https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/the-case-against-fluoride
A short substack column but long enough to provide details, sauce, and suggestions, including how to filter flouride out of your water. The situation with flouride is similar to that with the "vaccines", as Kirsch describes:
Get your town to stop fluoridating the water. It’s poison. You will have to overcome the same disbelief you get when you tell people the COVID vaccines aren’t safe.
Change the law in your state to outlaw fluoridation. Like vaccines, the science is crystal clear when you look at it; but nobody wants to look at it. After we take down the COVID vaccines, people will hopefully be more receptive to looking at the risk-benefit here.
I've developed a very similar attitude. The point of my comment was to not throw out the baby with the bath water. Fluoridated water? Maybe bad. Minimal benefit for most people except children in low-income families. Good hygiene with fluoridated toothpaste seems to obviate most, if not all of the benefits of fluoridated water, without any of the negative sequelae.
I've just seen too many (rightfully) skeptical people go all-in, eliminate fluoridated toothpaste, and then their kids present with 12 large cavities at age 5. Then we're off to general anesthesia and a mouth full of stainless steel crowns. I'd bet that GA on a five year old has at least as big of an IQ effect as does fluoridated water
If you can read this article from Epoch Times, (I modified the link to bypass paywall but its still safe) it discusses a study done recently on urine from pregnant mothers, assessing their flouride levels, then following up with the IQ of their kids around 4-5 yrs old.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE A U.S. and Canadian government-funded observational study found that drinking fluoridated water during pregnancy lowers children’s IQ; a 2022 study by the same team will assess the neurotoxicity of early-life exposure to fluoride
In the earlier study, a 1 milligram per liter increase in concentration of fluoride in mothers’ urine was associated with a 4.49-point decrease in IQ among boys only, while a 1-mg higher daily intake of fluoride was associated with a 3.66 lower IQ score in both genders between ages 3 and 4
The findings were hotly criticized by pro-fluoride agents, including the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and the Science Media Centre (SMC), two well-known front groups for the chemical industry
As of January 2022, there are at least 74 studies showing fluoride exposure damages children’s brains and lowers IQ; there are at least 60 that found that fluoride exposure impairs the learning and/or memory capacity of animals
There are also more than 2,000 other studies detailing other health effects Research published in 2017 found that, compared to a mother who drinks fluoride-free water, a child of a mother who drinks water with 1 part per million of fluoride can be predicted to have an IQ that is 5 to 6 points lower. They also found there was no threshold below which fluoride did not affect IQ
https://www.theepochtimes.com./bombshell-study-confirms-this-daily-drink-lowers-iq_4744822.html
I wasn't thrilled with the controls when I first read that paper, though I'll go back through the methods. They certainly could be right. If they are, I wonder if it's an honest, unintended consequence of well-meaning people, or if it's cabal trying to keep the poors even stupider. IQ is just notoriously hard to research and control for.
If you’re interested in digging further, checkout a book called The Fluoride Deception. It traces the story back to WWII and the atom bomb. Pretty interesting.
Anecdotal story, I have a five-year-old that has never had fluoridated water (well water) and has never used fluoridated toothpaste. We just got his teeth checked and they are perfect. He brushes once a day all by himself and has a normal diet, but we do restrict sweets to only one or two times a week.
However, my three-year-old has several cavities. We had to take a few long, morning car rides when she was 18-months-old and we would give her juice to settle her stomach. She'd fall asleep with the bottle in her mouth and it'd be hours before we'd get back home to brush her teeth. This only happened a handful of times, but it was enough to leave little stains on her front baby teeth. After we noticed the marks, we switched her to fluoridated toothpaste. Fast forward 18 months and she has 8 cavities total that had spread from the initial cavities of her front teeth. Now she has to go through the anesthesia to get crowns since she's supposed to have some of those baby teeth for several more years. I'm apprehensive of giving her anesthesia, but the possibility of infection and pain when the teeth rot away sounds worse.
Moral of the story: don't let your toddler fall asleep with a bottle of juice in their mouth! I wonder if switching to the fluoridated toothpaste really made much of a difference in preventing the spread of the cavities. I'll never know for sure. For now, I'm going to keep giving her the fluoridated toothpaste and keep letting my son use the non-fluoridated stuff since it's worked for him.
I stopped using fluoridated toothpaste in 2015. Been using a water filter for years to keep the drinking and cooking water as clean as possible. I haven't had a cavity since I stopped using that kind of toothpaste. Their is a toothpaste powder that my daughter uses on the grandkids, one of which had severe discoloration of the front teeth and was losing the enamel on her teeth. Turns out it was a gluten sensitivity that was causing her teeth problems. Anyway, I believe my daughter ordered it off Amazon. Here's the link. Hope it helps. https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Harrys-Unscented-Remineralizing-Toothpaste/dp/B00H4HCIMU/ref=sr_1_11?crid=D1EJWOL3OLZS&keywords=tooth+powder+remineralizing&qid=1664674075&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjI2IiwicXNhIjoiNC45MyIsInFzcCI6IjQuNjQifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=tooth+powder%2Caps%2C290&sr=8-11
Wow, I did not know gluten sensitivity could cause weak enamel. My daughter with the cavities keeps getting these rashes on her arms, legs, and face and we've been trying to figure out what could be causing it. We have not tried eliminating gluten from her diet, but I am going to do that now. Thank you so much for the insight.
Gluten sensitivity more commonly will present orally in the soft tissues. You might see redness or sloughing of the gingiva or mucosa. Haven't seen hard tissue effects but it's not outside of the realm of possibility
You're welcome. Our girl had rashes on her face although they kinda looked more like hives. I gave her fresh celery juice and it helped A LOT. Then we ordered a gluten test online and the results came back positive for severe sensitivity but not Celiacs. Hope your little girl is better soon. Also, if you juice celery for her make sure to filter the pulp out before she drinks it,
Sounds to me like you're making the right call. The consequences of infection are guaranteed to be bad, while the risks of anesthesia are very low. It sure is crazy how one kid can be totally fine, and another has a bunch of issues. There are genetic and other factors at play which elude our understanding.
That said, if she's getting cavities this young, make sure she's brushing twice a day (electric toothbrush is ideal) and flossing at least once a day. Tons of kids get cavities between their teeth. Hygiene you can control.
Milk is much better than juice if she wants something to drink.
There is a company, their website is "carifree.com" and they've got a treatment rinse called CTx4, which is great for people with a high caries rate. Doesn't taste great but is quite effective. Good luck