Pros And Cons Of Fluoride

For someone that works in the dental field, fluoride is a topic discussed daily. You will hear things from fluoride being the best thing for your teeth all the way down to fluoride being a toxic poison. While the topic can be debated to death, I personally think the use of fluoride is a major asset in the war on caries. There are many ways we can use this nature-made substance to improve our oral health, but the specific type we will be discussing is water fluoridation. Before we get into the pros and cons, what do we know about fluoride? Where does it come from, are we sure fluoride in our water systems is safe, and do the benefits truly outweigh the risks? Fluoride is a mineral found in nature (specifically air, rock, and water derived) from the mineral fluorine. In the early 30’s, studies …show more content…
However, water fluoridation was not always this well-regulated. In the year 1992 (in Hooper Bay, Alaska), a man died of acute fluoride poisoning due to a malfunction in the community’s water well. “Fluoride at levels 40 times what the federal government considers safe for deterring tooth decay were measured in drinking water, and epidemiologists later concluded that it was probably the most widespread fluoride poisoning ever documented, with more than 200 people estimated to have been stricken” (Hulen, 1992). It is no surprise that too much of anything can be toxic, but it is unfortunate that something intended to help a community ended up hurting it. “The sicker he got, the more he drank. The more he drank, the sicker he got” (Hulen, 1992). If fluoride can be so dangerous, why are we adding it into as many community water systems as possible? What are the other health risks that we may be