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Should Dentists Continue To Use Fluoride?

Should Dentists Continue To Use Fluoride?
by Heather Linderfelt

The news can be alarming. Fluoride causes cancer. Fluoride is a neurotoxin. Fluoride will reduce IQs in children. Fluoride kills!

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral. It is in our soils, water, and food in various amounts, depending on where you live, but our bodies don’t need it to survive.

In the 1930s, dental research showed that children who lived in areas with high concentrations of naturally occurring fluoride in the water had less tooth decay. This research led to the addition of fluoride to the municipal water supply in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945. Other municipalities followed, and the Community Water Fluoridation program began.

Suddenly tooth decay went down. Tooth extraction declined. People were saving money and keeping their teeth. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1999 touted the fluoridation program as one of the top 10 greatest achievements in the 20th century.

Then, links to cancer and fluoride began to emerge, specifically to a rare type of cancer, osteosarcoma.

Scientists and health boards reviewed and researched this claim made in 1975 by Dr. John A. Yiamouyiannis and Dr. Dean Burk that the artificial fluoride added to drinking water increased the rate of cancer. While some tests showed a possible association, each subsequent review and research found errors in the original claim and no definite link could be made between the use of fluoride in the drinking water and cancer.

Other research followed:

In 1983, a review of the original source of allegations of fluoride causing cancer was published in of Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO). The review stated several flaws and concluded that the link was inconclusive.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published a report, in 1987, finding that no evidence conclusively proved a link to fluoride and an increase in cancer.

In 1991, the U.S. Public Health Service issued a report stating after reviewing all studies done to date none, “demonstrates no credible association between water fluoridation and the risk of cancer.”

In 1993, The National Research Council (NRC) concluded: "the weight of the evidence from the epidemiological [population-based] studies completed to date does not support the hypothesis of an association between fluoride exposure and increased cancer risk in humans." The council suggested more through research.

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