We read with great concern your recent article about the proposed addition of fluoride to our drinking water “Fluoride a plus or a minus?”, (Evening Telegraph, July 5). We have one son who was born in 1988. When his first teeth came through they were perfect. However, his second set of teeth were stained and mottled with very noticeable brown and white marks on them.

As a result, he has had to suffer several years’ upset from children making comments about the appearance of his teeth and teasing him about not cleaning his teeth.

Our son became withdrawn, lost his self-confidence and from the age of 10 never smiled.

Thanks to the excellent veneer work carried out by the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, our son now has six restored beautiful teeth across the front of his mouth.

This work has meant our son missing a considerable amount of time away from school. It has also taken a great deal of perseverance on our son’s part – at one appointment he had to lie on the dentist’s chair for 90 minutes while the surface of his teeth were drilled away.

Also, although there has been a considerable improvement, his remaining teeth are still mottled and stained.

Although never formally confirmed, my son suffers with dental fluorosis.

It seems that my son’s dental fluorosis was caused by the ingestion of too much fluoride from toothpaste. (When he was young enough to clean his own teeth there were no warnings about only using a small amount of toothpaste and rinsing well).

The dental profession believes that fluoridation of the water is important for dental health and although some research confirms this, it is a very fine line between too little and too much.

To our son too much fluoride has meant not only years of teasing, but also constant reminders from his dentist and us to try not to eat any sweet things.

Too much fluoride causes the opposite effect – resulting in tooth enamel that is soft and more susceptible to holes and cavities.

The other, much more worrying, aspect to receiving too much fluoride is that not only does it affect the teeth, but the hidden problem is the damage caused to bones.

Already there are worries about fluoride causing bone cancer and having an adverse effect on human tissue.

Is this a risk we want to take? Surely it is much more important to educate our children about a healthy diet? We feel very strongly that we should say no to fluoride added to our drinking water because we would not wish other children distressed in the way our son has been.

Name and address supplied.

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