Fluoride – Part 2
Continued from Part 1
Fluoride Series
Another Company’s Presentation of Fluoride
From the website of another toothpaste manufacturer, Colgate:
https://www.colgate.com/en-ca/oral-health/basics/fluoride
Quotations as of December 3, 2018:
Fluoride is a mineral that occurs naturally in all water sources . . .
Does that mean it is necessary or good for you?
Research has shown that fluoride not only reduces cavities in children and adults, but it also helps repair the early stages of tooth decay, even before the decay is visible. Fluoride is the best cavity fighter to help keep the whole family’s teeth strong — no matter their ages*.
The asterisk refers to the following disclaimer (December 3, 2018):
*Fluoride should only be used by children ages 2 and up, or as directed by a dentist.
It doesn’t warn about the specific form of fluoride. It warns about fluoride generally, which would include water containing fluoride.
From the same page:
When it reaches your teeth, fluoride is absorbed into the enamel. . . . replenishing the lost calcium and phosphorous . . . remineralization.
Note that it says calcium and phosphorous were lost, not that fluoride was lost.
Do you agree that the phrase “reaches your teeth” refers to applying the fluoridated toothpaste externally to the surface of your teeth and not to consuming the toothpaste internally?
Despite the disclaimer about children under age 2, the website also recommends the use of fluoridated drinking water:
You can get the benefits of fluoride from different places. It can work from an external source and from the inside of your body. To work the best, you need to get it from both.
The website promotes the consumption of fluoridated water:
https://www.colgate.com/en-ca/oral-health/basics/fluoride/bottled-water-and-fluoride
If bottled water is your primary source of drinking water, you may not be getting enough fluoride.
. . . the majority of bottled waters on the market do not contain optimal levels (0.7-1.2 part per million) of fluoride.
A number of factors affect whether or not you’re getting enough fluoride, including:
The fluoride level in your bottled water, . . . If the fluoride content does not appear on the label, contact the company and ask.
. . .
If you drink mostly bottled water, you should talk to your dentist about whether you need supplemental fluoride treatments . . .
Even though fluoride has not been referred to as a major component of our teeth originally and naturally, somehow we are presented with this concept of not getting “enough” fluoride even to the extent that we need to contact bottled water companies and dentists.
What about “too much”? Is there such a thing as “too much fluoride” when you drink fluoridated water all day and you’re exerting yourself more than others? Or, what if you are smaller or younger than others? Can the dose of fluoride be too high?
For that matter, can your lawn get too much fluoride when you’re spraying it? Your plants and garden? Can your car get too much fluoride when you’re washing the car? Can the municipal water pipes get too much fluoride?
And what about the earlier warning against children under age 2 using fluoride? What happens to them if all the bottled water companies increase their fluoride content and if all the public water supplies are fluoridated? What do their parents give them instead? Why is there this warning and also the earlier warning on toothpaste we saw in Part 1?