Health & Medicine - Posted by Tiffany Brennan-UNC on Friday, March 15, 2013 11:53 - 3 Comments 
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(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5) Loading ...Fluoride halts tooth decay for adults, too
"At this time, when several Australian cities are considering fluoridation, we should point out that the evidence is stacked in favor of long-term exposure to fluoride in drinking water,” says researcher Kaye Roberts-Thomson. "It really does have a significant dental health benefit." (Credit: "dentures" via Shutterstock)
UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US) — Fluoride in drinking water improves adults’ dental health, even for people who didn’t drink fluoridated water as children, a new study shows.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
“It was once thought that fluoridated drinking water only benefited children who consumed it from birth,” explains study leader Gary Slade, professor and director of the oral epidemiology PhD program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“Now we show that fluoridated water reduces tooth decay in adults, even if they start drinking it after childhood. In public health terms, it means that more people benefit from water fluoridation than previously thought.”
The researchers analyzed national survey data from 3,779 adults aged 15 and older selected at random from the Australian population between 2004 and 2006.
Survey examiners measured levels of decay and study participants reported where they lived since 1964. The residential histories of study participants were matched to information about fluoride levels in community water supplies.
The researchers then determined the percentage of each participant’s lifetime in which the public water supply was fluoridated.
The results, published online in the Journal of Dental Research, show that adults who spent more than 75 percent of their lifetime living in fluoridated communities had significantly less tooth decay (up to 30 percent less) when compared to adults who had lived less that 25 percent of their lifetime in such communities.
“At this time, when several Australian cities are considering fluoridation, we should point out that the evidence is stacked in favor of long-term exposure to fluoride in drinking water,” says Kaye Roberts-Thomson, a co-author of the study.
“It really does have a significant dental health benefit.”
Source: UNC-Chapel Hill
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3 Comments
jwillie6
Scruff
This is complete bull and makes me wonder about the credibility of this site and it’s administrators.
It’s become common knowledge now that fluoride causes more harm than good, the most important damage being the calcification of the pineal gland.
Of course world governments want the pineal gland calcified.
No pineal gland = no dreams, no imagination, no creativity, no inspiration, easily controllable people.
Trevor Adams
I agree with you guys fluoride is not effective at preventing tooth decay in the poorest areas of fluoridated countries you see rampant decay. Income level has more to do with tooth decay than fluoride does and nutrition as well. The most important research was done by Dr. Weston Price showing that indigenous people had marvelous teeth without caries as long as they did not eat processed foods. Cavities are a modern problem. These indigenous people did not even brush their teeth even.
In my province of Manitoba (that has most of the people on fluoridated water) over 2,000 children every year have to get their caries operated on under anaesthesia because their teeth are so bad at a great expense to taxpayers.
There are far better studies that have been done in Australia such as:
komarek et al 2005 (controlled for delayed eruption of teeth in f-communities) found no difference in tooth decay between f and non f communities.
warren et al 2009 (measured tooth decay as a function of individual exposure to fluoride) found no relation between tooth decay and amounf of fluoride ingested.
This new study by Slade is seriously flawed. Why is there no gold standard randomized double blind clincial studies done on fluoridation that controls for all variables to prove fluoride is effective? I think the answer is because if they did it would prove fluoride is not effective and would end water fluoridation everywhere!
There are more people forced to drink fluoridated water in the U.S. than in the rest of the world combined. So after over 65 years of use why are all of the states reporting dental crises?
Only 5% of the world and only 2% of Europe uses fluoridation because many large studies show fluoridation is totally ineffective in improving tooth decay and is dangerous to health (See fluoridealert.org). The citizens of the few countries which fluoridate also have the distinction of having the highest rates of arthritis and thyroid disease, both side effects of excessive ingestion of fluoride.
Enlightened countries have rejected forced fluoridation — Belgium, all of the Scandinavian countries, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and so forth. Ninety-eight percent of Western Europe has rejected it on principle or for scientific reasons. In 2006, Israel suspended fluoridation based on studies that showed it does more harm than good. Also rejecting it is Japan, China, and India.
The reason most of the world rejects fluoridation is that they have learned it is ineffective for teeth and dangerous to health, including cancer, thyroid & pineal gland damage, broken hips from brittle bones, lowered IQ, kidney disease, arthritis and other serious health problems.