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%.

  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    So we’ve circled back to to water/fluoride water conspiracies again?

    History, doomed to repeat, before our very eyes once more…

    • sudo42@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      2 months ago

      Can always rely on the classics to stir up the rubes. A new sucker born every minute.

  • will_a113@lemmy.mlEnglish
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    2 months ago

    I’d say that this is the kind of thing we elect leaders to decide and implement for us, but my leaders are a bunch of fucking morons.

  • CyberDine@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I tried fluoride-free toothpaste for one year during college. Came home for the summer with 12 cavities.

    Fluoride works people.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The thing that seriously hurts those anti-fluoridation nuts is that fluoride can naturally be in water supplies and there are water supplies with higher PPM fluoride amounts than municipalities that add them in the U.S., but there don’t appear to be any increased health issues.

    Not that such people generally care.

  • batmaniam@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m a sane libertarian (I promise some of us do exisit). People absolutely have a right to determine what goes in to their body, but fluoride is such a weird hill to die on. In particular when fortified grains are a mandate of the same ilk. All of this has a history, and shocker, it was always steeped in the same “but our culture” wrapping…

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=reYKBgdrZsM&pp=ygUWUGVsbGFncmEgZXh0cmEgaGlzdG90eQ%3D%3D

    • pb42184@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Yeah, it seems like complaining about government provided WiFi.

      “What if I don’t WANT my kids on the internet dangit!?”

  • manucode@infosec.pub
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    2 months ago

    Here in Germany, drinking water isn’t fluoridated but fluoridated salt is sold at every grocery store. I assume that fluoridated salt isn’t as easily available to those in the US who could now end up without fluoridated water, is it?

  • Emerald@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    What is the big freakout about fluoride water lately? Haven’t we been doing that for decades?

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Just let the fuckers teeth fall out already. I am tired of so much effort being spent on people who clearly want to die. It is everything, from seatbelts to motorcycle helmets to vaccines to transfats to HFC drinks. They want to die? Let them. Maybe darwinism will save us from them maybe it won’t but at least we can all stop hearing about it.

    • pymn@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      A slicht problem with this approach is that for vaccines to be effective for anyone almost everybody has to be vaccinated…

    • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      Hi, I’m shit at brushing my teeth long enough/regularly enough. I am glad fluride is in the water.

      Hi I’m someone who has concerns about animal testing and is sensitive to SLS causing mouth ulcers/generally ruining taste for a while, unfortunately hippy toothpaste often lacks fluride for insane reasons. I am glad fluride is in the water.

      Hi I’m a kid with horrible parents that neglect my dental care. I am glad fluride is in the water.

      “Just let people hurt themselves” is never that easy.

  • pb42184@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Ok so seems clear to me there’s no real harm, but is there alleged benefit for adults? I’ve never had to rely on a municipal well so as a kid I had fluoride treatments and used fluoridated paste, but always thought it was just for kids. Is there benefit for me as a 40yo (with no cavities if it matters)?

    • sparkle@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Fluoride in water is the reason you have no cavities and will continue to have few to no cavities. Centuries ago you’d be lucky to have your teeth, the toothpaste definitely helps but the fluoride in water probably has a bigger impact on society overall

      • pb42184@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        Sorry, you misunderstand. I don’t rely on a municipal well, and adding fluoride to private wells isn’t a thing AFAIK.

        That’s why as a child I had fluoride treatments. It would have been easier to just get it in the water, but tradeoffs. My kids get them too.

        I was wondering about the fluoride treatments being child only or whether there were adult benefits.

        • BigBrainBrett2517@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          There are adult benefits, yes. Fluoride re-mineralises teeth (in contrast to cavities) to a super-physiological state. Meaning: If tooth enamel is in the beginnings of a cavity state fluoride will fight that process and possibly repair the enamel to a state stronger than before.