Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.

Misinformation campaigns increasingly target the cavity-fighting mineral, prompting communities to reverse mandates. Dentists are enraged. Parents are caught in the middle.

The culture wars have a new target: your teeth.

Communities across the U.S. are ending public water fluoridation programs, often spurred by groups that insist that people should decide whether they want the mineral — long proven to fight cavities — added to their water supplies.

The push to flush it from water systems seems to be increasingly fueled by pandemic-related mistrust of government oversteps and misleading claims, experts say, that fluoride is harmful.

“The anti-fluoridation movement gained steam with Covid,” said Dr. Meg Lochary, a pediatric dentist in Union County, North Carolina. “We’ve seen an increase of people who either don’t want fluoride or are skeptical about it.”

There should be no question about the dental benefits of fluoride, Lochary and other experts say. Major public health groups, including the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support the use of fluoridated water. All cite studies that show it reduces tooth decay by 25%.

  • QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    “Medical freedom”, the rallying cry for all kinds of grifters spreading disinformation and wanting to roll back the progress made in public health.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 months ago

      And they don’t seem to like the fact that they have the freedom to filter the fluoride back out of the water.

    • john89@lemmy.ca
      01·
      6 months ago

      🥱

      Or, give people the option to choose for themselves.

      Scientific consensus has been wrong many times before, and it will be wrong many times again.

        • john89@lemmy.ca
          0·
          6 months ago

          Right.

          Let’s put any amount of contaminates in our drinking water just so people can “filter them out.”

          Someone mentioned arsenic earlier in this thread, and I think I can find some study that says arsenic is good for you. Let’s add it to our water and anyone who thinks it’s harmful can just filter it out.

          Also, I’m adding my fecal matter to the water supply to improve people’s microbiomes. They can just filter it out if they don’t like it.

      • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
        01·
        6 months ago

        I’m struggling with this.

        You’re saying that because science was wrong about something else, it must be wrong about fluoride?

        I think that if you really dig into it, you’ll find that arsenic use wasn’t supported by science, but rather snake oil salesmen.

        • john89@lemmy.ca
          11·
          5 months ago

          it must be wrong about fluoride?

          This is where your confusion comes from. I never said it’s wrong about fluoride.

          My point is that unless you understand the science yourself, you have faith in other people who do. Scientific consensus has been wrong in the past, and it will be wrong again in the future.

          Everyone saying with such certainty that fluoride is good or bad without understanding the science themselves just highlights how most people treat science like a religion.

          • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
            1·
            5 months ago

            most people treat science like a religion.

            That’s just not true. By it’s very nature, what we describe as “science” is reproducible. That means faith is not required.

            • john89@lemmy.ca
              12·
              5 months ago

              If you understand the science yourself, then you’re correct.

              The problem is that most people don’t understand the science and just have faith in other people who might.

              • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
                11·
                5 months ago

                No, my point is that because “science” is reproducible, you do not need faith in the people producing said science, nor do you need to understand it.

                You merely need to confirm that it has been reviewed and accepted by other people who do understand it.

  • glimse@lemmy.world
    1·
    6 months ago

    I’m very much on the pro-flouride but it came up in a conversation with my coworker who won’t drink tap water.

    I said that in a country without universal healthcare, fluoride is free dental care. He said he agreed about the benefit to teeth but his concern was with what it might do to your body. He’s a health nut but not a conspiracy theories and I was really thrown off and didn’t have a counterpoint.

    I just assumed it was fine because I knew fluoride is often found in water naturally…but…can someone with more knowledge tell me how they would have replied? I don’t like speaking on things I can’t back up with data so I just let it go

    • undercrust@lemmy.ca
      1·
      6 months ago

      If the stupid motherfucker brushes his teeth twice daily, he’s already introducing loads more fluoride to his body than any of the trace amounts they add into the public water system, which is still standards of deviation less than anything that would introduce fluorosis of childrens’ teeth (since that’s not possible for adults with developed teeth), let alone get to a level of toxicity for an adult.

      Now, if he regularly consumes full tubes of toothpaste as a health supplement, then maybe that’s a reason to be concerned about fluoride.

      • glimse@lemmy.world
        1·
        6 months ago

        All right settle down, he’s not a stupid motherfucker. He isn’t advocating to remove it from tap water, he was just saying why HE doesn’t drink tap. He didn’t try to pursuade me.

        Perhaps he’s misguided on that but he is not the person you’re probably picturing.

        My friend is a doctor and he also doesn’t drink tap but for him it’s the other contaminates, not flouride

        • jose1324@lemmy.world
          01·
          6 months ago

          Yes he is. If you’re unironically wary of fluoride you’re a stupid motherfucker

          • starelfsc2@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            6 months ago

            I would’ve agreed with this a few years ago, but when you realize things can have subtle effects on our body that aren’t easy to measure or readily apparent, you shouldn’t fully trust something just because studies say it’s safe. A study can’t really show that “50 years of repeated exposure caused slightly more exhaustion,” for example.

            However, we DO know tooth decay is a major health risk for our whole bodies. Avoiding a maybe possibly slightly harmful chemical isn’t stupid, but avoiding something that prevents known and documented dental harm and the effects that has on your entire body, that’s just letting fear override rational thinking.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
    1·
    6 months ago

    Hey, a article that bucks Betteridge’s Law.

    Of course there’s no question, yes, and Republicans and communities should be ashamed at being this stupid to cater to such a dumb, ridiculous, and small group of idiots and are going to cost everyone more in dental insurance to socialize the cost of their stupidity.

  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    So we’ve circled back to to water/fluoride water conspiracies again?

    History, doomed to repeat, before our very eyes once more…

  • Red_October@lemmy.world
    1·
    6 months ago

    They have their freedom, they are free to do whatever they want to filter their own drinking water. They’re free to buy or produce distilled water for all their consumption. They’re free to only ever drink beer. But the drinking water provided as a public good should be maintained for the good of the public, and when the studies are pretty clear that fluoridated water fights tooth decay, then fluoridated water it is.

  • john89@lemmy.ca
    0·
    6 months ago

    All I can say is, drinking fluoridated water isn’t going to make a significant impact on your dental health if you don’t brush and use mouthwash.

    You’ll never go to the dentist and have him say “you need to drink more fluoridated water.”

    • glimse@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      No offense but if that’s all you can say, why say it at all? It’s very Tucker-esque to bring up something that sounds relevant but isn’t

  • batmaniam@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    I’m a sane libertarian (I promise some of us do exisit). People absolutely have a right to determine what goes in to their body, but fluoride is such a weird hill to die on. In particular when fortified grains are a mandate of the same ilk. All of this has a history, and shocker, it was always steeped in the same “but our culture” wrapping…

    Edit: tl;Dr if you don’t want to watch the video: and pellagra was proven to be one of those diseases that is zero problem… So long as your diet doesn’t suck. The science had push back because it upset the economics. We’re fighting the same battles now we were then.

    Edit2: yes. I’m a libertarian, because as much as they’re freaking nuts it still stems from a disagreement of a stated principle. A principle which had them back a ton of LGBTQ rights before anyone else. I’m voting Biden in 2024, strictly because I’d like to vote in 2028, but godamn this is how 2016 happened.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=reYKBgdrZsM&pp=ygUWUGVsbGFncmEgZXh0cmEgaGlzdG90eQ%3D%3D

    • pb42184@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      Yeah, it seems like complaining about government provided WiFi.

      “What if I don’t WANT my kids on the internet dangit!?”

      • batmaniam@lemmy.world
        1·
        6 months ago

        Lol, a bit late but a certain degree yes. Like as a libertarian Ill never be able to square taking money from someone’s paycheck in NYC for subsidizing internet in Montana.

        But… No one actually cares about that… Eve libertarians, because it’s peanuts next to a shitty new f-30whatever that will ever fly.

        It’s by no mean perfect, and has been massively corrupted by whatever the hell we have going on right now in the US. But the principle of “if it doesn’t affect anyone, stop talking to me” is a good one, and at least it’s a stated one.

        So yeah, I do kinda think people should have the right NOT to make cakes for gay weddings. Sure. Do I care when they’re forced to? Ehhhhh. You were going to be out of business soon because you’re a godamn asshole sooooo not really no I don’t care lol.

        So no, the gov should subsidize wifi, but they also already subsidize all sorts of shit, so youre damn right you have to service those folks. I guess that’s the thing, libertarianism neccesaties egalitarianism, and nothing else does.

  • ryan213@lemmy.ca
    0·
    6 months ago

    I’m glad people are finally taking a stand against Big Dental conglomerates. Wake up, people! Take charge of your own teeth!!

    Edit: Sigh. I think I’ll just add “/s” to my username.

      • mojo_raisin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        • Fluoride is a neurotoxin, easy info to look up (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7230026/). Even if this is unproven, should we be putting drugs in the water where there are questions about how it affects brain development? If lead was good for our teeth, would that justify adding lead to our water?

        • Drugging a population through tap water is a terrible way to dispense drugs. If you disagree, do you mind if I put LSD in your water? It’s been shown to have positive effects on mental health. How about lithium, should be add that too? Lithium is naturally found in some water also and also has been show to have positive mental effect in those areas, same story that got us to put fluoride in our water.

        • Our tap water effects so much more than our teeth, ignoring all other effects because it reduces tooth decay is plain dumb.

        • Fluoride is a mineral and builds up. Decades of fluoridated tap water used in gardens and our environment mean ever increasing toxin in our environment. It’s bad for plants (also easy to look up) and it’s effects on animals, birds, etc is unknown. Is it ok to gamble the well-being of other species when the tooth decay problem can be solved in ways without added risk?

        • The fluoride added to tap water is not of pharmaceutical quality, it’s a waste product of fertilizer or nuclear material industries.

        • androogee (they/she)@midwest.socialEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          It doesn’t make any more sense the second time you say it.

          They don’t want to live in a place with naturally high fluoride. They don’t want to drink flouride.

          Most bottled water is just tap water with extra plastic waste. Nobody should be drinking bottled water if they can avoid it.