For decades, fluoride has been held in high regard by the dental community as an important mineral that strengthens tooth enamel, which thereby helps to prevent decay of tooth structures.

Water fluoridation is endorsed by nearly every major health and safety-related organization in the world. Communities make it a common practice to "fluoridate" their drinking supplies in order for the general population to benefit from this inexpensive and effective preventative treatment. According to the American Dental Association, more than 144 million U.S. residents in more than 10,000 communities drink fluoridated water, most from public water supplies with sodium fluoride added artificially.

In recent years, some have called into question just how effective fluoride is to strengthening our teeth at an early age, as well as the naturally occurring mineral's role in preserving our overall oral health.

New Health Risks?
In April 1997, by order of the Food and Drug Administration, a new warning began to appear in all tubes of toothpaste containing fluoride. The warning begins with the familiar command to brush thoroughly at least twice a day. But then it includes special instructions for children ages two to six: "Use only a pea sized amount and supervise child's brushing and rinsing (to minimize swallowing)." Then comes an additional warning to keep the toothpaste "out of the reach of children under 6 years of age," and finally the ominous advice, "In case of accidental ingestion ... contact a Poison Control Center immediately."

We've been told for decades -- by the government, by the American Dental Association, by countless Crest and Colgate television commercials -- that fluoride is essential to fighting cavities. Isn't that why nearly two-thirds of the public water supplies in the United States are fluoridated?

A recent issue of the new environmental newsletter News on Earth challenges this and other fluoride orthodoxies. Fluoride is, after all, an extremely toxic compound that originally was sold as a bug and rat poison. A growing body of scientific research suggests that long-term fluoride consumption may cause numerous health problems, ranging from cancer and impaired brain function to brittle bones and fluorosis (the white splotches on teeth that indicate weak enamel). An estimated 22 percent of American children have some form of fluorosis.

Research is also beginning to show that the cavity-fighting power of fluoride may have been overstated. Recent studies in the Journal of Dental Research conclude that tooth decay rates in Western Europe, which is 98 percent unfluoridated, have declined as much as they have in the United States in recent decades. Indeed, it's only in the United States that fluoride is championed by the government; most European nations -- including Germany, France, Sweden and Holland -- prohibit fluoride on public health grounds.

In 1993 over 39,000 records of school children 5-17 years of age from 84 areas around the United States were studied. The decay rate was virtually the same in the fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. Dr. John Colquhoun, former Chief Dental Officer of the Department of Health for Auckland, New Zealand, studied tooth decay statistics from 60,000 12-13 year olds. He showed that water fluoridation had no significant effect on the decay rate of permanent teeth.

Dr. Dean Burk, former Chief Chemist of the National Cancer Institute, showed that there are 10,000 or more fluoridation-linked cancer deaths yearly in the United States. The National Cancer Institute, the New Jersey Department of Health, and the Safe Water Foundation all found the incidence of ostereosarcoma (bone cancer) to be substantially higher in young men exposed to fluoridated water as compared to those who were not.

In 1993 the Subcommittee on Health Effects of Ingested Fluoride of the National Research Council admitted that 8-51% and, sometimes, up to 80% of the children living in fluoridated areas with the amounts recommended by the promoters of fluoride have dental fluorosis. Fluorosis is the first sign of fluoride poisoning.

As part of Dr. Fredda Rosenbaum's holistic approach to dentistry, all water used in her practice is distilled and free of fluoride and other potentially harmful minerals.