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A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says bottled water has become so prevalent in children’s diets it often entirely replaces fluoridated tap water, leaving kids more vulnerable to cavities, according to The Houston Chronicle in Houston, Texas.
For the full story click here.
Editor’s Insight: This is not the first concern about bottled water’s impact on dental health. Various dentists and dental organizations have raised this concern in recent years.
The popularity of single-serve bottled water has brought with it several concerns about health and the environment.
Vending and coffee service operators need to be informed about health issues. They should be prepared to answer customers’ questions, and they also need to realize that not all consumers will make their concerns known.
VendingMarketWatch has encouraged vending and coffee service operators to make point of use water systems available to customers as an alternative to single-serve bottled water. 07-23-08 by Elliot Maras
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The truth is the fluoride is neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth. No child is, or ever was, fluoride deficient. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control tell us that up to 48% of school children are fluoride-overdosed and sport dental fluorosis - white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted enamel - which can actually cause teeth to crumble and decay.
Dentists have been to cavalier in prescribing fluoride whether in the drinking water or in their offices. But theyve set up a lucrative new market for themselves - covering up those fluorosed teeth which can cost from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars to cover up with microabrasion, bonding, veneers, or caps - that is for those who can afford this out-of-pocket expense.
Even when fluoridated water is the most consumed item, cavities are extensive when diets are poor, according to Caries
Research.(2006:40:473-480)
Burt and colleagues studied low-income African-American adults, 14-years-old and over, living in Detroit, Michigan, where water suppliers add fluoride chemicals attempting to prevent cavities. Yet, 83% of this population has severe tooth decay and diets high in sugars and fats and low in fruits and vegetables.
Dental examinations of 4800 South Australian ten- to fifteen-year-olds permanent teeth reveal unexpected results -
similar cavity rates whether they drink fluoridated water or not, reports Armfield and Spencer in the August 2004 "Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology"
The Iowa Fluoride Studys lead reseasrcher, Stephen Levy and colleagues report, "There is no specific nutritional requirement for fluoride...given the increased prevalence of fluorosis, it may be necessary to revise downwards the adequate intake levels of fluoride."
Levy also found:
- 77% of soft drinks had fluoride levels greater than 0.60 ppm
- two ounces of baby chicken food provides babys maximum dose
- foods high in fluoride - teas, dry infant cereals, dried
chicken, and seafood
- grape juice, especially white, contains very high fluoride
levels
- 42% of juice and juice drinks tested revealed unlabeled fluoride
levels greater than 0.60 ppm
- cereals processed in fluoridated areas contain from 3.8 to 6.3
ppm fluoride
The USDA provides a database of fluoride contents of food
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/Fluoride.html
Reports that bottled-water drinkers risk more cavities are
unsubstantiated. The Wall Street Journal reported, "Little research
has been done on the use of bottled water and risk of tooth decay,
dental experts concede." UPI wrote: "(P)ublished literature shows
little cause for alarm."
Adequate daily intake of fluoride from all sources, according to the
Institute of Medicine, in order to avoid moderate fluorosis9, which the
ADA describes as "All tooth surfaces affected; marked wear on biting
surfaces; brown stain may be present10:"
?? infants up to 6 months old - less than 0.01 mg
?? babies from 6 - 12 months - less than 0.5 mg
?? children from 1 to 3 years old - less than 0.7 mg
?? children from 4 to 8 years old - less than 1 mg
Fluoridation is a political boondoggle foisted on us by organized dentistry. Articles claiming that bottled water causes cavities have no scientific merit and those people writing about it or being quoted in articles must provide the data to support those claims.
Dentists are not at all knowledgeable about fluoride science. Just wind them up and they say "fluoride."