50 REASONS TO OPPOSE

FLUORIDATION
So Ive taken the time to write up a rebuttal. Although Im no dentist yet, I feel
its important that people know the misconceptions and the benefits surrounding
fluoride. As you may already know, its an element that is praised in the dental
world for its effects of making enamel physically stronger and also more resistant
to acids (preventing the demineralisation of tooth enamel The tooths
protective layer). Many people argue many of the points mentioned in this
article, so Ill try my best to rebut the points mentioned by Dr Paul Connett in 50
reasons to oppose fluoridation.
Firstly and most imperatively, its important to note Dr Pauls credentials; he
holds a PhD in chemistry. Whilst impressive, its in no way related to the dental
field, let alone a medical one. I know this isnt a strong point as he might well
and truly know fluoride inside and out, so let me continue.
1. Fluoride is the only chemical added to water for the purpose of medical treatment
Whist this is only one of the many chemicals present in our drinking water,
theres also Iodine thats present in water, and the level of it in water is actively
adjusted to a level <0.5ppm (parts per million)(mg/L). Its mentioned in the
elaboration of his point that it is the only chemical to not improve the safety and
quality of water; Quality is objective as we dont know what standard he is
comparing it to you could also call the other minerals present in water a
deterrent from pure quality if youre looking at pure

H 2 O ). I didnt read the

whole document that I linked below, but Im sure there would be more in the nine
page long list of chemicals present in water. Fluoride is added to water with the
intent that it benefit our dental health by strengthening our enamel layer of our
teeth and this is a fact. In fact, its basic chemistry that a mineral (our enamel)
will take up fluoride to form a stronger mineral in the right conditions. There are
benefits of having fluoride at different ages, but Ill address that in some of the
points below.
Source:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/eh52_australia
n_drinking_water_guidelines_150108.pdf (page 758)

2. Fluoridation is unethical.
Here he is terming fluoridation as medication. Its simply an element that can be
part of a larger mineral with the result of a stronger and more resilient protective
layer. Fluoridation can be seen as being unethical, but personally an element
thats naturally found in the world is far from medication, so it kinda was already

there; the government adjusts it to optimal levels given the season and the
water composition.

3. The dose cannot be controlled.

Dr Pauls point here is that the volume of water people consume varies. He also
says that Being able to control the dose a patient receives is critical. Its
obviously true that the amount of water one person drinks will differ from the
next person, but the amount of fluoride needed for health effects are quite high.
The fluoride in the water is adjusted seasonally so that there is less available
during warmer seasons ( as there would be an increased consumption of water)
and more in colder seasons. In Australia, the level of Fluoride is between 0.6 ppm
and 1.1 ppm. If you really wanted to control how much fluoride you ingested, you
could drink a certain amount of fluoridated water then switch to non-fluoridate
water. When fluoride is ingested it can affect the body if the dose it high enough.
Higher doses of fluoride can cause gastritis, lesions of the stomach mucosa, and
even death! But to reach these doses, youd have to eat a tube of tooth paste.
The lethal dose of fluoride is 3.00 grams. To reach this from drinking water, youd
have to drink

3
=3000 L of water
0.001

per day (assuming 1ppm). The current

level of fluoride in water assumes humans weight about 70 kgs, and drink a
maximum of 2L a day. So the dose one would get from drinking even 10L of
water per day (0.01 grams) would be far from uncontrolled.

4) The fluoride goes to everyone regardless of age, health or vulnerability

Okay. Dentally, fluoride is beneficial to all regardless of age. Its been shown that
fluoride prenatally will cause the fissures in teeth (grooves on the biting surfaces)
to not form sharp V shaped groves, but rather gentle U shaped ones. This will
prevent food and plaque/bacteria from getting stuck in the fissure system or the
fissures from being too deep for a tooth brush to effectively remove bacteria and
food. In children it will make the adult teeth form better layers of enamel, and in
adults, it will repair enamel which has been subject to acid attack that happens
from the waste of simple carbohydrate digestion by bacterial found in the fauna
of the mouth. I dont know enough to comment on the health and vulnerability
point he is raising. His quote from Dr Avid Carlsson is again saying that its a
medication where a person needs to take one pill three times a day. Fluoride is
far from that and doesnt need for an amount to be prescribed. its like someone
taking protein, someone on a diet of 200 grams of protein compared to someone
taking 150 grams would just mean the person taking 200 grams would have
more proteins acids floating for the synthesis of other stuff. With fluoride,
someone who takes a high dose of fluoride (still remaining a sensible amount of
it) would simply have a higher bioavailability of fluoride.
5) People now receive fluoride from many other sources besides water.

This is true. Mouth washes, tooth pastes and other dental products have fluoride
in it. Pretty sure the government is aware of this and they tooth that into
consideration when they chose the ppm of fluoride in our water to be in between
0.7-1.1. Also noting that different ages can tolerate different amounts of
fluoride, Australia has tooth paste for kids (under 6) that has half the fluoride
thats found in normal toothpaste( 500ppm compared to 1000 ppm in adult tooth
paste- Youd literally need to eat one max sized tube in one sitting to get sick)
6) Fluoride is not an essential nutrient

Okay, but just because you dont need it doesnt mean it cant help. Its like
taking out health insurance, you dont need it, but it will come in handy when
acid tries to attack your teeth.

7) The level in mothers milk is very low

Great! That makes it safer to use fluoridated tooth paste and drink government
water. Also I havent researched this, but I think the level of fluoride in mothers
milk will reflect the amount of fluoride ingested by the mum. Also kids have a
lower body mass and hence they need less Fluoride.
8 ) Fluoride accumulates in the body.

Yeah, in the teeth. Also in bones where its beneficial. Fluoro-apatite is the
mineral present when fluoride is part of the mineral structure of enamel. Its also
present in bones and this provides a stronger overall structure.
9) No health agency in fluoridated countries is monitoring fluoride exposure or side
effects

Sure. I wouldnt know, but what I do know is that the government is monitoring
the level of fluoride and hence the exposure by extension. Side effects are noted
and have been studied and people dont ingest enough to have any detrimental
effects. The last time people died from fluoride was when someone mistook
sodium Fluoride for flour. They made pancakes and they all died as they would
have ingested grams of the substance. (lecture retold this story)
10) There has never been a single randomized controlled trial to demonstrate
fluoridations effectiveness or safety.

It is difficult to do so. As mentioned by Dr paul, people get fluoride from many

sources and the number of participants complying to drinking a certain amount
of water I imagine would be low. What has been done however is comparing
students in QLD, selected through a stratified random sample selection over a
two year period, who were from fluoridated areas to non-fluoridated ones. The
conclusion was Comparison of caries (tooth decay) experience of children at the time of the
extension of water fluoridation supported the rationale for this population health measure.
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25558897
11) Benefit is topical not systemic

This is true, although allowing it to enter the blood stream makes it bioavailable in saliva. This is
possible as the constituents of saliva which protect our teeth come from the blood. The phosphate
and bicarbonate buffer system help keep the pH of the mouth around neutral. Once it goes down to a
pH of 5.5, normal enamel will start to demineralise (early tooth decay). With fluoride in the enamel
mineral, the critical pH is 4.5, hence its more resilient than normal enamel (hydroxylappetite). Fluoride
would not be available in our saliva to help repair our enamel. The only other way to make it bio
available in the mouth would be by the application of a Fluoride varnish or spitting and not rinsing after
brushing (basically, dental products containing fluoride that are designed to stay in the mouth for a
period of time)

12) Fluoridation is not necessary.

This is true, but its beneficial; not crucial. With good oral hygiene, everyone can keep their adult teeth
for life! But unfortunately this doesnt happen and why dentists exist.

13) Fluoridations role in the decline of tooth decay is in serious doubt.

Refer to Q 10. It plays a role and it HAS been observed to have an effect in lower DFMT scores
(Decayed, filled or missing teeth).

14) NIH-funded study on individual fluoride ingestion and tooth decay found no significant
correlation
The conclusion of the study states Given the overlap among caries/fluorosis groups in mean fluoride
intake and extreme variability in individual fluoride intakes, firmly recommending an "optimal" fluoride
intake is problematic. In the method it states that they estimated the total fluoride intake at each
time thats far from scientific. Also looking at the second link, the natural level of fluoride in varies
from 1.5ppm to 7.0 ppm.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19054310
http://www.fluoridealert.org/wp-content/pesticides/levels/iowa.html
15) Tooth decay is high in low-income communities that have been fluoridated for years
Fluoride doesnt cure tooth decay, it only helps prevent it. As mentioned earlier, once the pH in the
mouth drops below 4.5-5.5 (depending on the composition of the enamel), teeth start to decay. Poor
oral hygiene will cause tooth decay and so would poor food choices. A 2012 paper stated that Poor
individuals disproportionately consume inexpensive processed foods commonly enriched with
phosphorus-based food preservatives. More processed foods contain sugars and simpler
carbohydrates. This is what the bacteria live off and they by product of their metabolism is lactic acid
and a few others.

16) Tooth decay does not go up when fluoridation is stopped.

Theres anecdotal evidence that it does. IN cairns the locals petitioned to remove fluoride from the
drinking water and it was removed. Since then, it has been noted by dentists serving the community
that the level of tooth decay now is unprecedented.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/fluoride-needs-to-be-back-in-cairns-water-to-protectchildrens-teeth-says-adaq-president/story-fnjpusyw-1227003472480

17) Tooth decay was coming down before fluoridation started

This is probably due to an increased awareness of the importance of good oral hygiene. The level of
tooth decay certainly didnt rise after fluorides introduction.it should also be noted that the time frame
in the graph included the great wars. There was a decline in sugar at these times. Again, fluoride isnt

meant to be the cure for tooth decay, its just there to help prevent it against the many factors that are
involved in the tooth decay process.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/topics/rationing_in_ww2
18) The studies that launched fluoridation were methodologically flawed.
Seeing how one of his sources guesstimated the fluoride intake, I dont think he has a point here.

19) Children are being over-exposed to fluoride.

And also to violence in video games. If used appropriately, there would be no over exposure. The
condition they refer to is cause by overexposure during tooth formation. For this reason, theres tooth
paste with half the fluoride content of regular toothpaste. The study they used looked at children in the
US, where childrens tooth paste is not available.

20) The highest doses of fluoride are going to bottle-fed babies.

I would say that the babies are at high risk of reaching doses of fluoride that may cause problems for
them due to their light weight, but seeing how they only drink about 600-900mL of water with their
formula per day IF their diet consists solely of baby formula, they are far from risk.

21) Dental fluorosis may be an indicator of wider systemic damage.

This claim is based on many suggestions. All the studies he links are ones that show excess fluoride
during the formation of teeth, will cause dental fluorosis, which is a fact. They make mention of
skeletal fluorosis. Looking at their link, they are referring to people in India and China, where the
availability to drinking water is highly compromised. Drinking natural water with high levels of fluoride
is most likely responsible for this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_ranking_by_drinking_water
22) Fluoride may damage the brain
The study here looks at rats and they gave them a pretty high dose, for humans to ingest such high
levels, would require a diet of colgate. They refer to another study where they gave the mice water
with as low as 5 ppm Fluroide. As I mentioned earlier, optimally fluoridated water is 0.7-1.

23) Fluoride may lower IQ

As mentioned in point 21, areas where people drink water with absurd levels of fluoride would be due
to socio-economic status. Here they looked at people from China, Iran, India and mexico countries
notoriously known for their slums and low access to drinking water (government drinking water). Also
some lady in Cairns when they were arguing fluorides presence in water, said they her babys
vocabulary went from 50 to 500 after they removed fluoride. Lol. (maybe time allowed them to read
more?)

24) Fluoride may cause non-IQ neurotoxic effects.

Maybe high levels. I wouldnt know much about this.

25) Fluoride affects the pineal gland.

I wouldnt know. Quick research shows that yes it does accumulate in the brain was we age, but all
the studies performed were on rats and theres no evidence to show that it affects mood or anything.
Theres mention of girls from fluoridated communities getting their period 5 months earlier that girls in

non-fluoridated regions. Id take a guess that genetics in the community would play a big role. Also, 5
months isnt a big time difference. Some peoples teeth erupt at different times to others theres a
huge variability in things when it comes to genetics. But Im no geneticist, so I guess I cant say much
on this one.

26) Fluoride affects thyroid function

Not sure on this one either, but id imagine this happens at high doses of Fluoride. Its mentioned in
their study the people observed were having anywhere between 1.6 and 6.6 mg/ day. This would be
equivalent to someone in Australia drinking between 2-10L a day. Also every bodily function will
decline with age regardless of health status.

27) Fluoride causes arthritic symptoms.

No clue. But again they mention skeletal fluorosis which doesnt occur in places with optimal levels of
fluoride. Google showed no result of cases in Australia ever.
Source: Kaminsky LS, Mahoney MC, Leach J, Melius J, Miller MJ. Fluoride: benefits and risks of
exposure. Crit Rev Oral BioMed 1990;1:261-81

28) Fluoride damages bone

We were taught that it can increase the bones density with the mineral fluoroapatite. Again, excessive
amounts will lead to skeletal fluorosis, but there are with excessive amounts.

29) Fluoride may increase hip fractures in the elderly.

Again, this study looks at china where levels of skeletal fluorosis are high mainly due to the water they
drink naturally. From wiki In some areas, skeletal fluorosis is endemic. While fluorosis is

most severe and widespread in the two largest countries - India and China - UNICEF
estimates that "fluorosis is endemic in at least 25 countries across the globe. The total
number of people affected is not known, but a conservative estimate would number in the
tens of millions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_fluorosis
30) People with impaired kidney function are particularly vulnerable to bone damage
This is a logical point. Excess fluoride will cause problems. The fact that they used case studies
indicates the rarity of someone being in this position

31) Fluoride may cause bone cancer (osteosarcoma)

Damn, what doesnt cause cancer nowadays? Firstly, they study was done on rates and the website
even says the physiology is different in humans and rats. Secondly their argument here is all
speculation and they throw the term plausible and may a lot.

32) Proponents have failed to refute the Bassin-Osteosarcoma study

This study has a small sample size and they werent chosen at random. Also I havent read the full
research article.

33) Fluoride may cause reproductive problems

I know plenty of dentists with kids ;)

34) Some individuals are highly sensitive to low levels of fluoride

The study they got this from was a 13 year study. Only 1% of people developed some sort of affect
from it. Pretty good odds in my opinion. Also the subjects were people who were in hospital, maybe it
could have affected with their medications? Who knows.

35) Other subsets of population are more vulnerable to fluorides toxicity

All the points they mention here is saying that people with pre-existing health conditions are more
vulnerable. Someone whos malnutritioned will be more vulnerable to anything

36) There is no margin of safety for several health effects

They said it themselves, high natural levels of fluoride and again with the India and china group.

37) Low-income families penalized by fluoridation.

This is an unsubstantiated point, but to play along, its talking about fluorosis which is when too much
fluoride goes into the teeth and causes faint streaks of chalky white in teeth. Severity can vary and its
not always unsightly

38) Black and Hispanic children are more vulnerable to fluorides toxicity
Nigger please. This would be more related to uncontrolled fluoride levels and improper use of dental
products containing fluoride.

39) Minorities are not being warned about their vulnerabilities to fluoride.
This point says that minorities have a higher prevalence of morbidities in their community. Anyone
who is sick is probably more susceptible and vulnerable to other things.

41) The chemicals used to fluoridate water are not pharmaceutical grade.
I didnt put the order in, but fluoride is fluoride. Where it came from NaF or the fertiliser industry, its
still the same atom with 9 protons and 9 neutrons and it has the exact same effect regardless of
source.

42) The silicon fluorides have not been tested comprehensively.

To add to point 41, they add both NaF and Sodium fluorosilicate as fluoride
floating in the water system may attach itself to other compounds present in
water. They reviewed the addition of Sodium fluorosilicate to water in 2003, after
it was introduced in 1983. They didnt see a problem with it.
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/eh52_australia
n_drinking_water_guidelines_150108.pdf page 1198
43) The silicon fluorides may increase lead uptake into childrens blood

Its a good thing they monitor for lead in our water.

44) Fluoride may leach lead from pipes, brass fittings and soldered joints

May.
45) Key health studies have not been done.

He may be right, although theres a lot of studies on fluoride. I honestly dont

think theres a big push to research more into fluoridation as its cheap and it
chemically makes enamel stronger and back from point 16, it has been noted to
have an effect on reducing tooth decay and better oral health.
46) Endorsements do not represent scientific evidence

9434 papers just searching dental caries fluoride. Theres a lot of scientific
evidence.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=fluoride+dental+caries
47) Review panels hand-picked to deliver a pro-fluoridation result

Fluoridation is a cheap and effective way to prevent tooth decay and it costs the
government something like $0.14 per mega tonne of water. ITs better for the
government to pay that then the dental bills that come with tooth decay for
people on health care cards or the Child dental benefits schedule.
48) Many scientists oppose fluoridation.

I think theyre just grumpy people. Give your local scientist a hug.
49) Proponents usually refuse to defend fluoridation in open debate.

Fight me one on one Dr Paul.

50) Proponents use very dubious tactics to promote fluoridation

The evidence is clear and so is the science behind the benefits of fluoride in
teeth during the prenatal, adolescent and adult phases of life.