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Medical freedom vs. public health: Should fluoride be in our drinking water? (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

328 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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%.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Fun fact: In Sweden it's (and I think it has always been) illegal to put fluoride in drinking water. Presumably because it's illegal to manipulate drinking water in any way. I don't think there is a ban specifically on fluoride, but maybe.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That doesn't sound right. Is everyone in Sweden drinking untreated water? That sounds incredibly unsanitary.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

What do you mean by untreated? Unchlorinated? In Europe, many countries also chlorinate their water, like the US. But not all do, because some have naturally clean water. Like the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Iceland.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

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