History validates fluoride?
History validates fluoride
By Lohring Miller
Published: Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lisa Arkin is another of a long line of fluoridation opponents to bring up the same fears over and over. In her June 14 guest viewpoint she argued against House Bill 3099, a proposal to require that cities with populations of more than 10,000 add fluoride to their municipal water supplies. The fact is that naturally occurring fluoride has been in water supplies all over the world for much longer than humans have been around.
At levels over 10 times those presently proposed for community water fluoridation, occurring naturally in Colorado, people developed discolored teeth. Dentists noticed this, and also noticed that these people had little tooth decay.
When fluoride was isolated as the reason, several studies were conducted in cities with various levels of naturally occurring fluoride in their city water supplies. These studies, done before World War II, showed a significant reduction in tooth decay in areas with naturally occurring fluoride in the water. The results were so promising that several cities began to add fluoride to their water supplies in the mid-1940s. Continuous studies since then show no effect from a proper level of water fluoridation - no effect, that is, except a reduction in tooth decay. In the 1950s Procter & Gamble added fluoride to its toothpaste and made Crest an immediate best-seller. Almost all other toothpastes followed suit, and it is difficult to buy toothpaste without fluoride today.
Arkin noted recent changes in recommended water fluoridation levels. These come from the current wide use of fluoride supplements, a testimony to fluoride's safety and acceptance by the community.
Because of the efforts of public health agencies, tooth decay is the last serious infectious disease among children in the United States. Immunizations have eliminated nearly all other childhood diseases, though there are still outbreaks among nonimmunized groups.
Children from middle class families usually avoid much tooth decay, because their parents take advantage of all that is known about preventing it - including fluoride. Two of my four children still have no cavities, though they are in their 30s. Nearly all of my five grandchildren also have no decay.
However, low-income children don't have these opportunities. Before an extensive fluoride varnish program, Head Start's entire medical and dental budget was used for hospitalization and treatment of six to 10 children with severe tooth decay. This left no money for the other 800 children. The only bright spot was in the Florence Head Start program, where the problem of tooth decay wasn't as serious. Florence has a fluoridated water supply.
The Head Start fluoride varnish program was so successful that currently less than half of the same budget is needed for dental treatment. This has been the case over and over with similar programs in the Scandinavian countries, as well as in clinics for poor children in Lane County and elsewhere in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control state in their paper, "Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Fluoridation of Drinking Water to Prevent Dental Caries" that "Although other fluoride-containing products are available, water fluoridation remains the most equitable and cost-effective method of delivering fluoride to all members of most communities, regardless of age, educational attainment or income level."
I invite Arkin to provide treatment, or even funding for treatment, for the many Lane County children that local children's dentists and I see at no charge - children with devastating tooth decay.
Perhaps Arkin would like to hold the hand of the boy in the Southeast who recently died from an infection caused by tooth decay. One dollar per person per year for water fluoridation might have replaced $250,000 of fruitless medical treatment before this child died.
Arkin is free to drink bottled water, take her children to the dentist regularly, and otherwise deal with her family's dental problems.
What about the many families who can't afford this? Prevention with fluoride and other public health measures are the only things we can afford for the many low-income families in Oregon. Lohring Miller, DMD, is dental director of the Community Health Centers of Lane County.
GUEST VIEWPOINT
Lohring Miller is another of a long line of fluoridation proponents to bring up the same propaganda over and over.
By Lohring Miller
Published: Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lisa Arkin is another of a long line of fluoridation opponents to bring up the same fears over and over. In her June 14 guest viewpoint she argued against House Bill 3099, a proposal to require that cities with populations of more than 10,000 add fluoride to their municipal water supplies. The fact is that naturally occurring fluoride has been in water supplies all over the world for much longer than humans have been around.
At levels over 10 times those presently proposed for community water fluoridation, occurring naturally in Colorado, people developed discolored teeth. Dentists noticed this, and also noticed that these people had little tooth decay.
When fluoride was isolated as the reason, several studies were conducted in cities with various levels of naturally occurring fluoride in their city water supplies. These studies, done before World War II, showed a significant reduction in tooth decay in areas with naturally occurring fluoride in the water. The results were so promising that several cities began to add fluoride to their water supplies in the mid-1940s. Continuous studies since then show no effect from a proper level of water fluoridation - no effect, that is, except a reduction in tooth decay. In the 1950s Procter & Gamble added fluoride to its toothpaste and made Crest an immediate best-seller. Almost all other toothpastes followed suit, and it is difficult to buy toothpaste without fluoride today.
Arkin noted recent changes in recommended water fluoridation levels. These come from the current wide use of fluoride supplements, a testimony to fluoride's safety and acceptance by the community.
Because of the efforts of public health agencies, tooth decay is the last serious infectious disease among children in the United States. Immunizations have eliminated nearly all other childhood diseases, though there are still outbreaks among nonimmunized groups.
Children from middle class families usually avoid much tooth decay, because their parents take advantage of all that is known about preventing it - including fluoride. Two of my four children still have no cavities, though they are in their 30s. Nearly all of my five grandchildren also have no decay.
However, low-income children don't have these opportunities. Before an extensive fluoride varnish program, Head Start's entire medical and dental budget was used for hospitalization and treatment of six to 10 children with severe tooth decay. This left no money for the other 800 children. The only bright spot was in the Florence Head Start program, where the problem of tooth decay wasn't as serious. Florence has a fluoridated water supply.
The Head Start fluoride varnish program was so successful that currently less than half of the same budget is needed for dental treatment. This has been the case over and over with similar programs in the Scandinavian countries, as well as in clinics for poor children in Lane County and elsewhere in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control state in their paper, "Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Fluoridation of Drinking Water to Prevent Dental Caries" that "Although other fluoride-containing products are available, water fluoridation remains the most equitable and cost-effective method of delivering fluoride to all members of most communities, regardless of age, educational attainment or income level."
I invite Arkin to provide treatment, or even funding for treatment, for the many Lane County children that local children's dentists and I see at no charge - children with devastating tooth decay.
Perhaps Arkin would like to hold the hand of the boy in the Southeast who recently died from an infection caused by tooth decay. One dollar per person per year for water fluoridation might have replaced $250,000 of fruitless medical treatment before this child died.
Arkin is free to drink bottled water, take her children to the dentist regularly, and otherwise deal with her family's dental problems.
What about the many families who can't afford this? Prevention with fluoride and other public health measures are the only things we can afford for the many low-income families in Oregon. Lohring Miller, DMD, is dental director of the Community Health Centers of Lane County.
GUEST VIEWPOINT
Lohring Miller is another of a long line of fluoridation proponents to bring up the same propaganda over and over.
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10:26 AM
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