Fluoride

[hissingsid]

I drink tap water and it is usually fine but occasionally there is a rather tart taste to it so they have probably overdone the additive.   There is nothing wrong with tap water in the main and I would not dream of buying bottled for day to day consumption and considering the amount we are paying for it  in rates we pay it is foolish not to use it.   I hope they do not add fluoride to it.

[ballaughbiker]

Topic exhumation from 2008 ish ?   This has been done to death.

I guess saveourwater will be along in a minute (ok at sunset then as long as there's no garlic around) with multiple wild fluoride conspiracy theories and horror stories supported by references from agenda driven nutty professors and other assorted ne're-do-wells ..

Even if one just try to help and quote links to respected peer-reviewed sources, they will just try to silence you with sealioning, gish galloping and even unpleasant PMs.

I really can't be assed to repeat it all except to say.

• It works
• It takes a minimum of a decade to show a real benefit
• It's relatively cheap (but not sure about that 'here')
• There are plenty of other ways to deliver it 
• For full effect, it needs to be ingested before birth 
• It is harmless a 1ppm (near enough 1mg / litre)
• It has been present in some area's drinking water since time was with no demonstrable ill effects at 1ppm
• I don't think it should be added to the island's water (although I wouldn't have any issue if it was in my water)
• Rather than get involved in petty squabbles, I'm going for a pint 

 

[CallMeCurious]

Public Health Isle of Man has highlighted 17-percent of five-year-old children have dental decay which is one of the main causes of hospital admission.

 

Nice misleading statement - so 1 in 6 of 5 year olds have dental decay,which is one of the main causes of hospital admissions.

So of 790 5 year old kids (IOM 2021 census) 135 (17%) have dental decay. So what is the figure for the number of hospitasl admissions, presumably for emergency dentistry? Call it even 50% in a year so about 8% of children.

Hopefully, social services will look into such cases of obvious neglect as it's probably the tip of the iceberg in a few cases. As the saying public health mantra goes "prevention is better than cure"  

[woolley]

37 minutes ago, ballaughbiker said:

• It has been present in some area's drinking water since time was with no demonstrable ill effects at 1ppm

-

Big difference between naturally occurring and industrially tainted. No thanks.

[hissingsid]

Five year olds have baby teeth which are probably not as strong as second teeth and the condition of them could be due to the mother’s health and well being when the baby was in the womb.   This may be rubbish but the mother’s health before birth can affect a baby so why not it’s teeth, lack of calcium perhaps ?   Just a thought.  I was brought up to brush my teeth after eating and still have them in my eighties but now we are told this is wrong and may damage the enamel also a lot of people seem to graze all day now when we had three meals and very few sweets after the war because of rationing and not a lot of spare cash to buy them.   

[Happier diner]

5 hours ago, hissingsid said:

Five year olds have baby teeth which are probably not as strong as second teeth and the condition of them could be due to the mother’s health and well being when the baby was in the womb.   This may be rubbish but the mother’s health before birth can affect a baby so why not it’s teeth, lack of calcium perhaps ?   Just a thought.  I was brought up to brush my teeth after eating and still have them in my eighties but now we are told this is wrong and may damage the enamel also a lot of people seem to graze all day now when we had three meals and very few sweets after the war because of rationing and not a lot of spare cash to buy them.   

You are correct. Your adult teeth develop long before they erupt. So good diet affects you adult teeth from and early age. 

[AcousticallyChallenged]

11 hours ago, CallMeCurious said:

My point being why poison

Have you any proof it’s poison?

Or is the General from Dr Strangelove your alter ego? He blamed the commies for polluting his bodily fluids.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67wKhddWu4

Fluoride being added to water is also suggested to be beneficial to adults reducing cavity rates. 

With the delays to being able to even register with an NHS dentist, it’s probably not the worst option to think about how we tackle oral health with a more holistic approach. 

[AcousticallyChallenged]

7 hours ago, woolley said:

Big difference between naturally occurring and industrially tainted. No thanks.

Isn’t “industrial tainting” what some would call water treatment?

Chlorine, the magic element in mustard gas, bleach, and hydrochloric acid, is added into drinking water supplies.

Or, we could say, drinking water supplies are kept safe for human consumption by careful treatment with proven chemicals and techniques to avoid disease.

It’s all about how you market it. 

[Hooly]

15 hours ago, Roxanne said:

I don't.

I'd prefer it if children ate less sugar.

Fluoride in the water is one of those typical responses where a chemical solution is suggested to deal with the symptoms of an issue rather than dealing with the issue at its source.

 

Agree with this and your other post roaxanne. So frustrating that we don't seem to educate anymore and fire money at it when it's too late. 

15 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Didn't we have a sugar tax imposed on soft drinks to try to alleviate that and assist in funding dental care? Suggested and driven by a distinctly rotund MHK IIRC?

I wonder where the revenue for that went as it still takes months to get into a dentist.

A sugar tax doesnt actually help the matter. People just pay more for it and then have less money for other things. Education is key - not tax! 

[AcousticallyChallenged]

7 minutes ago, Hooly said:

Agree with this and your other post roaxanne. So frustrating that we don't seem to educate anymore and fire money at it when it's too late.

There’s so much kids should learn which could be helped by schools across a whole range of ages. 

From things like how to fill in a tax return, to the importance of looking after things like your teeth. 

Kids are funny creatures, some will see it as a battle to get them to brush their teeth and some may even lie about it.

I know plenty of people who grew up to regret that stage of their lives too. 

Of course, that ignores all the key point of cheap sugar being way too prevalent in everything. Modern snack food is engineered to tick all the boxes of a brain that hasn’t quite evolved to a modern diet. Instead, it ticks all the boxes for a caveman’s best day ever. No wonder it’s addictive and can be problematic. 

[Lightening McQueen]

Why not put the money they may be proposing to put into this scheme, towards improving dentist provision, don’t know the figures, but it’s a start.

[Happier diner]

1 hour ago, Lightening McQueen said:

Why not put the money they may be proposing to put into this scheme, towards improving dentist provision, don’t know the figures, but it’s a start.

They probably figure its cheaper to go for mass medication than pay dentists.

It'll never happen anyway.....either thing

[Roxanne]

We can’t recruit dentists so it’s probably easier (and cheaper) just to go to B and Q and buy a bucket of fluoride. 

[Roxanne]

Or maybe in comes in a tube?

[Happier diner]

13 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

Or maybe it comes in a tube?

ooooo matron!