The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced it will begin the process of pulling prescription fluoride drops and tablets for children off the market. The supplements are usually given to kids at high risk for cavities.
The federal government and some state legislatures are increasingly drawing attention to what they claim are the risks associated with fluoride, a mineral that’s been used for decades in community water systems, toothpastes and mouth rinses to prevent tooth decay.
Dentists fiercely contest the notion that the harms of fluoride outweigh the benefits.
This is false. Fluoride is not absorbed in the body and transported to the teeth. It only works on contact with dental surfaces. You do not need fluoride to develop “strong” teeth. It only works on the exposed enamel. Growing teeth would only be impaired if the child had some other disease or deficiency, like calcium. Fluoride does nothing for developing future adult teeth.
The existence of fluorosis, caused by an excess of fluoride being absorbed during tooth formation, before they begin to erupt, shows you’re wrong.
That is a cosmetic defect with no benefit. You do not need fluoride during tooth development. 40% of all cases of fluorosis are caused by public water fluoridation. Just another reason to end it.
The percentage depends a lot of the ppm of fluoride in the water, which is why it’s now set at 0.7 instead of as high as 1.5 in decades past.
But my point still stands that it enters the enamel before any topical application is possible. Which makes me take everything else you say with a large helping of salt