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.

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  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.