{"id":36507,"date":"2024-11-20T19:56:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T00:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/?page_id=36507"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:07:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T20:07:49","slug":"fluoride","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/fluoride\/","title":{"rendered":"Fluoride"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Adding \u00a0fluoride<\/a> to the water supply<\/strong>,\u00a0 a practice experts have lauded as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.<\/p>

The discovery of fluoride\u2019s oral health benefits traces to\u00a01901<\/a>, when a dentist in Colorado Springs noticed his patients had brown stained teeth that were oddly resistant to decay and cavities. It turns out they were drinking water from a spring with elevated levels of the naturally occurring fluoride mineral, which in large amounts can stain teeth.<\/p><\/div>

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Bacteria breaking down food produces acids that degrade the teeth, and fluoride works to replenish the lost minerals and strengthen the enamel.<\/p><\/div>

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Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945 became the first city in the world to fluoridate its drinking water, and long-term research showed the cavity rate plunged in children born after the mineral was added. By 1980, half of Americans drank fluoridated water after the practice rapidly\u00a0gained steam<\/a> \u2014 along with the conspiracy theories.<\/p>

Jump to 2024:<\/p><\/div>

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>, a longtime vaccine skeptic whom President-elect\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a> has chosen to be his Health and Human Services secretary, wants communities across the nation to follow Lebanon\u2019s lead and no longer add fluoride to the water.. Days before the election, Kennedy said the Trump administration on Inauguration Day would advise water districts to remove fluoride<\/a>, which he\u00a0referred to on X<\/a>\u00a0as \u201can industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/b>Despite medical organizations characterizing Kennedy\u2019s assertions as unfounded<\/strong>, Trump quickly supported the idea in\u00a0an NBC interview<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>

The newfound national attention on fluoride injects the intense partisan passions of a Trump presidency into an issue that historically has been hyperlocal. Most Americans drink fluoridated water to strengthen their teeth. A Florida city commission voted last week<\/a>\u00a0to remove fluoride, with one commissioner citing\u00a0<\/b><\/i>Kennedy\u2019s comments.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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St. Petersburg<\/strong>
In 1955 St. Petersburg had added fluoride to its water. In 1957 they stopped it to get a review from the Federal Government. After the review, the city again added the fluoride in 1959. It appears that subsequently it was stopped again.\u00a0
I worked for the City of St. Petersburg, Florida from 5\/16\/1989 11\/15\/1996 . The City decided to again add fluoride to the water in 1992. The amount was .04 ppm, or 0.000004%. Kind of a small amount. The headline in the June 19, 1992 City Times proclaimed that “City will have fluoride in water Sept.1”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I was the manager of Engineering Construction at the time, and was in charge of the contract to have the fluoride system installed.. The contract had gone out to bid and a contractor employed. In July the contractor called me and said “The specified pump to pump the fluoride is only made in France and it is not available. The company assured me that they will be able to manufacture it and get it to me in November.”
I did not think to go to the newspaper and tell them that there would be no fluoride in the water in September.
September 1 through the next two weeks the City was inundated with calls and letters about how the fluoride had made the water taste bad, it corroded water pipes, it made water heaters leak, and all kinds of ailments were caused by that horrible chemical.

No fluoride pump was in place, and no fluoride had been introduced into the water. All the hullabaloo was in people’s imagination.<\/strong><\/p>

Finally, in December we injected the tiny amount of fluoride into the water. The City did not receive one phone call or letter.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Some communities that have removed fluoride from municipal water supplies have noted a rise in tooth decay. In Canada, children in Calgary, where fluoridation was stopped in 2011,\u00a0had more decay<\/a>\u00a0than neighboring kids in Edmonton, where fluoride stayed in water. Similar trends of more dental decay have turned up in\u00a0Israel<\/a>, which stopped fluoridating water in 2014, and in\u00a0Juneau<\/a>, Alaska, where fluoridation was stopped in 2007.\u00a0<\/p>

Cavities can lead to pain, trouble talking and eating, social and psychological harm. Untreated tooth decay, in kids and adults, can cause death. Fluoridated water is backed by\u00a0medical organizations<\/a>\u00a0including the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cI think fluoride is on its way out,\u201d Kennedy said in an\u00a0NBC News<\/a>\u00a0interview hours after Trump secured victory. \u201cI think the faster that it goes out, the better.\u201d He said he would not compel water districts to remove the mineral but rather, advise them of their legal obligation to their constituents.<\/p>

Dentists will again have lots of work filling unnecessary cavities. 123 years of progress dismissed by a crackpot.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Fast forward to June 2025 article about Fluoride:<\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Disinformation from Within and Brandolini’s Law: A Call to Time-Consuming Action<\/h4>

Casey Scott\u00a0Husser,\u00a0MD<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Fluoride<\/h3>
To support Prasad\u2019s argument that RFK Jr.\u2019s fluoride policies are reasonable, he cites Tweets\u00a0written by RFK Jr.<\/i> This despite the wide availability of scientific studies on the matter. This error poisons his conclusions with bias and circular reasoning, as using RFK Jr\u2019s written opinions to support RFK Jr\u2019s political positions is tragically<\/i>\u00a0compromised logic.<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Prasad also cites an article in The Economist that covers RFK Jr.\u2019s proposed policy on water fluoridation. He correctly points out that there are risks to\u00a0excessive<\/i> consumption of fluoride, while carefully avoiding that similar risks exist for excessive consumption of nearly anything: ibuprofen, fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A, and even water.<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Paracelsus\u2019 fundamental principle of toxicology is that\u00a0the dose makes the poison<\/i>. The isolated existence of research-worthy toxicity is\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0a valid argument against any substance that is also beneficial -or even mandatory for life itself. Prasad cherry picks the negative (albeit valid) points made against fluoridation, but the article clearly acknowledges that these correlations have not been demonstrated to be causative, and he avoids any discussion of the preventative health benefits of fluoridation.<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Water fluoridation leads to a low-cost 25% reduction in the prevalence of dental caries among children and adults regardless of socioeconomic status. Prasad ignores entirely the reasons for water fluoridation as if the prevention of dental caries is nothing more than a cosmetic goal. Untreated dental caries leads to serious systemic conditions such as infective endocarditis, intracerebral hemorrhage, ischemic stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes such as macrosomia, and coronary artery disease. Water fluoridation indirectly mitigates the risk of these serious conditions through the prevention of tooth decay, highlighting its broader public health benefits beyond oral health.<\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
While there is evidence that suggests that\u00a0abnormally high<\/i>\u00a0doses of fluoride pose a risk of small reductions in the IQ\u2019s of children -particularly prenatally, the existence of this effect at normal concentrations found in municipal drinking water have not been convincing. Further research is warranted but appears unlikely to establish causation at standard municipal levels.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adding \u00a0fluoride to the water supply,\u00a0 a practice experts have lauded as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. The discovery of fluoride\u2019s oral health benefits traces to\u00a01901, when a dentist in Colorado Springs noticed his patients had brown stained teeth that were oddly resistant to decay and cavities. It turns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-36507","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36507"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38942,"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36507\/revisions\/38942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herrickhomepage.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}