3 ms·

Is fluoride in drinking water toxic? I thought they added it on purpose to help our teeth or something

Nicksil 3y ago
>Is fluoride in drinking water toxic? I thought they added it on purpose to help our teeth or something No, not toxic; you are correct.
- whalesalad 3y ago
  the real debate is on whether the toxicity of fluoride outweighs the benefits of using it to prevent tooth decay. we know that it can cause issues. there are also issues that have not been measured. a lot of folks forget that unless the outcome of X is death or cancer etc ... it is often not studied. your quality of life can be greatly reduced by something but if it doesn't kill you then no one is looking at it.
  - isk517 3y ago
    Tooth decay can cause a whole litany of issues so it really is a weighing of pros and cons versus the long term effects of fluoride consumption.
    - rgrieselhuber 3y ago
      Or just brush and floss properly?
      - isk517 3y ago
        I won't argue about that being the best solution, but as someone that did not start to take dental health seriously until their 30's I don't think I'm in any position criticize others for their failure to do so.
- ipaddr 3y ago
  It is toxic, it's rat poisoning. Do the lower levels of tooth decay outweigh the risks? So far they have decided yes in many places but that is changing (like lead pipes)
  - bluGill 3y ago
    Dose is a part of poison. Water is toxic in high does, as is oxygen.
burke 3y ago
Fluoride in drinking water is a kind of truly marginal level of harm that’s perfectly designed to trigger paranoid libertarians. A tiny amount of fluoride is helpful for bones and especially teeth. Fluoridated toothpaste covers this need perfectly, but many people don’t use it. Fluoride in drinking water covers this need also but (arguably) brings along small risks of symptoms of slight excess fluoride consumption. The amounts that are actually put in drinking water do not seem to have any significant negative effects, and it seems reasonably clear that the population positive effects dominate, but being non-consensually subjected to a marginal risk of negative effect in order to achieve a positive outcome for the population is exactly the kind of thing that reliably provokes this kind of reaction from the paranoid libertarian set.
- chiefalchemist 3y ago
  If you look at these CDC pages: https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/basics/cost.htm https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/basics/cost.htm You'll notice one key thing is missing: Side by side comparison with communities that don't have fluoride in their water. That could be other countries. Or better, rural US communities that for the most part use well water. Those controls exist. Note: Better diet also has an impact on oral health, and diet over the last 75 years has also improved. I'm not saying not including that comparison is wrong, but as "the science" goes, it does feel odd that something so obvious is not included.
- ipaddr 3y ago
  They have studied it and it does cause issues. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34597567/#:~:text=Excess%20amounts%20of%20fluoride%20ions,related%20problems%2C%20and%20chronicle%20issues https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34597567/#:~:text=Excess%20a....
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
jcranmer 3y ago
If there is one piece of scientific literacy that I wish the entire world had, it was the concept that toxicity is a function of dose. Yes, fluoride is toxic. The EPA limit for fluoride is 4ppm, and that is probably too high (something like 2ppm would work better). There are parts of the country where the natural incidence of fluoride in groundwater is in excess of 4ppm, and therefore defluoridation needs to be done. Fluoridation of drinking water is done to a standard of 0.5-0.75 ppm (US Public Health Service specifically recommends 0.7). Most of the country lives in places where the natural ground water concentration of fluoride is below this level, and thus fluoridation is necessary to reach the recommended level.

>Is fluoride in drinking water toxic? I thought they added it on purpose to help our teeth or something No, not toxic; you are correct.

whalesalad 3y ago
the real debate is on whether the toxicity of fluoride outweighs the benefits of using it to prevent tooth decay. we know that it can cause issues. there are also issues that have not been measured. a lot of folks forget that unless the outcome of X is death or cancer etc ... it is often not studied. your quality of life can be greatly reduced by something but if it doesn't kill you then no one is looking at it.
- isk517 3y ago
  Tooth decay can cause a whole litany of issues so it really is a weighing of pros and cons versus the long term effects of fluoride consumption.
  - rgrieselhuber 3y ago
    Or just brush and floss properly?
    - isk517 3y ago
      I won't argue about that being the best solution, but as someone that did not start to take dental health seriously until their 30's I don't think I'm in any position criticize others for their failure to do so.
ipaddr 3y ago
It is toxic, it's rat poisoning. Do the lower levels of tooth decay outweigh the risks? So far they have decided yes in many places but that is changing (like lead pipes)
- bluGill 3y ago
  Dose is a part of poison. Water is toxic in high does, as is oxygen.

burke 3y ago

Fluoride in drinking water is a kind of truly marginal level of harm that’s perfectly designed to trigger paranoid libertarians. A tiny amount of fluoride is helpful for bones and especially teeth. Fluoridated toothpaste covers this need perfectly, but many people don’t use it. Fluoride in drinking water covers this need also but (arguably) brings along small risks of symptoms of slight excess fluoride consumption. The amounts that are actually put in drinking water do not seem to have any significant negative effects, and it seems reasonably clear that the population positive effects dominate, but being non-consensually subjected to a marginal risk of negative effect in order to achieve a positive outcome for the population is exactly the kind of thing that reliably provokes this kind of reaction from the paranoid libertarian set.

chiefalchemist 3y ago
If you look at these CDC pages: https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/basics/cost.htm https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/basics/cost.htm You'll notice one key thing is missing: Side by side comparison with communities that don't have fluoride in their water. That could be other countries. Or better, rural US communities that for the most part use well water. Those controls exist. Note: Better diet also has an impact on oral health, and diet over the last 75 years has also improved. I'm not saying not including that comparison is wrong, but as "the science" goes, it does feel odd that something so obvious is not included.
ipaddr 3y ago
They have studied it and it does cause issues. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34597567/#:~:text=Excess%20amounts%20of%20fluoride%20ions,related%20problems%2C%20and%20chronicle%20issues https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34597567/#:~:text=Excess%20a....
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

jcranmer 3y ago

If there is one piece of scientific literacy that I wish the entire world had, it was the concept that toxicity is a function of dose. Yes, fluoride is toxic. The EPA limit for fluoride is 4ppm, and that is probably too high (something like 2ppm would work better). There are parts of the country where the natural incidence of fluoride in groundwater is in excess of 4ppm, and therefore defluoridation needs to be done. Fluoridation of drinking water is done to a standard of 0.5-0.75 ppm (US Public Health Service specifically recommends 0.7). Most of the country lives in places where the natural ground water concentration of fluoride is below this level, and thus fluoridation is necessary to reach the recommended level.