Natural Dental Arts News

It is Monday before Christmas and all though San Diego people are wondering if it will be another bad Christmas filled with forced organic waste in our drinking water! No choice is given, no questions asked, no research done by those giving the OK. Whether you think that fluoride is good or bad, as a dental professional many of us, and more dentists are slowly researching this issue and seeing that too many questions exists, understand that we need to bring this important issue to our government representatives. Few people are aware that in the 1960's there were two props that said that NO public money should be used on fluoridation, how interesting that the mayor and council are ignoring the prior will of their public! The local newspaper, the Presideo Sentinel from Mission Hills, a community just north of downtown has had several good articles about this issue and how the public is having this pushed down its throat. As a holistic dentist, I can appreciate that many people are allergic, sensitive or have been poisoned by fluoride. Do you know someone that has white spots on their teeth? Some dental researchers would consider those white spots of fluorosis, areas that have been hurt by having too much fluoride in the water is not significant! Well they should talk to the people that are walking around their entire life's with those stains. Are you aware that most European countries have removed fluoride from the drinking water? Are you aware that the effects of fluoride came out of the Manhattan Project from the process of uranium enrichment, or that we get fluoride from scrubbing smokestacks in aluminum factories? Are you aware of the difference between the fluoride in your tooth paste ( hopefully, you are not using a fluoride toothpaste) and the fluoride organic waste with arsenic that is placed into our water supply. It is said that Hitler placed fluoride in the water to make prisoners more quiet. Well there are two great recent books on the deception of the fluoride issue, the Fluoride Deception and The Case Against Fluoride. But we must not forget that fluoride has become a "sacred cow" and that for many dentists and people that make the decisions all they have ever heard has been.... Fluoride is good, it stops cavities in kids. Good research has shown that cavity rates drop because people better understand that you cannot eat candy all day and have good nutrition and good teeth. How wonderful it would be if more people knew of Price-Pottenger and their nutrition foundation. We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful progressive organizations here in San Diego. So everyone go to PPNF.org! Anyway, we will see what very soon what kind of Christmas present the city council gives us, please write to your councilmember and the mayor! Many months later, we are still fighting... August 1, Bishop McKinney head of the Church of God in Christ church in San Diego sponsored a Fluoride Meeting which was well attended and highlighted that minority children and other susceptible groups including the elderly, kidney patients and diabetics and thyroid patients are disproportionately hurt by fluoridation. Ambassador Andrew Young fortunately have joined with the more open-minded and are now helping to bring this issue to the greater public. Increasing numbers of cities are examining the risks of adding fluorides to water to help prevent cavities after a 2006 National Research Council report documented volumes of research never conducted on the whole-body safety of fluorides and fluoridation. Information in the report appeared in stark contrast to decades of assurances from fluoridation promoters that fluoridation has been extensively researched. The NRC report also described fluoride risks for babies, kidney patients, diabetics, and seniors, and set the stage for a little publicized change of stance by the Centers For Disease Control on baby formula. CDC now says that parents can now use low-fluoride water when mixing milk formula to reduce the risk of permanent tooth staining caused by fluorides. The Gerber Company is selling unfluoridated bottled water so parents and caregivers can avoid using fluoridated water in formula. Bottled water may not be a feasible solution for many families, however. In a personal letter sent to the Georgia Legislators, Ambassador Young wrote "I am most deeply concerned for poor families who have babies: if they cannot afford unfluoridated water for their babies' milk formula, do their babies not count? Of course they do. This is an issue of fairness, civil rights and compassion. We must find better ways to prevent cavities, such as helping those most at risk for cavities obtain access to the services of a dentist." He also stated "My father was a dentist. I formerly was a strong believer in the benefits of water fluoridation for preventing cavities. But many things that we began to do 50 or more years ago we now no longer do, because we have learned further information that changes our practices and policies. So it is with fluoridation. Dr. Durley's letter addressed disproportionate fluoride harm to black citizens' teeth, and noted that with disproportionate amounts of kidney disease and diabetes in the black community, blacks are more impacted by fluorides. He stated "We also need to know why the full story about harm from fluorides is only just now coming out. I support the holding of Fluoridegate hearings at the state and national level so we can learn why we haven't been openly told that fluorides build up in the body over time (and) why disproportionately harms black Americans..." Top Ten Arguments Against Water Fluoridation 1) Fluoridation is a violation of the individual's right to informed consent to medication. 2) Fluoride is not an essential nutrient. No biological process in animals or humans has been shown to depend on it. On the contrary, it is known that fluoride can interfere with many important biological processes and vital cellular constituents, such as enzymes and G-proteins. This makes fluoride potentially toxic at even low doses. 3) Children in fluoridated countries are greatly over-exposed to fluoride. When fluoridation began in 1940's, 10% of children were expected to develop dental fluorisis (damage to the enamel involving discoloration and /or mottling) in its very mild form. Today, the prevalence in fluoridates countries is much higher- 41% of all American children aged 12-15 are now impacted with some form of dental fluorsis (CDC, 2010), with over 10% in categories (mild, moderate, and severe) that may need expensive treatment. 4) The chemicals used to fluoridate water supplies are largely hazardous by-products of the fertilizer industry. These chemicals cannot be disposed of into the sea by international law, and have never been required to undergo randomized clinical trials for safety or effectiveness by any regulatory agency in the world. The U.S. FDA classifies fluoride as an "unapproved drug." 5) There is mounting evidence that fluoride causes harm. Fluoride has been found to damage soft tissues (brain, kidneys, and endocrine system), as well as teeth (dental fluorosis) and bones (skeletal fluorosis). There are now 24 studies that show a relationship between fairly modest exposure to naturally-occurring fluoride and reduced IQ in children. Two of these studies suggest that the threshold for damage may be reached at fluoride levels similar to those used in water fluoridation. (http://fluoridealert.org/iq.studies.html). 6) Swallowing fluoride provides little or no benefit to the teeth. Even promoters of fluoridation agree that fluoride works topically (on the outer surface of the teeth). And not via some internal biological mechanism (CDC, 1999). A recent U.S. study found no relationship between the amount of fluoride a child ingested and level of tooth decay. (Warren et al., 2009). Topical treatment in the form of fluoridated toothpaste is universally available, so it is a mistake to swallow fluoride and expose all the tissue of the body to its harmful effects. 7) Human breast milk is very low in fluoride. Breast milk averages only 0.007 ppm F (NRC, 2006). Even in areas with high fluoride levels, nursing children receive only a small fraction of the mother's fluoride intake, ensuring that the sensitive brains and bodies of breast-fed infants are protected from the developmental effects of this toxin. In contrast, a bottle-fed baby in a fluoridated area (0.7-1.2 ppm F) gets up to 200 times more fluoride than a breast-fed baby, resulting in the increased risk of dental flurosis and other adverse effects. There is no control of dose and no follow-up. Once fluoride is added to water, there is no way to control who gets the drug and how much is ingested. Nor has there been any systematic medical follow-up that would allow a picture of short-term or long-term side effects of the drug to be built up. These failings fly in the face of accepted medical practice. 9) Certain subgroups are particularly affected by fluoridation. People vary considerably in their sensitivity to any toxic substance, including fluoride. Infants the elderly, diabetics, those with poor nutrition (e.g. low calcium and low iodine), and those with kidney disease are especially vulnerable to specific adverse effects of fluoride. Black and Mexican-Americans have a higher prevalence of the more severe forms of dental fluorosis (see Table 23, CDC, 2005). Fluoridation discriminates against those with low incomes. People on low incomes are least able to afford avoidance measures (reverse osmosis or bottled water), or treatment of dental fluorosis (see Point 3) and other fluoride-related ailments (see Point 5).