Rethink What We Drink

Vote NO on Fluoridation November 8!

OUR POSITION

It is well known that diet, nutrition and dental hygiene are essential to maintaining oral health.
Although fluoride has been shown to be effective in improving dental health, it is most effective when applied directly to the teeth, not ingested.

We believe community wellness is best achieved by promoting education and resources to those most in need, rather than supplementing our drinking water with sodium fluoride.

Our community deserves a public water supply that is as free of chemical additives as possible.

THE FACTS

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies fluoride as a drug when used to prevent or mitigate disease. Fluoride is the only chemical added to the public water supply as a medical treatment for the sole purpose of preventing tooth decay. All other water treatment chemicals are added because they are necessary to improve water quality or safety.

Informed consent, whereby an individual is told of the risks and benefits of any prescribed drug, is standard practice for all medication. With water fluoridation, anyone who consumes water is taking a drug, whether they want to or not. This loss of individual freedom to choose is one of the reasons much of Europe has ruled against water fluoridation.

Fluoride is not just in your tap water. It’s commonly found in beverages such as juice, soda, energy drinks, bottled water, coffee and alcohol when made with fluoridated water. A water treatment plant regulates the amount of fluoride added to the drinking water, but how much of this chemical an individual ingests is based on their consumption. Because of this, individuals who consume a lot of water relative to their body size, such as bottle-fed infants or those who have a higher activity level, such as athletes and laborers, may take in an unhealthy amount of fluoride.

Dental health has come a long way since the 1940s when water fluoridation first began. We now know that fluoride is most effective when it is applied, not ingested. Studies have shown that the most effective use of fluoride is topical – in toothpaste, for example.

  • Graph: Average Dental Decay in 12-Year-Olds by Country

    Data collected by the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown a drastic decline in tooth decay in all western countries, whether the country fluoridates its water or not. This suggests improvements in dental hygiene and diet, rather than fluoridated water, are the underlying reasons for observed dental health improvements.

  • The CDC states “fluoride prevents dental caries predominately after eruption of the tooth into the mouth and its actions primarily are topical for both adults and children.”
  • The National Research Council has concurred, stating “the major anticaries benefit of fluoride is topical and not systemic.”

The American Dental Association, who advocates and profits from the use of fluoride, states “Fluoride is a mineral that is found in all natural water sources and is the ionic form of the trace element fluorine, which is commonly found in the environment; fluorine reaches water sources by leaching from the soil and rocks into the ground water.”

This is NOT what is added to our local drinking water. Sodium fluoride is an industrial grade chemical and a waste by-product from the phosphate fertilizer industry. Boothbay Region Water District sources its sodium fluoride from China and Japan. Read the most recent letter to the editor from the BRWD.

Consumption of too much fluoride can have the following negative health effects: tooth discoloration, skeletal weakening, neurological effects, high blood pressure and vitamin deficiency.

Prevention – Nutrition & Oral Hygiene

Any sincere effort to promote dental health should first focus on diet, nutrition and adequate preventive care. Dissemination of a medicine (fluoride) in drinking water to treat a specific group of people puts the vulnerable at risk. Efforts to specifically address the problem (poor nutrition, poor access to dental care) are more likely to be effective without unnecessarily medicating the entire population.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

A collection of useful local organizations that help support nutritional and dental wellness.

ABOUT US

We are a small group of local residents who came together over a shared concern about the drawbacks of sodium fluoride in our public water supply.
We are self-funded and focused on our community’s distinct needs for good oral health and overall wellness.

We do not receive monetary support from any outside or national organizations, nor do we take direction from such.

We live here, vote here, and we care about good health for everyone on our peninsula!