Compiled by Michael F. Dolan, PhD
A Midwestern Doctor Criticizes Fluoridation, Says He Avoided Fluoridated Water Most of His Life
One of the most popular and successful Substack writers has criticized water fluoridation as a cause of osteoporosis in a recent post.
In a July 12th post entitled, “How modern medicine made your bones brittle,” A Midwestern Doctor criticized modern medical practices that are used to raise bone density, but leave bones more likely to break.
A Midwestern Doctor is noted for detailed investigation of the medical literature, an in-depth criticism of the pharmaceutical industry, and the resurrection of past practices that were suppressed.
The writer faulted the conventional approach to reduce the risk of bone fractures that focuses on scans of bone density and the use of drugs to increase bone density, noting research that found most fractures are not attributable to osteoporosis and that most of the risk of fracture is not related to bone density.
A Midwestern Doctor (the Doctor) noted that bisphosphonates, prescribed to increase bone density, had many side effects including the death of bone tissue in the jaw.
“Remarkably, the American Dental Association even cautions its members to avoid working on patients who are taking a bisphosphonate (presumably due to the liability created by their increased risk of harm from a dental surgery),” writes the Doctor.
The writer lists seven causes of osteoporosis including lack of mobility, lack of sex hormones, inflammation, mineral deficiencies, water fluoridation, pharmaceutical drugs, and environmental toxins.
Regarding fluoridation, the Doctor writes, “Unfortunately, like the bisphosphonates, while fluoride increases bone density, the bone that forms is less healthy and able to function normally. In addition to many of my colleagues believing they’ve observed this harm within their patients, this has also been demonstrated both by numerous studies linking fluoride to osteomalacia (a condition where the bones soften and hence are more likely to fracture) and by numerous studies finding administering fluoride increases rather than decreases one’s fracture risk.”
The Doctor notes, “I believe one of the things that likely contributed to my physical health and cognition was taking proactive steps to avoid fluoridated water for most of my life.”
Source: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/how-modern-medicine-made-your-bones
History of New Zealand’s School Dental Service Shows Fluoridation Failed to Remedy Inequalities in Child Oral Health
While advocates of water fluoridation often claim that the policy particularly benefits underserved populations, scholarly research has repeatedly found that this has not occurred. A new account of New Zealand’s School Dental Service and the past 100 years of dental care in that country confirms inequality persists despite 60 years of fluoridation.
In a recent open access review in Frontiers in Public Health, researchers from New Zealand’s University of Otago recount the history of the School Dental Service (SDS) that was founded in 1921 after dentist F.W. Thompson reported that 98 percent of children did not receive the dental care they deserved.
The public service, now called the Community Oral Health Service, improved oral health for children but has not ended the inequalities in dental outcomes experienced by the Maori and Pacific Island children.
“Despite SDS care, and the introduction of water fluoridation in the 1950s, oral health surveys in the 1970s observed that New Zealand children had heavily-filled teeth, and the adults lost their teeth early. Changes to SDS preventive and restorative practices reduced the average number of fillings per child by the early 1980s, but statistics then revealed substantial inequalities in child oral health, with Maori and Pacific Island children faring worse than other children,” write the authors.
They further write, “In 2006, the New Zealand Government invested in a reorientation of the SDS to a Community Oral Health Service (COHS), focusing on prevention. Ten years on, initial evaluations of the CHOS appear to be mostly positive, but oral health inequalities persevere. Innovative strategies at COHS level may improve oral health but inequalities will only be overcome by the implementation of policies that address the wider social determinants of health.”
While the authors are advocates of water fluoridation, they mention it only in passing, suggesting that the policy has little if any role to play in reducing inequalities in oral health care.
Source: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00177
European Countries See “Remarkable” Decline in Tooth Decay in Absence of Water Fluoridation
Crediting U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for opposing the continuation of water fluoridation because of fluoride’s neurotoxicity, two Danish dental researchers have reexamined the past 50 years of dental health in countries such as Denmark, Iceland and Norway, which do not use water fluoridation, and found what they call a “remarkable decline” in tooth decay, associated with the use of fluoridated toothpaste.
While the authors do not consider the neurotoxic effect of ingesting fluoride nor the amount of fluoride children ingest from fluoridated toothpaste, they do not dismiss dental fluorosis as a “cosmetic” concern, instead referring to it as “indicative of a toxicological effect on mineralization.”
The authors refer to a recent Cochrane review, often ignored by fluoridation advocates, that water fluoridation is of little use in the age of fluoridated toothpaste, noting, “It was thus apparent that the benefits on caries progression of having fluoride in the water supplies were smaller than estimated before the common exposure to fluoride in toothpaste and other topical fluoride interventions and possibly even clinically unimportant. Furthermore, the recent studies found no convincing evidence that water fluoridation reduces social inequalities in caries, even though this previously has been a significant argument for establishing water fluoridation programs in many countries.”
In a report published March 26th in the European Journal of Oral Sciences, Bente Nyvad and Ole Fejerskov of Aarhus University, in language rarely used by dental researchers, consider the legal and ethical aspects of water fluoridation, and endorse the idea that it is “mass medication.”
They write, “Legal and ethical aspects of fluoride applications have seldom been addressed in relation to public oral health strategies. This is particularly problematic for community water fluoridation, by which large groups of people may be obliged to drink fluoridated water against their will without being informed about potential adverse health effects, including the increased risk of dental fluorosis. For these reasons, Veneri et al. have referred to community water fluoridation as a form of “mass medication.” Although such an approach might in some countries have been tolerated in the 1960s and 1970s at a time when dental caries prevalence was extremely high, the caries prevalence in most industrialized countries is now so low that violation of individual rights to medical self-determination, ignoring potential adverse effects of fluorides, can no longer be accepted.”
The authors found water fluoridation is not needed to reduce tooth decay, noting, “Collectively, these observations indicate that toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste is a robust population strategy that should be promoted as a valid alternative to community water fluoridation for the control of dental caries.”
Source: https://doi.org/10.1111/eos.70114
Lead-Fluoride Co-Exposure “a Significant Threat” to Children’s Bone Health: Study
A group of pro-fluoridation public health investigators from Zhengzhou University in China, taking a rare look at the effect of fluoridated water on leaded plumbing, have found that co-exposure from lead and fluoride in drinking water is associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD) in children and adolescents.
Using data derived from over 2300 participants in the USA’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013–2016) the scientists studied plasma and water fluoride, whole blood and urine lead and the BMD of the lumbar spine, pelvis and right and left legs, and found that exposure to both low dose fluoride and lead altered BMD with a reduction in BMD being greater with co-exposure to both toxins.
“Co- exposure to fluoride and lead has a more pronounced effect on BMD than exposure to either substance alone, indicating that co-exposure to fluoride and lead can exacerbate bone damage,” wrote the authors May 8th in the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology.
The study takes a rare look at the risk of co-exposure to two chemicals in the water distribution system – lead from leaded service water lines and fluoride added to reduce tooth decay. The authors acknowledge the 25-year-old research by Dartmouth College Professor Roger Masters and Myron Coplan in expressing concern over the co-exposure.
They write, “Masters et al. found that water with fluoride treatment is slightly acidic and may increase the lead dissolution and absorption, and their results showed a consistently significant association between community water treated with silicofluoride (SiF) and elevated blood lead levels. In addition, Sawan et al. also confirmed through animal experiments that the combined administration of fluoride and lead increased the concentration of lead in the blood and calcified tissues of rats exposed to this metal from the beginning of gestation.”
They add, “Therefore, we speculate that in the water supply system of the United States, particularly in older residential areas, fluoridated drinking water may enhance the leaching of lead from lead-containing materials. This could elevate lead exposure levels and create a scenario where fluoride and lead are co-exposed.”
“This study indicates that co-exposure to fluoride and lead poses a significant threat to adolescent bone health…It is particularly concerning that simultaneous exposure to low doses of fluoride and lead may significantly exacerbate bone impairment. Therefore, it is essential to enhance water quality monitoring, remain vigilant about the hidden risks of long-term low-dose exposure, and prioritize the protection of children’s and adolescents’ bone health,” conclude the authors.
Source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2026.127889
Victims of Dental Fluorosis May Face Bacterial-Based “Long-Term Health Problems”
The oral bacteria found specifically in students suffering from dental fluorosis may be associated with other non-dental health problems, according to a new report.
In comparing the collection of bacteria or oral microbiota from the saliva of 300 university students who have dental caries (DC), dental fluorosis (DF) or neither health problem, dental investigators from several schools in China found nine genera and seven species residing only in samples from the DF students. The scientists also found the presence of certain metabolic chemicals in the saliva differed significantly between the DF and other groups.
“This study demonstrated that the salivary microbial community structures differed significantly among individuals with DF, DC, and healthy controls in terms of both genera and species,” wrote the authors.
They reported, “Several microorganisms showing enrichment in the DF group have previously been reported to be closely linked to both local oral conditions and systemic diseases. For instance, Klebsiella and Enterobacter can colonize the oral cavity and are recognized as important pathogens involved in both hospital-acquired and community-acquired infections.”
They explained that the DF oral bacteria have been associated with periodontal disease, Parkinson’s disease, neurological diseases, and colorectal and other cancers.
Regarding the distinctive metabolic chemicals, the authors wrote, “Our results demonstrated that the salivary metabolic profiles of individuals with dental fluorosis differed significantly from those of both healthy controls and patients with dental caries. LPA [lysophosphatidic acid] and 15-oxoETE were significantly elevated in the DF group. LPA serves as an important bioactive phospholipid mediator in multiple inflammatory diseases.”
“In summary, the microorganisms enriched in the saliva of individuals with dental fluorosis include not only opportunistic oral pathogens but also taxa linked to systemic inflammation, degenerative disorders, and even tumor-related conditions,” they wrote, concluding, the findings “identified in this study provide new insights into the potential long term health risks associated with dental fluorosis.”
Their report was published May 26th in Clinical Oral Investigations.
Source: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-026-06957-x
•• Michael Dolan can be contacted at <mdolan.ecsn@outlook.com>