The Fluoridation Fuss: Helpful Health Measure or Harmful Additive?

Florida Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, advised a halt in city/county water fluoridation, November 2024, due to risks of excessive exposure. A small number of Florida cities and counties have decided to remove the chemical that has unquestionably reduced tooth decay to a significant extent. Despite the endorsement of Pediatric, Dental, and Disease Control Agencies that water fluoridation is safe and effective, the winds of change favor Robert Kennedy, US health and human Services Secretary’s efforts to “Make America Healthy Again” by cutting back on water fluoridation. Indeed, the rising tide of “Hands Off” and “Never Anything We Don’t Like”demonstrators, plus the controversy /corruption over COVID vaccinations, signal a shift in thinking and political resistance. The original problem of rampant decay and loss of teeth besetting oral health in America in the early 1900’s has definitely improved but not eliminated unless you are very diligent and disciplined with home care. We are not in the same situation as we were in 1945 when Grand Rapids Michigan was the first city in the world to fluoridate its water supply. 15 years later decay in children had been reduced by 70% proving the fluoride ion makes tooth enamel resistant to decay. That research got the ball rolling for making fluoridation a public heath issue, but opposition became intense from the “Don’t Tread On Me” antigovernment medication freedom fighters claiming fluoridated water would kill and maim more people than the atomic bomb, eventually wiping out America.

We Emory dental students in Atlanta can give testimony to the significant difference in children’s teeth from fluoridated DeKalb County compared with adjacent non-fluoridated Fulton County where rampant decay and bombed out first permanent molars were major dental problems. Becoming an orthodontist, we students quickly saw the benefit of fluoride protecting teeth with braces from cavities occurring at hard to clean locations. Topical fluoride periodically applied to the teeth plus fluoride toothpaste and mouth rinse solved a problem that had plagued earlier orthodontic treatment. Scientific evidence proving dentists have harmed patients with topically applied fluoride is non-existent, but someone could always claim that the possibility still exists.

The case I make is that many trace elements occur naturally in ground water that are beneficial and there are broad bands of fluoride concentrations of varying degrees across the globe some high enough to damage teeth such asColorado Springs where the first investigations began in 1901 and later China where extras high levels (8 ppm) are suspect for cognitive deficiencies in some children. When water is devoid of trace elements and purified from desalination plants as in Israel, the risk of heart disease and death have increased because of the lack of magnesium. The Mediterranean Sea’s desalination plants provide70% of Israel’s water supply and pure H2O without trace elements is causing heart problems, so, too much or too little of anything can be a bummer.

We live in a sensitive toxic environment with micro plastic contamination damaging health is in today’s headlines, but did you know that our essential life-giving oxygen is toxic at too high a level?  Death would occur if you breathed pure oxygen in a scuba tank diving instead of compressed air. Oxygen toxicity can occur on ventilators and with hyperbaric therapy, even CPR has reduced ventilation as being less important than chest compressions to keep blood circulation going with plenty of oxygen in blood to sustain life.

So, who would have thought that pure water, oxygen, and food containers could harm us. Yes, like every other element or chemical, fluoride can be harmful, and no one should compel another to consume or be injected with any objectional substance whether they are right or wrong about their objection. I was proud of my granddaughters for refusing the COVID vaccine because of possible future complications. On the other hand, I would have lost my license to practice dentistry had I refused the shots. I understand the anti-mass medication crowd and I did not like the coercion factor, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The fuss over fluoride will continue to flow.

John B. Harrison DDS,MSc