kooosh wrote:Applying a fluoride paste to your teeth and brushing them for 5 minutes a day prevents tooth decay. Drinking water or briefly swishing water with a tiny amount of fluoride does nothing. This would seem to be common sense. I have no idea why we continue to put this stuff in water.
WRONG. You have "no idea" because you don't bother doing research, instead relying on myths and hearsay. Sorry kooosh, but good science and public health is not based on "common sense." It's based on research and data. And this type of question requires epidemiological studies where factors such as toothpaste use are controlled. Only then would we know if fluoridated water is effective. The medical literature says that it works.
As a medical researcher, I know better than to rely on your word so I called my sister, a dentist and MPH. Here's a list of references she provided, with quotes, mostly from PEER-REVIEWED journals.
The study by Machiulskiene et al (#4) is especially revealing, as it directly compares two populations with different levels of fluoride in drinking water. Other factors such as diet, dental care and toothpaste use were controlled, thus eliminated.
And btw, if water fluoridation does nothing, why is it encouraged by public health officials? Is there some sort of fluoridation conspiracy by the fluoridation industry? is someone making billions off this? Think about it.
=====
1) "The addition of fluoride to public water supplies was an important ally in the improvement of the oral health of Baixo Guandu inhabitants."
Saliba NA, Moimaz SA, Casotti CA, Pagliari AV. Dental caries of lifetime residents in Baixo Guandu, Brazil, fluoridated since 1953--a brief communication. J Public Health Dent. 2008 Spring;68(2):119-21.
2) "Although there are differences of opinion regarding the cause of this global dental caries increase, the remedy is well known: a return to the public health strategies that were so successful in the past, a renewed campaign for water fluoridation..."
Bagramian RA, Garcia-Godoy F, Volpe AR. The global increase in dental caries. A pending public health crisis. Am J Dent. 2009 Feb;22(1):3-8.
3) "Reticulated water fluoridation in Auckland reduces the risk of dental caries...in 9-year-old children."
Kanagaratnam S, Schluter P, Durward C, Mahood R, Mackay T. Enamel defects and dental caries in 9-year-old children living in fluoridated and nonfluoridated areas of Auckland, New Zealand. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2009 Jun;37(3):250-9. Epub 2009 Mar 19
4) "a greater number of inactive lesions and fewer fillings were found in the '1.1 ppm fluoride' group than in the '0.3 ppm fluoride' group..."
Machiulskiene V, Baelum V, Fejerskov O, Nyvad B. Prevalence and extent of dental caries, dental fluorosis, and developmental enamel defects in Lithuanian teenage populations with different fluoride exposures. Eur J Oral Sci. 2009 Apr;117(2):154-60.
5) Ajayi DM, Denloye OO, Dosumu OO. The fluoride content of drinking water and caries experience in 15-19 year old school children in Ibadan, Nigeria. Afr J Med Med Sci. 2008 Mar;37(1):15-9.
