NZ - Let children's health be the fluoride guide12comments
Editorial: Let children's health be the fluoride guide12comments
5:30 AM Friday Nov 11, 2011
Some time ago, serious tooth decay seemed to have been consigned to history. Hygiene awareness and good diets, backed up by the fluoridation of water supplies, had produced sound oral health. But all that has changed with the increased consumption of drinks and food with a high sugar content, and some lazy parenting. To make matters worse, the scaremongering of the anti-fluoridation brigade is again gaining traction. It is timely, therefore, for the Labour Party to be promoting an independent inquiry into fluoridation with a view to developing a national policy.
Such an investigation would not have to waste time debating the pluses and minuses of fluoridation. The advantages are undeniable. Eleven years after Auckland fluoridated its water in 1966, tooth decay in young school children had plunged 47 per cent. In a neighbouring area of non-fluoridated water, it had increased by almost 14 per cent. Such results have been replicated around the world, and have resulted in the practice gaining the unequivocal support of bodies such as the World Health Organisation, the American Dental Association and New Zealand's Ministry of Health, which says it is a "safe, effective and affordable way to prevent and reduce dental decay across the whole population"....
Comments
Get Real (New Zealand)
10:23 AM Friday, 11 Nov 2011
I can only speak form personal experience. I have two children. We live in a part of the country where child poverty is rife and tooth decay is a huge problem. We are on tank water which is not fluoridated. I brush my childrens teeth twice a day with an absolute minimum of toothpaste and have them rinse throughly afterwards. Both of my children have NO cavities.
So the questions I have is:
1. Why on earth do we need fluoridated water? Is it too compensate for some parents laziness? A poor excuse for mass medication of the population if ever I heard one.
2. Fluoride (as my case suggests) is of use if applied topically. But there is much research which shows it is devastating if taken internally.
I see it as akin to drinking sun block in order to prevent sunburn. Why would you?
Jan Mabey (Queensland)
10:23 AM Friday, 11 Nov 2011
I have to disagree about the benefits of flouridation. Flouride is a poison and is not allowed to be put into dietary supplements in many countries. Also, my granddaughter's front teeth are unsightly due to flouride. They are mottled with white deposits, a condtion called fluorosis.
5:30 AM Friday Nov 11, 2011
Some time ago, serious tooth decay seemed to have been consigned to history. Hygiene awareness and good diets, backed up by the fluoridation of water supplies, had produced sound oral health. But all that has changed with the increased consumption of drinks and food with a high sugar content, and some lazy parenting. To make matters worse, the scaremongering of the anti-fluoridation brigade is again gaining traction. It is timely, therefore, for the Labour Party to be promoting an independent inquiry into fluoridation with a view to developing a national policy.
Such an investigation would not have to waste time debating the pluses and minuses of fluoridation. The advantages are undeniable. Eleven years after Auckland fluoridated its water in 1966, tooth decay in young school children had plunged 47 per cent. In a neighbouring area of non-fluoridated water, it had increased by almost 14 per cent. Such results have been replicated around the world, and have resulted in the practice gaining the unequivocal support of bodies such as the World Health Organisation, the American Dental Association and New Zealand's Ministry of Health, which says it is a "safe, effective and affordable way to prevent and reduce dental decay across the whole population"....
Comments
Get Real (New Zealand)
10:23 AM Friday, 11 Nov 2011
I can only speak form personal experience. I have two children. We live in a part of the country where child poverty is rife and tooth decay is a huge problem. We are on tank water which is not fluoridated. I brush my childrens teeth twice a day with an absolute minimum of toothpaste and have them rinse throughly afterwards. Both of my children have NO cavities.
So the questions I have is:
1. Why on earth do we need fluoridated water? Is it too compensate for some parents laziness? A poor excuse for mass medication of the population if ever I heard one.
2. Fluoride (as my case suggests) is of use if applied topically. But there is much research which shows it is devastating if taken internally.
I see it as akin to drinking sun block in order to prevent sunburn. Why would you?
Jan Mabey (Queensland)
10:23 AM Friday, 11 Nov 2011
I have to disagree about the benefits of flouridation. Flouride is a poison and is not allowed to be put into dietary supplements in many countries. Also, my granddaughter's front teeth are unsightly due to flouride. They are mottled with white deposits, a condtion called fluorosis.
posted by Bill at
10:09 AM
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