Heals broken bones as well - marvellous stuff!

Fluoridated water supply a proven fighter against tooth decay
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/7/06Anyone reading the April 28 commentary "Adding fluoride to water may pose health risks" would be concerned about the harmful effects of fluoridated water. The facts are very different from what the article indicated.
The original impetus to fluoridate water supplies came from a dentist in Texas who noticed that one group of people from one town had almost no tooth decay while a neighboring community had high rates of tooth decay. The only difference he found in the two communities was that one had fluoride naturally occurring in water.
Almost 30 years later, one of the first of many major studies was done in upstate New York in neighboring communities. One community was fluoridated while the other was not. The results were startling. The fluoridated community had an almost 50 percent reduction in dental decay.
Another study looking at adults and the effect on them demonstrated an improvement in the decay rate. More importantly, healing of broken bones improved in areas of fluoridation. Physicians started using this to assist older adults by giving them fluoride supplements.
Every credible health organization, including the American Dental Association, American Medical Association and World Health Organization, has endorsed this public health issue for more than 50 years.

Letters to the editor
Larry Benjamin
yourviews@app.com