In SW Missouri the rural school I went to had all the kids do "flouride" rinses once a week. My not-so-crackpot-ty mother opted me out because she thought it unecessary since I was getting flouride from toothpaste. I was the only kid who was opted out. Then they lost the note that said I didn't have to take the flouride and started making me take it. Bleh.

It's not been until they added sugar to toothpaste (what's up with that?) and flouride to water that we see increases in cavities.

There's a big difference between naturally occuring flouride and the flouride used to treat water which is the waste by-products of industry.

The chemicals used for [drinking water] fluoridation are not high purity, pharmaceutical quality products. Rather they are byproducts of aluminum and fertilizer manufacturing and contain a high concentration of toxins and heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and chromium.
...
The lethal dose of artificial flouride is 50 times smaller than naturally occuring fluoride.
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The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology has classified fluoride as an unapproved dental medicament due to its high toxicity.

Four major studies involving 480,000 children (US, 39,000; Japan, 22,000; India, 400,000; Tucson, 29,000) comparing fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas showed no significant difference in decay rates. Proven is that a higher intake of fluoride will actually cause MORE cavities, especially for children with low dietary calcium intake.

from Dangers of Flouride

Anhata
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