Current water fluoride levels are damaging children's teeth, according to a research article in the February Journal of the American Dental Association.(1) High fluoride leads to more tooth decay, reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.
Up to 63 percent of children living in optimally fluoridated areas (from 0.7-1.2 parts per million, ppm) show fluoride overdose symptoms as dental fluorosis (white-spotted, yellow or brown permanently stained, sometimes pitted teeth), according to Beltran-Aguilar and colleagues in "Prevalence and trends in enamel fluorosis in the United States from the 1930s to the 1980s."
"The ... implication is the need to determine whether current enamel fluorosis prevalence warrants a re-evaluation and possible reduction in the fluoride concentration in water, as has been suggested by some investigators," reports Beltran-Aguilar and colleagues.
Optimally fluoridated water is supposed to reduce tooth decay without unwanted dental fluorosis. But Beltran-Aguilar and colleagues found children, even in sub-optimally (less than 0.7 ppm) fluoridated areas, with moderate and severe fluorosed teeth which is characterized by crumbling or pitting teeth that usually decay faster. "This severity was not observed in the 1930s among children drinking water with less than 1.3 ppm fluoride," the authors report.
The American Dental Association describes severe fluorosis: "All tooth surfaces affected; discrete or confluent pitting; brown stain present," The ADA describes moderate fluorosis: "All tooth surfaces affected; marked wear on biting surfaces; brown stain may be present."(2)
The researchers further suggest that, "Children younger than 8 years of age should receive fluoride according to their needs rather than routinely."
"We are concerned that, despite all the scientific evidence that our children are fluoride-overdosed, the Director of Oral Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control today spoke to the media about expanding fluoridation without his addressing the problem of dental fluorosis," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.
Source: NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
