LET’S BREAK THE CONTROVERSY ON FLUORIDE
What is fluoride? Fluoride is a naturally occurring element – it is found in soil and rocks, as well as in fresh and sea water.
What does fluoride do for your teeth? De-mineralization of your tooth enamel is inevitable every day due to the acids that erode your teeth, even with proper brushing and flossing. What fluoride helps to do is to reverse the effects of the de-mineralization process, reducing the risk for cavities and sensitivity.
A little bit of history about how ‘fluoride’ in dentistry came about… In the early 20th century a dentist came across something that was quite odd – some of his patients with heavily stained brown teeth were particularly resistant to tooth decay. He came to the realization after careful research that these teeth were stained as a result of fluorosis (excessive exposure to fluoride). The obvious solution to diminishing the amount of tooth decay in patients was to fluoridate local drinking water.
The PROS – Fluoridation in public drinking water benefits EVERYONE – including underprivileged children, who might otherwise have minimal defense against tooth decay as a result of insignificant access to dental care FAC: The Canadian Dental Society has published that fluoridation in water is one of the TOP 10 achievements in oral health in the 20th century – For such a widespread health measure, fluoridation of local drinking water is very cost-effective
The CONS – it is unethical to ‘force’ fluoridated water on those who do not want it – given that water is ‘free’, people shouldn’t be forced to buy water which is NOT fluoridated, simply because of their beliefs – excessive consumption of fluoride can cause staining in the teeth – excessive consumption in children can affect developing teeth – because the government cannot control how much water we drink, control of fluoride consumption cannot be controlled either
At the end of the day ultimately, if avoiding fluoride is something you are passionate about, this is attainable. However, if fluoride were removed from the water, some people may not be able to readily replace it. As it seems, fluoride’s benefits outweigh the cons – but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
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