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No credible scientific evidence exists that ingesting fluoride is beneficial. Whenever you point this out, people respond with studies that focused on topical
by newZWhoDis 3y ago
No credible scientific evidence exists that ingesting fluoride is beneficial.
Whenever you point this out, people respond with studies that focused on topical application. This topic is weird. Otherwise intelligent people shut down and begin quoting movies from the 1960’s, and are somehow incapable of distinguishing between a topical mouthwash and oral consumption.
Might as well drink sunscreen and talk about the reduction in lip skin cancer.
- a_bonobo 3y ago>No credible scientific evidence exists that ingesting fluoride is beneficial. ??? >Regular toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste is the principal non‐professional intervention to prevent caries, but the caries‐preventive effect varies according to different concentrations of fluoride in toothpaste, with higher concentrations associated with increased caries control. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6398117/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6398117/ Higher concentrations lead to better caries control (unless you go too high), what other evidence do you want?
- arcticbull 3y agoCaveat that I have no issue whatsoever with fluoride. The parent poster said "ingestion" of fluoride, but brushing is strictly not ingestion but rather topical application - you are directed to spit it back out. I'm curious if there were studies that covered drinking it.
- robbiep 3y agoI am unsure if this - I grew up in rural australia and we took fluoride tablets as kids. N=3 but no fillings till post 25
- satellite2 3y agoThe amount is calibrated for the small part that you ingest despite spittingit out. Kids toothpaste have much less because most of the paste is assumed to be ingested.
- lovecg 3y agoCase in point.
- sgoschi 3y agoYou're proving their point. Brushing teeth is a topical application of flouride, unless you swallow it, of course....
- levzettelin 3y agorofl
- bboygravity 3y agoHow is that not proving their point? Putting fluoride in water to topically apply it to teeth (and get a higher risk of brain damage and stomach cancer among other things due to completely unnecessary ingestion). The study you linked is indeed like proving that drinking sunscreen is great at preventing lip cancer. Or better yet: maybe we can start putting sunscreen in drinking water to prevent lip cancer?
- RC_ITR 3y agoIm interested in your take about how humans get water into their bodies without coating their teeth in it
- katbyte 3y agoI have sensitive teeth, when I drink water or any liquid really, it doesn’t touch my teeth. I’m more confused by how you would coat your teeth while drinking, do you swish it around in your mouth every sip?
- trallnag 3y agoSounds like your teeth lack fluoride
- katbyte 3y agothe water here is thankfully unfluorinated. i also brush with a toothpaste containing fluoride and have a healthy diet.
- RC_ITR 3y ago>I’m more confused by how you would coat your teeth while drinking, do you swish it around in your mouth every sip? I mean we are really going down a rabbit hole, but the water goes in my mouth, I swallow, my mouth remains wet with some residual water. Unless you're opening your throat and pouring directly in, I guarantee water is touching your teeth, even with a straw.
- katbyte 3y agothat sounds like a terribly inefficient way to get fluoride on teeth compared to toothpaste
- markmark 3y agoHere you go: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/003335491012500507 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/003335491012500507 We've been putting fluoride in water for a long time, and there are multiple studies that have looking in to it, I don't know why you think there aren't?
- Auracle 3y agoThere are studies for children, but from what I’ve seen there’s no advantage for adults/permanent teeth. I don’t really think it’s worth potential harm for baby teeth.
- markmark 3y agoIt's harder to do studies that seperate out adults who didn't have fluoridated water as children, but for example from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23456704/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23456704/ "In this nationally representative sample of Australian adults, caries-preventive effects of water fluoridation were at least as great in adults born before widespread implementation of fluoridation as after widespread implementation of fluoridation." So if you didn't have fluoridated water as a kid, having it as an adult still provides a benefit. This particular study doesn't say anything about having it as a kid and then stopping, but again, it's hard to find significant populations that have experienced that.
- throwaway8689 3y agoThis study looked solely at impact on dental health. Other studies tell us it is associated with stomach cancer and infertility.
- dash2 3y agoIs dental health not beneficial?
- 20after4 3y agoI guess it's arguable whether better dental health, plus cancer, could be considered a benefit. Would heavily depend on the rates of cancer or other harms vs. the rates of improved dental health. Certainly without thinking too deeply about it, childhood cavities would seem vastly preferable to nearly any sort of cancer unless the risk is minuscule.