let me start with a bit of an introduction ,. i saw my first patient, as a dental student, this month in 1976 and since then have spent a good portion of my day, 5-6 days a week, with my fingers in someone elses mouth.
imho this discussion is best divided into parts.
first .. fluoride. it works and it works wonders. look at todays 20-30somethings they have virtually no decay and the only dental injection they ever had was for wisdom tooth removal. now look at my generation ..basically all the molars of everyone of us babyboomers have fillings crowns or are missing. in 36 yrs i have seen two of my generation with a full set of unrestored teeth ,, they were both french and grew up poor on the brittany coast. you have no idea the disaster a decay prone no fl set of primary teeth is.
second.. fluorosis.. from too much flouroide.. why .. too many sources and lack of supervision. fluoride in the water in the vitamins and in the toothpaste . a child shoud have a pea sized amt of toothpaste parents put too much on , kids put way too much on and they spit but they don't rinse.. and tooth paste tastes good to kids you would be surprised how many toothpaste tube suckers there are.
third.. conspiracy theories are exactly that. . i have heard them all . poison from the govt ,from the russians ,it causes cancer or hangnails what have you.. the guy that started them in the 60's was seriously slapped in court serveral years ago
what now..... the problem is....... the more well off give their childern fluoridated vitamins and use fl toothpaste .. properly used this works well .. those who dont get fl due to income, social issues ect are then doomed..... so the fluoride stays in the water for them [but they probably drink soda instead of tap water anyway]. so if you take it out of the water the poor and undereducated will suffer. it is up to the public health experts, social engineers and politians to figure this one out.
In closing . fluoridated water did work and was a good idea at one time.
appologies to anyone offended
lcb