-Compiled and edited by Mike Dolan, PhD
Topical fluoride exposure of limited use in controlling tooth erosion and caries
While the use of topical fluoride products such as toothpastes is widely accepted to control tooth decay, a new systematic review of the evidence concludes the amount of benefit can only be measured at the level of micrometers or nanometers.
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A new, detailed analysis of the types and amount of evidence for topical fluoride’s anti-caries effect by researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen and Dr. Kurt Wolff GmbH & Co. KG published in Dentistry Journal January 5 has concluded “the amount of fluoride that is incorporated into teeth is very low (a few micrograms per square millimeter), and is unlikely to protect a tooth against an attack by acids, be it from acidic agents (erosion) or from acid-producing cariogenic bacteria.”
The authors note that the available literature on the topic is vast, but “the main results converge to some basic facts.”
These include several unappreciated aspects of fluoride’s limitations, including:
-fluoride’s incorporation in teeth can reach only up to “several hundred nanometers” [less than the length of a single bacterial cell].
-“It is unlikely that the formed fluoride-containing layer can protect the teeth from erosion for more than a few minutes at a pH of 5 or below (as introduced by many beverages). It is simply too thin, too porous, and too easily soluble.”
-“There is no clear evidence for reduced bacterial adsorption on a fluoridated tooth surface.”
-“There are conflicting reports on the increase in tooth hardness after fluoride treatment. In any case, this effect appears to only be present on the outermost enamel surface (several micrometers at most).”
Source: https://doi.org/10.3390/dj10010006
Non-fluoridated Hawaii ranked 4th best in dental health
The two US states with the lowest percentages of residents consuming fluoridated water were ranked in the top five states for best dental health, according to a survey by Express Dentists.
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According to a report on the DrBicuspid.com website, least fluoridated Hawaii was ranked fourth. Second least fluoridated New Jersey was ranked fifth. Connecticut, the District of Columbia and Massachusetts were ranked the top three, according to the report.
The states ranked at the bottom for dental health were 47-Texas, 48-Mississippi, 49-Louisiana, 50-West Virginia, and 51-Arkansas.
Source: https://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=hyg&pag=dis&ItemID=329848
On FAN: https://fluoridealert.org/news/which-u-s-states-are-best-worst-for-dental-health/
Third shift workers suffer more obesity, dental caries, and fluorosis
A study of third shift information technology workers from four companies in the Indian city of Chennai has found they are more likely to be obese and to have dental health problems including dental caries, periodontitis, and erosion due to their irregular eating habits and overconsumption of sugary foods.
According to the authors of the study from the SRM Dental College and Hospital in Chennai “employers must pay attention.”
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While the authors emphasized common people must have knowledge and determination to care for their teeth, access to dental care was a crucial factor.
“The major difficulty faced by people was the high treatment cost of any dental disease,” write the authors.
They concluded that increased consumption of coffee and tea to stay awake and frequent consumption of sugary food contributed to the workers’ health problems, according to their recent report in Natural Volatiles & Essential Oils.
“The oral health parameters such as dental caries, periodontitis, missing teeth, sensitivity of teeth were found to statistically significant with BMI (sic). Lack of good food facilities and improper timing of food consumption during night shift are the major difficulties in the establishment of healthy eating patterns among night shift workers. They may need additional maintenance of oral health because of their varied eating habits without any time constraints and physical exercise to maintain a healthy life. The employers must pay attention in reviewing the quality of food and dining facilities available for night shift workers to maximize their healthy eating options,” conclude the authors.
https://www.nveo.org/index.php/journal/article/view/814
Alzheimer’s & Dementia report found drugs that reduce fluoride’s harm in rats
Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the journal of the Alzheimer Association, has published a new study from the Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in India that reports that prenatal and continuing treatment with metformin and dehydrozingerone (DHZ) have “neuroprotective ability” in Wistar rats exposed prenatally to high concentrations of fluoride in drinking water.
The report includes an unusually blunt assessment of fluoride’s neurotoxic effects, with the authors stating, “It has been reported that exposure to excess amounts of fluoride either through drinking water or other sources impairs vital functions of the body and can prove to be toxic especially for the central nervous system. Many studies have shown that sodium fluoride (NaF) crosses the blood brain barrier in early developmental stages and causes impairments related to learning and memory, anxiety, decreased locomotor ability and in some cases, depression-like behaviour especially in children.”
The authors report that behavioral adverse effects, and physiological and cellular effects of the fluoride on the hippocampus were lessened by the drug treatment.
“It was also observed that treatment with metformin & DHZ was able to ameliorate the cognitive impairment, improve condition of oxidative stress & decrease neuronal degeneration in rat pups,” they concluded.
Source: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.058668\
On FAN at, https://fluoridealert.org/studytracker/41403/
More than a quarter of China faces high risk of fluoride exposure
A new model of groundwater fluoride contamination in China has found that over 27 percent of the land mass contains areas of high risk fluoride exposure.
The authors estimate that 89 million rural people in China face a health risk due to high exposure to fluoride.
The report contains a map showing the areas of endemic fluorosis in China. These are found particularly in the western half of the country where much of the water exceeds 1.5 milligrams per liter fluoride.
The authors conclude, “The high risk areas are mainly located in western provinces of Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, and Sichuan, and the northern provinces of Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Shandong. The total number of people estimated to be potentially at risk of fluorosis due to the use of untreated high fluoride groundwater as drinking water is about 89 million, or 6% of the population.”
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1001074221002710?via%3Dihub
See also FAN, https://fluoridealert.org/researchers/government-reports/china/
Fluorotic sheep in Morocco lose 20 to 40% of their sale value
Sheep farmers in Morocco suffer up to 40 percent loss in the value of their animals because of endemic fluorosis, according to a recent report in the African & Mediterranean Agricultural Journal
The problem stems more from soil contamination than fluoride in drinking water.
Endemic fluorosis forces the farmers to alter their trading practices, according to the authors from the National Agronomy Researcher Center in Serrat and Hassan University
“The unique adopted strategy by farmers to cope with the harmful effects of fluorosis was the sale of young animals at 6-12 months and the purchase of rams and ewes (older than 24months) from fluoride free areas. In conclusion, even if the farmers in the south of Khouribga consider that fluorosis does not represent a problem for their flocks, it remained a real handicap to sheep farming. The animal trade was the only strategy adopted by breeders to cope with fluorosis,” write the authors.
Source: http://www.afrimed.ma/index.php/AFRIMED/article/view/132
On FAN: https://fluoridealert.org/studytracker/41531/
Alternative health “hidden machinery” draws parenting groups to extremes
A U.S. Air Force-funded study by George Washington University scholars found that mainstream parenting groups on social media are drawn to “COVID-19 misinformation” by an unsuspected “hidden social media machinery.”
Writing in the engineering journal IEEE Access, the authors report, “The first prong involves a strengthening of the bond between mainstream parenting communities and pre-Covid conspiracy theory communities that promote misinformation about climate change, fluoride, chemtrails and 5G. Alternative health communities have acted as the critical conduits. The second prong features an adjacent core of tightly bonded, yet largely under-the-radar, anti-vaccination communities that continually supplied Covid-19 and vaccine misinformation to the mainstream parenting communities.”
The paper does not indicate what constitutes “fluoride misinformation.” It reuses the phrase “long-standing non-Covid and non-vaccine conspiracy theories, primarily around climate change, fluoride, chemtrails and 5G,” repeatedly without ever reporting who the groups are or what attributes place them in this category.
The authors blame alternative health sites for “bonding” parenting groups to the extremes, however not through the alternative health sites’ content, but through comments left on the sites.
According to a media release from George Washington University, “The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-20-1-0382 and FA9550-20-1-0383) provided funding for this research.”
Full pdf article: http://fluoridealert.org/wp-content/uploads/ieee-2022.How_Social_Media_Machinery_Pulled_Mainstream_Parent.pdf
Comment
Ministry of Truth – Windsor branch
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four the main character works at the Ministry of Truth, a government agency that continually re-writes history by reprinting each day’s newspapers after unwanted information has been deleted. It is a powerful metaphor, but logistically impossible, reprinting each day’s newspaper over and over again ad infinitum. The internet makes the job much easier, as information can now be deleted with the press of a button. This happened recently at the Windsor Star in Ontario, Canada. A December 28th piece, “Researcher issues warning to pregnant moms as fluoride returns to Windsor water,” was deleted from the paper’s website soon after the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) made note of it. Ironically, it lives on as a ghost on Google News listings for “fluoridation,” but a click of the button only leads to a “404 Missing Page” notice.
Fortunately, FAN captured the news story before it was sent to the Ministry’s memory hole, and it can be read on the FAN website. In the piece, York University’s Prof. Christine Till makes the reasonable recommendation that pregnant women not drink the fluoridated water in Windsor, saying, “At least for the first six months of life, use non-fluoridated water when feasible.” Till’s original research has found an increased risk of reduced intelligence in children after prenatal fluoride exposure. If one studies the Star news story closely, the reader can find reference to “developmental neurotoxin”, but the piece overall is flooded with justifications for fluoride, even suggesting the brain damage is worth it.
People
Dentist named head of National Institutes of Health
Former University of Rochester dental professor Lawrence Tabak has been named acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He had been deputy director for 10 year and director of the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research for 10 years before that. He replaces Francis Collins as director of the NIH.
On FAN: https://fluoridealert.org/news/lawrence-a-tabak-dds-phd-appointed-acting-director-national-institutes-of-health/
The archives of The Fluoridation Review are available at: https://
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