As a holistic dentist, many patients ask, "Is fluoride safe?"
The Short Answer: Not so much
Fluoride, a halogen on the periodic chemistry chart, is toxic, even at very low levels and can be deadly in children at significantly higher levels. This chemical compound exists everywhere in nature and has some beneficial, but mostly negative effects on your health. There are conflicting opinions and conclusions based on a wide array of special interests, vested money and some very flawed studies, in my opinion.
The prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, has now officially labeled fluoride as a NEUROEXCITOTOXIN. Let's look at some of the research.
Fluoride is known to cause...
- Cancer, as it is a carcinogen. There is a very narrow range at which this intake occurs.
- Mottling of the enamel. These are white or brown spots on the teeth, also termed fluorosis.
- Osteoporosis and bone cancer in horses and other animals
- Death in children whom have swallowed or eaten the paste in the toothpaste tube
- Birth defects at higher levels
- Brittle or hardened enamel that cracks, kind of like the bisphosphonates that Sally Fields used to try to sell you on TV.
- Hypothyroidism, by interfering with Iodine (also on the periodic chart), replacing it on the Tyrosine ring, thus diminishing production of T3, the active form of your thyroid hormone.
- Bone tumors upon fluoride exposure, causing increased bone turnover and altered mineral metabolism. Note: a very small amount of fluoride is necessary for bone formation JANA, 2010
- In a study of the workplace, chronic fluoride exposure resulted in immune depression in all workers (7) VRP p.4, STUDIES 1-8
- Fluoride has also been studied and the research has shown it to cause negative effects on numerous organ systems including:
- The kidneys
- Reproductive system
- Cardiovascular system
- The brain
- The neurological system
- The liver
- The breasts and glandular system
- Immune function and thyroid function
Interestingly, fluoride tablets and drops have been shown to be ineffective in reducing tooth decay. Fluoride products are not approved by the FDA as safe or effective. They have, however, been shown to cause skin eruptions, gastric distress, headaches, and weakness, which disappear when fluoride use is discontinued. Systemic exposure to fluoride during tooth development causes dental fluorosis, which is a permanent disfigurement, causing mottling of the enamel.
This negatively affects the bone metabolism and calcification process. Lifelong exposure to low levels of fluoride will increase hip fracture. Fluoride does increase cancers at the epiphysial growth plates.
~Source: International Society for Fluoride Research, 21st Congress Budapest, Hungary
- Fluorine has also been shown to cause APOPTOSIS (pre-programmed cellular death) in bone-forming osteoblasts. It also down-regulates the synthesis of collagen protein in the bone. (VRP, 9, p. 2)
- Fluoride is a bully, as it pushes all of its halide cousin’s out of the way and displaces iodine off of the thyroid tyrosine ring, and is listed as 1 of the 10 most common household toxins.
- Fluoride is a cumulative poison which builds up over time, primarily in bones. Children during growth, accumulate fluoride more rapidly in their bones than adults do. Chronic ingestion of 1 ppm of fluoride gradually accumulates in critical sites, and over decades will negatively impact bone health and increase hip fractures.
- The amount of fluoride in water is not sufficient to produce statistically, significant decay reduction in humans or animals.
- The fluoride in your toothpaste is a pharmaceutical grade sodium fluoride, Stannous fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate. The fluoride in your water supply is a silico-fluoride, highly contaminated, hazardous-waste by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry. The EPA does not even allow this toxic by-product to be put into landfills or discarded in rivers or oceans. So why is it fit for you and your family’s consumption?
- All of the recent large-scale studies on the relationship between drinking water fluoridation and tooth decay show that fluoridation does not affect tooth decay. ….29 Budapest study
- Children’s health appears to be better in non- fluoridated areas ….. Same study
- Fluoridation has also been reported to delay eruption of the permanent dentition which can be directly correlated to brain development. Brain development and tooth development appear to be parallel. This research was reported in 1994 at the international Society for fluoride research at the XX conference in Beijing which linked dental fluorosis to lower IQ.
- And finally, a former toxicologist at the Harvard Forsyth dental research Institute found that fluoride was more potent than lead , in damage to the behavior of experimental animals. This study was published in the Journal of Neurotoxicology.
Conclusion: Is Fluoride Safe?
The chronic ingestion of fluoride from drinking water has not been proven safe or effective. There is ample evidence of harm from drinking fluoridated water.
~Scientific documentation on page 8 of Budapest study
SO, WHAT DO I DO?
- Increase your levels of B- vitamins, especially riboflavin, as this increases fluoride excretion.
- Increase your supplementation of R-Lipoic Acid, it is a mercury chelator
- Never, ever drink tap water. Not so much for the fluoride content but the chlorine content. This destroys vital lactobacillus needed in your gut.
- Increase your daily IODINE levels. You need at least 12 mg's a day (mg’s. not mcg's)
- Change your salt to CELTIC SEA SALT and use it on everything. Organic sea salt is not the problem, processed table salt is!!! This salt is essential for proper body mineralization, cellular function and alkalinization.
- Increase your ORAL pH, by using an Alkalinizing water machine. This destroys the harmful bacteria in the biofilm on your teeth and decreases acidic attack on your enamel.
- Stop using fluoridated anything, including fluoride treatments at your dental visits.
- Fluoride doesn't cross the enamel matrix in one minute anyway, even if it did inhibit cavities.
~Complementary Prescriptions, Vol,25, no.4