Is adding 'fluoride' in tooth-Paste good to teeth?

Question

Traditional Indian Medical practitioners insist on the use of 'Terminalia Chebula' (one of the 3 Myrobalans) and other herbs to keep the teeth strong and diseas-free. What is the role of fluoride in tooth-paste and is it really hamful?

Answer 1

adding fluoride to the drinking water and to toothpaste has been one of the greatest assets to dental health in the united states (and really most of the industrial world) in the 20th century. Fluoride strengthens teeth, helps prevent decay and erosion, and helps fight certain periodontal and tooth diseases. I have no idea at all about any traditional indian remedies, but based on evidence based medicine and scientific proof, fluoride is very very beneficial.

Answer 2

No, fluoride is a poison, and in small quantities a poison is still a poison, it is an industrial waste. It is more toxic than lead and can accumulate within brain tissue and damage the brain. There is as much or more dental decay in areas that fluoridize their water, and more dental problems resulting in higher dental costs, due to fluorosis (which I have, its not fun). It has never been approved by the FDA. Studies have shown that it causes many conditions, including bone diseases such as osteoporosis, and arthritis. With fluorosis, your teeth turn brown and yellow and crumble and decay, basically the same thing happens to your bones (you can find pictures of fluorosis with a web search, I'm sure). It does not, as is claimed, 'help with the development of enamel of childrens teeth.' If anything, the opposite is true. It destroys enzymes within the body, which can damage most or all of its systems. Should I go on?

Answer 3

My thoughts on this are that flouride is harmful in high doses. In United States, If you have city water then you dont need fluoride toothpaste because you have enough in your water. People still use it anyway. Also check the site below for some problems associated with fluoride.

The reason fluoride was introduced was because of a chemical spill. A company producing the toxin tried to prove its benifits after a spill had made people sick. They found that their teeth were stronger and got cavities less, however they were sick and vomiting. The media was paid to portay fluorides new found secret and the myth was born.

Answer 4

Fluoridated toothpaste is very useful if the water you drink has no fluoride content.
It strengthens the enamel. Alternatively, you can take black tea to strengthen the enamel.
For people who are reactive to Fluoridated toothpaste, Calcarea Fluor 6x of Homoeo helps as lot.

Answer 5

I'm told that flouride is only really effective in children - not in adults. I'm sure a google search could help you.

Answer 6

Você quer saber algo sobre produtos químicos para utilizar em dentes?
Por que?
Você é dentista?
Sou brasileiro, gostaria de saber.

You want to know something on chemical products to use in teeth? Why? You he is dentist? I am Brazilian, would like to know.

Answer 7

flouride is anticariogenic so hepls in prevention of tooth decay.

Answer 8

What is Fluoride?

Fluoride is an element from the halogen group, as are iodide and chloride. It is commonly added to the water supply as hydrofluosilicic acid, silicofluoride or sodium fluoride. Fluoride is also found as an additive in toothpastes and some mouthwashes, as a tooth decay preventive ingredient.


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Hidden Danger in Your Drinking Water and Toothpaste
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Fluoride and Fluoridated Water's Link to Thyroid Disease
This common additive to your water supply, and ingredient in the toothpaste you and your children use may be contributing to the increased rates of hypothyroidism -- and other health concerns -- in the U.S. . . without improving dental health

What is Fluoride?

Fluoride is an element from the halogen group, as are iodide and chloride. It is commonly added to the water supply as hydrofluosilicic acid, silicofluoride or sodium fluoride. Fluoride is also found as an additive in toothpastes and some mouthwashes, as a tooth decay preventive ingredient.

Why is Fluoride Used?

Fluoride is used to fight tooth decay in children. The key initial studies purporting to demonstrate its effectiveness as an anti-cavity fighting compound were performed back in the 1940s.

Those studies, conducted in Grand Rapids, MI in 1945, in Newburgh, NY in 1945, in Brantford, Ontario in 1945, and in Evanston, IL in 1947, are now being called into question. According to Dr. Philip Sutton, author of "The Greatest Fraud: Fluoridation" *A Factual Book, Lorne, Australia, 1996), these studies are actually of dubious scientific quality.

More recently, other studies attempting to document the effectiveness of fluoride have been conducted. Dr. John Yiamouyiannis examined the raw data from a large study that was conducted by the National Institute for Dental Research (NIDR). He concluded that fluoride did not appear to have any decay preventing success, as there was little difference in the DMFT values (the mean number of decayed, missing or filled teeth) for approximately 40,000 children. It did not matter whether they grew up in fluoridated, non-fluoridated or partially fluoridated communities. (Yiamouyiannis, J.A. "Water Fluoridation and Tooth Decay: Results from the 1986-87 National Survey of U.S. Schoolchildren", Fluoride, 23, 55-67, 1990).

A larger study has been conducted in New Zealand. There, the New Zealand National Health Service plan examines the teeth of every child in key age groups, and have found that the teeth of children in non-fluoridated cities were slightly better than those in the fluoridated cities. (Colquhoun, J. "Child Dental Health Differences in New Zealand", Community Healthy Services, XI 85-90, 1987).

Although children's teeth have improved steadily from the 1930s to the 1990s, this improvement appears to be independent of the addition of fluoride to the water. A study has yet to be conducted that specifically addresses whether the addition of fluoride affects the quality of teeth, while controlling and accounting for other factors and other sources of fluoride.

Despite growing questions about the effectiveness of using fluoride to fight tooth decay - and increasing concerns of the safety of this practice -- over 60 percent of the United States' water supply is fluoridated. Most of those cities are in the eastern part of the U.S.

What are the Concerns Associated with the Addition of Fluoride to the Water Supply?

The most recognized problem with the ingestion of too much fluoride is dental fluorosis. This condition is characterized by the failure of tooth enamel to crystallize properly in permanent teeth. The effects range from chalky, opaque blotching of teeth to severe, rust-colored stains, surface pitting and tooth brittleness.

This condition, though worrisome, may not be the key concern , at least according to some researchers. Dr. Phyllis Mullenix believes, based on her research, that fluoride acts in a way that lowers the I.Q. of children ("Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride in Rats", Mullenix, P. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 17 (2), 1995).

Dr. William Marcus, believes that a study conducted by Battelle for the National Toxicology Program on the toxicology of fluoride shows that there were dose-related increases in bone cancer in male rats. Dr. Marcus also questions the removal by peer reviewers of cancers at other sites in the rats as well. Especially worrisome to Dr. Marcus is the fact that that levels of fluoride that caused the cancers in the rats were lower than those seen in humans who ingested lower amounts, but for a longer period. These levels are generated because fluoride is accumulated in the body and is not secreted.

Dr. Marcus was formerly the chief toxicologist for the EPA's Office of Drinking Water, but was fired in 1991 after insisting that an unbiased evaluation of fluoride's cancer potential be conducted. Marcus fought his dismissal, and was able to be reinstated after demonstrating in court that it was politically motivated.

An article in the Irish Times of Dublin on August 16, 1999, reports that Dr. Hans Moolenburgh's research in Holland found that up to 4 percent of people using fluoridated water experienced health problems. These problems ranged from gastrointestinal disorders to mouth sores to rashes to headaches to forms of arthritis to more serious concerns such as cancers and neurological complaints.