FLUORIDE-DATE LECTURE #7 - QUESTION AUTHORITY I
Good afternoon, Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmembers. Last time, I said I’d talk about an Austin Water Utility document that briefly displaced my Fluoride Follies blog at the top of Google’s “fluoride” + “Austin” search. It’s titled “Fluoride in Drinking Water” and you have it as a handout. http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/water/fluoride.htm
First I want to say I don’t accuse the Water Utility of bad faith. They’re just passing along flawed information, which was handed down to them. It’s been around a very long time. But that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t question it.
Point #1 Quote - In the 1920s and 1930s a link was made between fluoride concentrations in drinking water and a reduction in tooth decay. Unquote. Here’s the story on that. A Colorado Springs dentist of the period thought he’d found a link between fluoride and reduced cavities in teeth that looked like this
from drinking local water high in calcium fluoride. However, the naturally-fluoridated water his patients were consuming also contained exceptionally high levels of calcium. And what’s famously good for the teeth? Calcium. It turns out that any benefits came from the extra calcium, while the fluoride contributed the stains. That early dentist’s incorrect conclusion became the cornerstone of the whole “fluoridated-water-is-good-for-you” argument.
Point #2. Quote - In 1945, municipalities began adding fluoride to the drinking water. Unquote. True. In that year, with WWII still raging, two public health bureaucrats raced to be first to get war-related industrial waste into a city water supply under the banner of cavity prevention. It was actually an experiment. Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first urban guinea pig, closely followed by Newburgh, New York. Ironically, today city officials in Grand Rapids are looking at taking the fluoride out.
Point #3. Quote. “Followup studies in these communities over the following 13-15 years showed a 50-75% reduction in cavities.” Unquote. That statement is a half-truth. The full truth is that both Grand Rapids and Newburgh showed virtually the same rates of cavity reduction as the non-fluoridated “control” cities—Muskegon MI and Kingston NY—that.they were paired with: In that period of postwar prosperity—when many Americans were able to afford good dental care for the first time—cavity rates dropped steeply all over the country.
But I hear the buzzer, so I'll just roll the rest into next week and finish then.
First I want to say I don’t accuse the Water Utility of bad faith. They’re just passing along flawed information, which was handed down to them. It’s been around a very long time. But that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t question it.
Point #1 Quote - In the 1920s and 1930s a link was made between fluoride concentrations in drinking water and a reduction in tooth decay. Unquote. Here’s the story on that. A Colorado Springs dentist of the period thought he’d found a link between fluoride and reduced cavities in teeth that looked like this
from drinking local water high in calcium fluoride. However, the naturally-fluoridated water his patients were consuming also contained exceptionally high levels of calcium. And what’s famously good for the teeth? Calcium. It turns out that any benefits came from the extra calcium, while the fluoride contributed the stains. That early dentist’s incorrect conclusion became the cornerstone of the whole “fluoridated-water-is-good-for-you” argument.
Point #2. Quote - In 1945, municipalities began adding fluoride to the drinking water. Unquote. True. In that year, with WWII still raging, two public health bureaucrats raced to be first to get war-related industrial waste into a city water supply under the banner of cavity prevention. It was actually an experiment. Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first urban guinea pig, closely followed by Newburgh, New York. Ironically, today city officials in Grand Rapids are looking at taking the fluoride out.
Point #3. Quote. “Followup studies in these communities over the following 13-15 years showed a 50-75% reduction in cavities.” Unquote. That statement is a half-truth. The full truth is that both Grand Rapids and Newburgh showed virtually the same rates of cavity reduction as the non-fluoridated “control” cities—Muskegon MI and Kingston NY—that.they were paired with: In that period of postwar prosperity—when many Americans were able to afford good dental care for the first time—cavity rates dropped steeply all over the country.
But I hear the buzzer, so I'll just roll the rest into next week and finish then.
Posted by M. Rae Nadler-Olenick at 2/26/2009 3:10 PM 
Categories: fluoride water fluoridation Austin teeth dental
Tags: fluoride water fluoridation Austin teeth dental health wellness
Categories: fluoride water fluoridation Austin teeth dental
Tags: fluoride water fluoridation Austin teeth dental health wellness
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