Posted on 02/17/2016 4:33:30 AM PST by rickmichaels
In 2011, Calgary officials removed fluoride from the city’s water. About five years later, new research is warning that removing the mineral that strengthens teeth left kids with more cavities than before.
University of Calgary scientists say that since 2011, Calgary kids saw 3.8 more cavities, extractions and fillings, while kids in Edmonton, where water still has fluoride, saw a smaller increase in tooth decay. In total, Calgary kids had 6.4 issues with decaying in their baby teeth years after fluoride was removed from their water.
“Fluoride is known to have benefits for preventing tooth decay – it inhibits demineralization of tooth enamel, enhances remineralization of tooth enamel, and having it in saliva neutralizes plaque bacteria in the mouth. By drinking water with fluoride, we can prevent tooth decay,†lead investigator, Dr. Lindsay McLaren, of the university’s School of Medicine, told Global News.
McLaren said Calgary’s decision to remove fluoride was “a real opportunity to have up to date and locally relevant information.â€
For her research, McLaren compared the oral health of 5,000 grade 2 kids in Calgary and Edmonton during two timeframes – before fluoride was removed in 2004/05 and after in 2013/14. Her team chose seven and eight year olds because they’ have a mix of both baby and adult teeth.
And parents need to pay attention to baby teeth, according to co-author and dentist, Dr. Steven Patterson, of the University of Alberta.
Kids have 20 baby teeth, on average, with four or five surfaces (the four sides and the top) per tooth.
If baby teeth are exposed to cavities, extraction or infections, they can tamper with the development of new teeth as they grow in the jaw bone. Strength and formation of the permanent teeth could be altered, too.
“They’re not teeth we’re supposed to ignore because we’ll get a new set. Oral health starts at the beginning when teeth come in for young children,†Patterson warned.
McLaren and Patterson relied on data from a scale that measures decaying, extractions and fillings in teeth. In 2004/05, second graders in Calgary had 2.6 tooth surfaces with issues but by 2013/14, they had about 6.4 teeth with decaying surfaces. That’s an increase of 3.8.
In Edmonton, where fluoride stayed in the water, tooth decay climbed from 4.5 surfaces to 6.6 – a difference of 2.1.
The duo says this disparity is a “statistically significant difference.â€
“That means it’s unlikely for it to be random or chance findings. It’s a meaningful effect and our study was a short-term evaluation so even after only 2.5 to three years, we saw an indication of effect,†McLaren said.
Up to 20 per cent of all baby teeth were affected, McLaren said.
“We’re talking roughly close to a quarter of their primary teeth. What this tells us is there’s a number of kids who have this disease that could be prevented and should be lessened,†he told Global News.
The researchers even controlled for other factors. They figured out how often the kids were brushing their teeth, how much tap water they were drinking and even collected fingernail clippings as saples to test for fluoride.
“It still pointed out that it seemed to be fluoridation being stopped that had a negative effect on tooth decay in Calgary,†Patterson warned.
The largest effects were found in baby teeth but the researchers note that a lack of fluoride eroded at permanent teeth, too. It’s just that there are differences in enamel so it’s too soon to tell how adult teeth will fare in kids’ mouths as they get older.
The data is also up-to-date and locally relevant. Research on removing fluoride in the water in Canada is dated back to 1975, she said. Yet several major municipalities in Canada have already phased out fluoride – Waterloo, Ont. in 2010, Quebec City in 2008, Windsor, Ont. in 2013 and Moncton, N.B. in 2012, along with a handful of regions nearby to Calgary in Alberta.
Fluoride is still in toothpaste and food and beverages manufactured in regions where the mineral is still in the water, though. The researchers are urging parents to encourage their kids to brush their teeth, and get regular dental care.
The team’s next steps are to collect another wave of data from both cities to see if the trend continues, McLaren said.
They’re hoping their findings will help city officials decide on the controversial issue of keeping fluoride in the water. It was first introduced to public drinking water in 1945.
How about the effect of removing fluoride on mind the occurrence of mind diseases such as ADD etc? You wonder why the kids would have more tooth decay without fluoride in the water. I mean, don’t they brush their teeth and doesn’t their toothpaste have fluoride? At least they wouldn’t be ingesting this poison into their body!
“Mandrake, have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?”
While I’m not a fanatic on the issue, I do have to wonder if daily ingestion of flouride over decades doesn’t have some ill effects on the body.
Flouride is an industrial waste stream and municipalties sell their citizens to be the receivers of this
Putting fluoride in water is mimicking nature where fluoride occurs in ground water naturally.
IIRC, the problem with fluorine is that it takes the place of iodine in “feeding” the thyroid, so that while it does help fight tooth decay, it also affects metabolism, so putting fluoride in the water where it is ingested and goes throughout the body is not the best mechanism to ensure fewer cavities.
There is more than one factor involved in the growth of children’s teeth. It doesn’t seem to be considered that the fluoride might be masking other more significant nutritional problems. For instance, the low fat craze which resulted in children drinking low fat milk and eating other fat free products has resulted in deficiencies of calcium. The body needs the dairy fat in order to absorb the mineral. Also low K2 levels - how many kids these days eat sufficient vegetables or fermented foods, which contain this essential bone enriching vitamin?
There is NOTHING natural about the flouride they poison kids with.
Sorry, but "flouridation" is the original boob bait, even worse than global warming.
Toothpastes have fluoride. There is no need for it in water. Frankly the best thing to do is have your kids use a proper Braun spin brush and water pick.
A double dose of fluoride causes child’s teeth to turn dirty looking. Dr prescribing baby vitamins with fluoride and the water supply contained fluoride also. Teeth had darkened by the time the child was 10... too much fluoride.
If you wear a seat belt, you don’t need an air bag.
Laws are directed towards the lowest caste. We need fluoride in the water because kids in the projects won’t brush their teeth. We have to protect them from themselves. When they get gunned down in the street, we want to say at the funeral “Doesn’t he have nice teeth”.
I’ve heard that in the past they considered putting vitamin supplements in cheap wine, for the sake of drunks.
I remember back in the ‘50’s every single kid in my grade school was administered fluoride treatments............Of course 1/3 of them died as a result but I’ve had good teeth ever since....
Daily ingestion of fluoride DOES have ill effects on the body, specifically the brain.
Conspiracy people have that fluoride has lowered the collective IQ of America by 2% since its’ inception.
In late WW2 fluoride was used in the process to create the atomic bombs. Massive amounts were required, and there was an accidental release one night at a plant wherein some nearby cows and trees were killed. The public was alarmed.
Just after that, fluoride began to be touted as a health boon, (Conspiracy theory:)supposedly because it was thought to be so very vital to our national defense, which at the time was a valid concern.
Fun fact: when Fluoride is delivered to the water plant , to be put in the drinking water, it is treated as a hazardous substance and a deadly chemical right up until it is added, because, well, it is indeed a deadly chemical.
Yes but supplement with selenium and magnesium while on Iodine.
Much truth in your post.
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