Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.

Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.

The culture wars have a new target: your teeth.

Communities across the U.S. are ending public water fluoridation programs, often spurred by groups that insist that people should decide whether they want the mineral — long proven to fight cavities — added to their water supplies.

The push to flush it from water systems seems to be increasingly fueled by pandemic-related mistrust of government oversteps and misleading claims, experts say, that fluoride is harmful.

“The anti-fluoridation movement gained steam with Covid,” said Dr. Meg Lochary, a pediatric dentist in Union County, North Carolina. “We’ve seen an increase of people who either don’t want fluoride or are skeptical about it.”

There should be no question about the dental benefits of fluoride, Lochary and other experts say. Major public health groups, including the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support the use of fluoridated water. All cite studies that show it reduces tooth decay by 25%.

  • john89@lemmy.ca
    877·
    7 months ago

    Right.

    Let’s put any amount of contaminates in our drinking water just so people can “filter them out.”

    I swear, some of you people are just too far gone.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      531·
      7 months ago

      Again, there are places where fluoride occurs naturally in drinking water at higher concentrations than it is added artificially and there don’t seem to be significant health problems.

      • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
        1·
        7 months ago

        Hmmmmm no ! I’m not against fluoride in water, I don’t care since I don’t live in north america but spreading disinformation does not help.

        There is regions, especially in India, where fluoride occurs by naturally in water in high concentration which is causing multiple serious health issues.

        Neurology of endemic skeletal fluorosis

        • SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          7 months ago

          “There are higher concentrations of fluoride in water than we usually put in it that is still healthy to drink” != “Any concentration of fluoride in water is safe”

          Any substance becomes toxic if you ingest too much of it. If you exceed by a factor of 20 the amount of plenty of things people usually consume, it isn’t difficult to find things that are dangerous or even lethal. Say, coffee, beer, anti-inflammatories, chocolate, Coke.

    • bolexforsoup@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      254·
      7 months ago

      The fluoride in your tap water is not a contaminant.

      Nobody said dump contaminants in the water supply.

      If you don’t have something meaningful to contribute then stop spread fear and misinformation over something that is perfectly healthy to consume in the quantities we currently do.

      What’s next? Are you going to start whining about the iron content of your meat? The calcium in dairy?

      • john89@lemmy.ca
        534·
        7 months ago

        The fluoride in your tap water is not a contaminant.

        Says who?

            • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
              122·
              7 months ago

              all scientists and health authorities are wrong so instead we should believe a wacky guy on the internet with no sources, credentials, or evidence? Ok…

            • bolexforsoup@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              102·
              7 months ago

              Remember when chucklefucks said that as WHO went “Covid is serious and we are about to have a pandemic” and then millions needlessly died because they decided to put their politics above common sense?

              But sure let’s keep cherry picking vague notions of experts being wrong as if that somehow invalidates the over half a century of info we have on fluoride in our water supply with a sample size equal to literally every American who ever consumed tap water. That makes sense.

              • john89@lemmy.ca
                216·
                7 months ago

                Complains about cherrypicking as he cherrypicks.

                Lol. Jk. They’re right about most things, but are they right about everything?

                That’s the problem with treating science like a religion.

                • bolexforsoup@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                  4·
                  7 months ago

                  They’re right about most things, but are they right about everything?

                  Since when was that the bar for anything, and when did anyone say they are right about everything?

        • bolexforsoup@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          81·
          7 months ago

          Says accountable organizations that you’ll never trust because you put ideology above discretion and good judgment.

          There is no number of groups I can rattle off to satisfy you. You have already made up your mind based on what I can only assume is bunk science and braindead YouTube channels if you’ve actually managed to base it off of anything.

            • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              11·
              6 months ago

              Lol three weeks later… I know you’re being facetious, but I’m literally an engineer. I’d rather not dox myself so I won’t be more specific, but yes I do know about water treatment.

                • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  11·
                  6 months ago

                  Lol the funny thing is that comebacks like that are completely worthless when the thing I originally said is actually true.

                  It reminds me a bit of the “you still live in your mom’s basement,” insult. Like it just falls flat when you say it to someone who’s lived alone for a decade… It just doesn’t work.

                  But I don’t need to prove shit to some idiot on the internet.