intake of highly acidic and sugary foods, it is quickly dissolved. It is much easier to generate the stronger fluorapatite layer, simply by using fluoride toothpaste.

Tooth decay is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the world, and fluoride has helped to keep the enamel of teeth strong, in most cases preventing the need for dental surgery. Without fluoride, there is very little to protect the teeth from damage, and tooth decay is nearly certain. Bacteria, such as Streptococcus mutans, will infect the teeth and create large cavities, inevitably resulting in them having to be pulled out. This, in bad cases, can result in infection of the surrounding tissues in the mouth, such as cavernous sinus thrombosis. These can be life threatening if left untreated. This is why anti fluoride campaigns are so dangerous – those who buy in to this absurdity are putting themselves and their children into all sorts of damage and diseases, which can be so easily solved with, quite literally, a little salt.

Now, let’s discuss the apparent ‘dangers’ that fluoride poses upon society. The median lethal dose of sodium fluoride is 52-200 mg per kilogram of body weight, calculated from the lethal dose for rats, mice and rabbits. For an adult weighing 60kg, the lethal dose for said adult is between 3.12 and 12 grams. This is the equivalent of eating over a kilogram of toothpaste in one sitting. I’ll be honest in saying that the symptoms of high level exposure to fluoride is nasty. It may have adverse effects on IQ, (if exposed during childhood), weaken the bones, cause renal impairment and suppress the thyroid, especially if the levels of iodine in the organism’s system are low. These are the kind of symptoms that are on anti-fluoride websites, along with some other ridiculous, baseless ones, such as ‘fluoride causes diabetes’. However, to consume even close to a dangerous amount of fluoride through toothpaste, you’d have to be eating several tubes. Sadly, many parts of the world are affected by fluoride poisoning, causing these effects – but it certainly isn’t from regulated, fluoridated water or toothpaste. It is due to the dissolving of granite rocks in an area’s water supply, greatly increasing the concentration of fluoride in the water. Luckily, in most cases, fluoride poisoning is only to a minor degree, is easily identified, and only results in slight gastrointestinal problems which are simply solved. The most minor effects, and also the most common, begin at approximately 10mg per day, which can cause tiny white streaks on the enamel of teeth. Anyone who can perform basic arithmetic sees that, even if some is foolish enough to actually consume 2g of fluoride toothpaste per day (fluoride concentration of 0.243%), alongside drinking 5 litres of fluoridated water, they still don’t reach dangerous levels of fluoride in their system.

When you go onto an anti-fluoride website, such as fluoride alert, you are bombarded with nothing other than unfounded, absurd and even hilarious statements. They state the symptoms of fluoride poisoning I have described above, and warns that anyone who uses fluoride toothpaste, or drinks fluoridated water, will experience these symptoms.

One quick fact said website is:

“Fluoridation disproportionately harms black children.”

Sorry… what?

Another preposterous claim from this website is: “Today, according to data from the World Health Organization, there is no discernible difference in tooth decay between the minority of developed countries that fluoridate water, and the majority that do not.” They display a lovely, improperly labelled graph that shows little to no discernible difference between the rates of tooth decay per person several first world countries. Ironically, this graph starts from 1970. Care to guess what was introduced in 1970 in first world countries? Fluoride toothpaste. They also fail to show any undeveloped countries on this graph, where the rate of tooth decay is much higher, and where fluoride toothpaste is much more expensive and hard to come by. For people who don’t have immediate access to proper dental care, fluoridated water is the simplest method to ensure that receive a sufficient amount of fluoride to slow down tooth decay.

Before I finish, let me be clear about one thing – sodium fluoride is poisonous. If someone is idiotic enough to somehow obtain five grams of sodium fluoride and eat it, they will probably die. The same applies to jumping off the empire state building – we don’t warn people about the dangers of being a secretary on the 50th floor. Fluoride is an excellent tool in keeping our teeth strong and healthy, and this campaign should be laid to rest alongside the other, ridiculous excuses for science. Like homeopathy.