Fluoride

[Andy Onchan]

12 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Helium is better...I can't speak more highly about it.

Lithium though...bad idea, used to treat all kinds of brain malfunctions.

 

 

The one you need to watch out for is dilithium.

[Josem]

2 hours ago, Lxxx said:

...Making every child clean their teeth at the start of school before lessons begin would surely be a more effective way of addressing the situation...We should be aiming for the target area of the population, not mass medicating everybody whether they like it or not. 

Having an unnoticeable (to the human taste) rock diluted in the water is too much of an imposition, but forcing every school child to clean their teeth at the start of school together is fine? What on earth?

[Bobbie Bobster]

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Edited yesterday at 02:08 PM by Bobbie Bobster

[HeliX]

1 hour ago, Josem said:

Having an unnoticeable (to the human taste) rock diluted in the water is too much of an imposition, but forcing every school child to clean their teeth at the start of school together is fine? What on earth?

Medicating people without their consent isn't a good thing.

[Jarndyce]

On 10/6/2024 at 11:56 PM, hampsterkahn said:

The arguments about fluoridation are not so much about things medical, biochemical or public health, but concerns  perceived by many in political terms -an issue about freedom of choice and the evils of overbearing government control

Yep - the whole thread has been about this from the start, even the comments purporting to be about health issues have had this as a subtext.

Edited 8 hours ago by Jarndyce
Clarity

[Jarndyce]

21 hours ago, Andy Onchan said:

The one you need to watch out for is dilithium

[Lxxx]

22 hours ago, Josem said:

Having an unnoticeable (to the human taste) rock diluted in the water is too much of an imposition, but forcing every school child to clean their teeth at the start of school together is fine? What on earth?

If you had bothered to read the rest of the post you would see that we should be educating kids on the importance of good dental hygiene by reinforcing behaviours, not adding an industrial by product to our municipal drinking water which might, at best, only have a marginal impact on a small % of the population.

That's just reinforcing the idea that kids can abuse their bodies in terms of diet and movement if they want, as the doctor can always give them a get-out-of-jail-pill or two later in life to make the inevitable adverse symptoms go away.   

[Happier diner]

7 minutes ago, Lxxx said:

If you had bothered to read the rest of the post you would see that we should be educating kids on the importance of good dental hygiene by reinforcing behaviours, not adding an industrial by product to our municipal drinking water which might, at best, only have a marginal impact on a small % of the population.

That's just reinforcing the idea that kids can abuse their bodies in terms of diet and movement if they want, as the doctor can always give them a get-out-of-jail-pill or two later in life to make the inevitable adverse symptoms go away.   

You can educate kids as much as you like and you can educate parents as much as you like (and we should). However it inevitably will go in one ear and out the other.  So education is part of the answer but it isn't the answer.

[Josem]

29 minutes ago, Lxxx said:

That's just reinforcing the idea that kids can abuse their bodies in terms of diet and movement if they want, as the doctor can always give them a get-out-of-jail-pill or two later in life to make the inevitable adverse symptoms go away.   

Do you think this is how people who live in Birmingham, or Ireland, or Australia, think?

[Lxxx]

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

You can educate kids as much as you like and you can educate parents as much as you like (and we should). However it inevitably will go in one ear and out the other.  So education is part of the answer but it isn't the answer.

Quote right, so get them to brush their teeth before school starts as well as telling/showing them the reasons why in posters of graphic detail in the toilets. Telling kids to not give a shit about their teeth because their loving government is putting a magic potion in the water to fix all that isn't going to have much of an effect either, especially as most kids drink minimal water anyway and walk around with a can of Monster/bottle of Fanta/Lucozade as their refreshment of choice most of the time.  

[Lxxx]

2 hours ago, Josem said:

Do you think this is how people who live in Birmingham, or Ireland, or Australia, think?

Sadly, yes.

The places above also have a better resourced and funded health service. As a small island nation if we don't change the way we look at health with our younger population then we are destined to just follow the same downward trajectory we are seeing now. We can't stop the parents from having their cupboards stocked with garbage but once they enter the school environment we can attempt to mitigate the effects by educating the kids not just on how to draw an isosceles triangle but how to stop your teeth rotting and falling out too. 

[Happier diner]

38 minutes ago, Lxxx said:

Quote right, so get them to brush their teeth before school starts as well as telling/showing them the reasons why in posters of graphic detail in the toilets. Telling kids to not give a shit about their teeth because their loving government is putting a magic potion in the water to fix all that isn't going to have much of an effect either, especially as most kids drink minimal water anyway and walk around with a can of Monster/bottle of Fanta/Lucozade as their refreshment of choice most of the time.  

I do not think you are allowed to force children to brush their teeth. Maybe we should be able to but we can't. Some schools are crazy and its hard enough getting children to sit down never mind brush their teeth. How would you keep their toothbrushes safe and not mixed up and how many teaching assistants would you need.

It sounds a good idea but I am afraid its totally impractical

[HeliX]

2 hours ago, Josem said:

Do you think this is how people who live in Birmingham, or Ireland, or Australia, think?

From the evidence presented in this thread I'm not sure people from Australia think at all.

[Lxxx]

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

I do not think you are allowed to force children to brush their teeth. Maybe we should be able to but we can't. Some schools are crazy and its hard enough getting children to sit down never mind brush their teeth. How would you keep their toothbrushes safe and not mixed up and how many teaching assistants would you need.

It sounds a good idea but I am afraid its totally impractical

By that token ‘forcing’ kids to undress out of their school uniform and put on some gym kit a few hours a week should be totally impractical. Keeping little Jonny’s kit safe and having teachers to supervise them should be totally impractical. Only it isn’t and it isn’t because it has become routine and the norm to make sure the kids have at least some form of basic fitness and they are ‘forced’ into some PE lessons a few times a week. 
 

it is a totally redundant argument to say that basic health principles can’t be incorporated into a school curriculum. The real issue is that no-one can be arsed putting in any effort into anything these days. Governments, employees, citizens, kids… Eat healthy and brush your teeth? Nah, just rather let things rot, literally, and try and find a cheap chemical to put into the water supply and hope for the best.
 

It is a sad indictment of our society that from top down quick, cheap wins are sought in everything. Which is why we see society in general in such a mess.

[doc.fixit]

It is a sad indicment of our society that parental responsibility is being eroded more every day.