The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced it will begin the process of pulling prescription fluoride drops and tablets for children off the market. The supplements are usually given to kids at high risk for cavities.
The federal government and some state legislatures are increasingly drawing attention to what they claim are the risks associated with fluoride, a mineral that’s been used for decades in community water systems, toothpastes and mouth rinses to prevent tooth decay.
Dentists fiercely contest the notion that the harms of fluoride outweigh the benefits.
Explain to me the science of how swallowing fluoride protects teeth.
Fluoride toothpaste is the scientifically valid, topical application method.
Having fluoride in the water means that you are constantly maintaining a level of fluoride in your saliva which then integrates with the surface layer of your teeth throughout the day as you drink water. If you limit it to just toothpaste then that function only occurs for the small amount of time following brushing your teeth.
If you want fluoride in your saliva then you put it there using toothpaste you don’t dilute it around the rest of the body mass and hope that enough makes it to the saliva glands.
Swallowing fluoride is homeopathic dentistry.
What? Dilute to rest of the body mass? Don’t think u understand how this works…
If you swallow flouride, only a tiny percent is going to enter your saliva.
Jfc, multiple studies have shown that increased flouride in drinking water decreases the number of caries in the populations teeth. Its not homeopathic, if it was you wouldn’t even be talking about it because the levels wouldnt be testable. It’s not the ingestion that matters, its having the appropriate level of fluoride in the thing you put in your mouth all day every day that keeps the levels up in your mouth so your teeth keep absorbing it. The benefits of improved population dental health far outweigh the public monetary cost of doing it and the personal health cost to you, a person who brushes your teeth, which is zero.
You are repeating soundbites without engaging your brain. We are discussing the scientific merits of flouride tablets. Not the general water supply.
Exactly. If you care about yourself or kids having flouride, you brush your teeth with flouride toothpaste. Then you don’t need to swallow flouride in the hope that enough is excreted through the saliva.
Off topic. Think before you repeat.
Luckily one of my friends has already been down the ridiculous path you’re travelling, so I’ve had the opportunity to spend quite a lot of time reading studies relating to this subject. I’m all good on the topic of water flouridation and dental hygiene thanks.
The mechanism for preventing caries via fluoridated water is the same whether the water is treated by a municipality or treated at home. It is proven effective. Your tips on brushing are great, but they are only effective for the 2 to 3 half hour periods following that brushing. Fluoridated water prevents caries, that is a fact. So why rob yourself of a safety net for good dental hygiene?
So as much as I ‘loved’ watching my friend descend into madness with anti fluoridation nonsense, I’ve had my fill. You asked for the scientific backed mechanism for how fluoridated water helps prevent caries, and I provided that. You clearly didn’t actually want that, so I’m done here. Have fun bud.
In the absence of brushing. Topical application of fluoride via toothpaste and toothbrush is more effective and removes the need to personally add fluoride to water.
So brush after eating and don’t snack on sugary foods and drinks. Your teeth don’t need to be constantly bathed in fluoride.
Because if you brush your teeth with flouride toothpaste you already have a safety net. You don’t need two safety nets.
I asked how swallowing flouride helps teeth and got a ridiculous answer about how it returns in the saliva.
If you brush with flouride toothpaste, you don’t need your own personal flouride supplements.
They said they were done dude.
You’d be astonished how many people don’t brush their teeth, so…
So you think people are better with the option of buying flouride tablets instead of flouride toothpaste?
No I think they should just flourinate the water
They? These tablets are for personal use.
Anyone caring enough to do this should be brushing their teeth with flouride instead.
Easy, you don’t swallow them.
They’re chewables.
Oh, if the flouride is applied in concentrated manner directly to the teeth in a similar manner to brushing then I have no problem.
Yeah, I was prescribed them when I was younger (The wonders of living in a state that still doesn’t fluoridate the water supply). They were small little red pills that you had to chew on and then rub the “paste” on your teeth with your tongue.
Imagine basically dehydrated toothpaste, had a chalky texture, not the greatest.
I do not assert that merely swallowing water with fluoride offers any benefit to do with dental health.
It should be obvious that the act of directly swallowing water containing fluoride would give the water little to no opportunity to interact with one’s teeth, which would be required for the intended preventative effect.
This is very similar to the decision by most nations to put low base levels of iodine in table salt. Given peoples’ daily habits and diet, it was determined to be a safe and reliable way of ensuring exposure to a needed substance for general health. Not everyone has or will have the discipline to apply fluoridated paste to their teeth regularly (hell, many people don’t even brush their teeth regularly!). Nor would many people take steps to ensure they had a recommended dose of iodine if they had to think about it, rather than just getting it through their daily meal …
It should be clear to anyone that it’s the incidental daily, weekly, monthly, yearly cumulative effect of fluoridated water, even in the brief interval before it is swallowed, swishing in the mouth and in direct contact with teeth, that can be of benefit.
Explain to me the science of how municipal fluoridation causes health issues so severe that it should be discontinued.
I’ve never mentioned anything about municipal fluoridation. You are reacting in a knee jersey fashion to the word fluoride.
I’m saying there is no point buying fluoride tablets for personal/household use because it’s much better to enforce use of fluoride toothpaste. There is no reason for the tablets to be on general sale.
I see you haven’t interacted with many kids with special needs. Not everything in life can be easily “enforced” for everyone.
Also watch them ban fluoride toothpaste next.
Sure. Niche cases exist. Prescriptions are still fine.
But the average person should not be adding flouride to their water. They should brushing their teeth.
That would be indefensible.
Do you really believe they will have fluoride prescriptions?
Edit: from the article: will begin the process of pulling prescription fluoride drops and tablets for children off the market.
Mentally disabled people may need prescription flouride, but children don’t. They need flouride toothpaste and a toothbrush.
“Well I sort of agree with my flawed understanding of what they’re doing so it must be fine.”
We’ve already played this game with abortion. Stop justifying insanity.
This article is about the FDA pulling approval from prescription fluoride. Reading comprehension is hard, I know.
It’s not hard to stick a toothbrush into a toddlers mouth. You don’t need a prescription.
…
Are you just being intentionally argumentative?
Impressively ignorant and single minded take. Remove a possible solution from everyone because there is some other solution that may not work for everyone?
Get your crackpot bullshit out of here please, any method that gets humans flouride to protect their teeth is good, and defending less choices to accomplish that, or removing it from municipal water is incredibly stupid and must be being done for some shady reason by our chief worm brain and his cohort of dentist office owning buddies.
Flouride toothpaste is a solution for everyone. More importantly, it’s a better solution because brushing also removes plaque and food.
Adding flouride to bottled water is the crackpot idea here. If you care that much about flouride then just brush your teeth properly with flouride toothpaste.
Now you are inventing arguments. Municipal water hasn’t entered the conversation.
They’re not on general sale, they’re prescription. I’ve never been recommended these as a kid or as a parent (for my kids) and this is the first I’ve heard they even existed. They must be uncommon at best.
Hey everyone. It’s bad faith. Like, really bad faith. Watch OP say some stupid shit:
A reasonable user mentions an obstacle to childhood toothbrushing:
OP:
Also OP, later in that same thread:
See how that works? Remember what this article is about?
It’s bad faith conspiracy shit. Moderators? Anyone?
The tablets get chewed before they are swallowed.