Canada - To tell the tooth, we don't need fluoride
To tell the tooth, we don't need fluoride
Doug Herod
Herod's Column - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Updated @ 11:33:06 AM
There was a time when a story documenting Niagara's dislike of fluoridation would cause my teeth to grind. Indeed, before arriving here in 1979, I was under the impression drinking water everywhere in the developed world was fluoridated as a guard against tooth decay. Yes, I lived a closeted existence. Little did I know that here in Niagara - except for Welland and parts of Thorold and Pelham - residents had stood firm against the idea of adding "medicine" to their water supply.
Think of the children, I'd roar to anyone who'd listen when yet another attempt to fluoridate the system was derailed by a majority of Niagara regional council in the 1980s or '90s. How times have changed. Word emerged this spring that the Region had quietly discontinued fluoridation in Welland, Pelham and Thorold several years ago.
We've been completely fluoride-free in Niagara since 2002. My reaction to the news was a shrug of indifference. What gives? Have I finally accepted the assertion that fluoridation is a communist plot? Did I buy into the argument that it'll be fluoridation in our water supply today, valium or truth serum tomorrow?
Nah, nothing like that. It's more a case of drawing on personal experience. To wit: I grew up drinking fluoridated water in Oakville and, along with the rest of my family, have a mouthful of fillings to show for it. My two kids were raised in fluoride-free St. Catharines and have never had a cavity. OK, I recognize that's not much of a scientific study. And I'm sure there is research that shows people who don't drink fluoridated water are more prone to tooth decay than those who do.
Still, given the aforementioned first-hand experience, it's hard working up real outrage anymore.
Maybe I'm just bitter. I mean, I grew up HATING the dentist in my fluoridated world. This was due, in large part, to our dentist not believing in freezing mouths before drilling cavities. Pain, occasionally, ensued.
Thus, there are lasting memories of my older brother and I sitting in the dentist's waiting room, perspiration forming on our brows and butterflies doing backflips in our stomachs as we listened to the whining of the drill and the bawling of children in the other room.
My cavity-free kids, on the other hand, got a kick out of going to the dentist, what with being able to play video games in the waiting room and watch DVDs while getting their teeth checked and cleaned.
Stupid purported fluoride benefits! Anyhow, never mind my lack of outrage at news of Niagara's fluoride-free status. Even the Region's public health department seems hard-pressed to get worked up over it.
There was a time when the department's dental division would loudly lead the charge to bring more fluoridation to the Region's water supply. It still supports the view that water fluoridation reduces dental decay, but also notes the impact isn't as big as it once was. That's because fluoride is in all sorts of stuff now.
Compared to 50 years ago, stated a staff report summarizing public health's position, fluoride is found "in a variety of beverages, food and household products, including infant formula, toothpaste, mouthrinse, processed cereals, juice, soda, tea, mechanically deboned chicken, fish/seafood and salt."
So, if fluoridation has been dead in Niagara for six years, why has the issue suddenly resurfaced?
Well, the Region recently determined it needed to pass a bylaw that formally gave notice the practice of water fluoridation had ended. Some sleeping dogs, in the form of dentists, woke up and complained. A Pelham woman was tipped off and appeared at a public works committee meeting to express concerns. That led to some public meetings being held in Welland and Pelham to explain why the Region shut down the last remaining fluoridation systems (they cost too much money to maintain and/or replace.)
The public meetings elicited calls for the systems to be revived. A followup public works report is pending. Fat chance of the Region bringing back fluoride. It would cost millions and, as has been demonstrated ample times in the past, water fluoridation has never had a lot of widespread support in Niagara.
Just be happy dentists freeze mouths now before drilling.
And start eating more mechanically deboned chickens.
Doug Herod's opinion column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Doug Herod
Herod's Column - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Updated @ 11:33:06 AM
There was a time when a story documenting Niagara's dislike of fluoridation would cause my teeth to grind. Indeed, before arriving here in 1979, I was under the impression drinking water everywhere in the developed world was fluoridated as a guard against tooth decay. Yes, I lived a closeted existence. Little did I know that here in Niagara - except for Welland and parts of Thorold and Pelham - residents had stood firm against the idea of adding "medicine" to their water supply.
Think of the children, I'd roar to anyone who'd listen when yet another attempt to fluoridate the system was derailed by a majority of Niagara regional council in the 1980s or '90s. How times have changed. Word emerged this spring that the Region had quietly discontinued fluoridation in Welland, Pelham and Thorold several years ago.
We've been completely fluoride-free in Niagara since 2002. My reaction to the news was a shrug of indifference. What gives? Have I finally accepted the assertion that fluoridation is a communist plot? Did I buy into the argument that it'll be fluoridation in our water supply today, valium or truth serum tomorrow?
Nah, nothing like that. It's more a case of drawing on personal experience. To wit: I grew up drinking fluoridated water in Oakville and, along with the rest of my family, have a mouthful of fillings to show for it. My two kids were raised in fluoride-free St. Catharines and have never had a cavity. OK, I recognize that's not much of a scientific study. And I'm sure there is research that shows people who don't drink fluoridated water are more prone to tooth decay than those who do.
Still, given the aforementioned first-hand experience, it's hard working up real outrage anymore.
Maybe I'm just bitter. I mean, I grew up HATING the dentist in my fluoridated world. This was due, in large part, to our dentist not believing in freezing mouths before drilling cavities. Pain, occasionally, ensued.
Thus, there are lasting memories of my older brother and I sitting in the dentist's waiting room, perspiration forming on our brows and butterflies doing backflips in our stomachs as we listened to the whining of the drill and the bawling of children in the other room.
My cavity-free kids, on the other hand, got a kick out of going to the dentist, what with being able to play video games in the waiting room and watch DVDs while getting their teeth checked and cleaned.
Stupid purported fluoride benefits! Anyhow, never mind my lack of outrage at news of Niagara's fluoride-free status. Even the Region's public health department seems hard-pressed to get worked up over it.
There was a time when the department's dental division would loudly lead the charge to bring more fluoridation to the Region's water supply. It still supports the view that water fluoridation reduces dental decay, but also notes the impact isn't as big as it once was. That's because fluoride is in all sorts of stuff now.
Compared to 50 years ago, stated a staff report summarizing public health's position, fluoride is found "in a variety of beverages, food and household products, including infant formula, toothpaste, mouthrinse, processed cereals, juice, soda, tea, mechanically deboned chicken, fish/seafood and salt."
So, if fluoridation has been dead in Niagara for six years, why has the issue suddenly resurfaced?
Well, the Region recently determined it needed to pass a bylaw that formally gave notice the practice of water fluoridation had ended. Some sleeping dogs, in the form of dentists, woke up and complained. A Pelham woman was tipped off and appeared at a public works committee meeting to express concerns. That led to some public meetings being held in Welland and Pelham to explain why the Region shut down the last remaining fluoridation systems (they cost too much money to maintain and/or replace.)
The public meetings elicited calls for the systems to be revived. A followup public works report is pending. Fat chance of the Region bringing back fluoride. It would cost millions and, as has been demonstrated ample times in the past, water fluoridation has never had a lot of widespread support in Niagara.
Just be happy dentists freeze mouths now before drilling.
And start eating more mechanically deboned chickens.
Doug Herod's opinion column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
posted by Bill at
9:36 AM
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