The benefits of fluoridated water for infants outweigh the disadvantages, doctors say

Fluoride in water safe; The benefits of fluoridated water for infants outweigh the disadvantages, doctors say
Nicholas Yong
The Straits Times (Singapore)
December 5, 2010
Fluoridated water is good for dental health, no?
Not in the opinion of Ms Joy Warren, co-ordinator at British non-government organisation West MidlandsAgainst Fluoridation, who recently wrote to LifeStyle about the effects of taking fluoridated water.
West Midlands is a county in England.
Ms Warren said that fluoride in water drunk by expecting mothers is passed to the foetus via the placenta, and to the baby when baby formula is dissolved in fluoridated water.
She claimed that this results in a delay in the development of milk teeth by up to 14months.
Milk teeth usually emerge between the ages of six months and 33 months. These so-called temporary teeth are replaced by permanent ones that normally erupt around ages six to 12.
Dentists here tell LifeStyle that there is little evidence to support Ms Warren's assertions, adding that infants who are fed water without fluoride are put at a disadvantage.
As Dr Joyce Boudeville, a dental surgeon with Raffles Dental, says: 'Scientific research shows that water fluoridation is one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.'...................