Episode 005 | Fluoridation – How beneficial is Fluoride really for You?

Transcript:

Hello again and a warm welcome to episode number five of Elmar´s Tooth Talk. The missing link to total health. I’m Dr Elmar Jung.

Today we are discussing another rather controversial topic. The topic of fluoridation.

So, before we start let me tell you

What’s in it for you in this episode:

• You’ll discover which countries still fluoridate their tap water and which ones have banned it
• Which products contain fluoride
• Why fluoride is good for you
• What are the risks and benefits of fluoride
• How to prevent your teeth from decaying.
• Where you find out more about the history of fluoridation
• What water fluoridation and sun cream have in common
• Why the Swiss city of Basel stopped water fluoridation after 44 years
• How to reduce your fluoride intake

Fluoride

When you hear the word fluoride, you probably think instantly of toothpaste, tooth decay or your dentist’s warning words that if you don’t use fluoride your teeth will decay and rot. He or she will also tell you that Fluoride is necessary to prevent your teeth from decaying, that it helps with remineralisation of the tooth enamel and aiding in the uptake of calcium into your teeth.

And to be honest, they aren’t all wrong.

Fluoride locally applied is indeed to a certain degree effective because it is poisonous to the bacteria that are part of the tooth decaying process. But for that reason, you could just use any other poison or rinse your mouth with antibiotics. However, there are better ways to prevent tooth decay.

How to prevent tooth decay

The best way to prevent tooth decay and there is no doubt about it, is a healthy low sugar, low carb diet.

Already back in the 1920’s Dr Western Price, a famous American dentist, did a lot of research into this topic and published his findings in his groundbreaking book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

Western Price found that tribes who had not been in contact with the western diet consumed high concentrations of fat soluble vitamins A, D and K but once they came into contact with the westernised diet they rapidly develop tooth decay and other degenerative diseases.

Western Price recommended a quarter of a teaspoon of fermented cod liver oil and a quarter teaspoon of butter oil from grass fed cows. He also recommended abstaining from white flour products, milk products and only having raw unpasteurised milk as well as no sugar or other artificial sweeteners.

Healthy foods to help prevent tooth decay include green vegetables e.g. broccoli, kale, cauliflower; raw unpasteurised milk from grass fed cows and bone broth.

Some advocate reducing the intake of beans, nuts and grains because they have a high concentration of phallic acid which are known to strip the body of minerals.

The Mouth is the mirror to your health

If you consider your eyes to be the mirror to your soul, we can ascertain that your mouth is the mirror to your overall health.

The diet is much more important because the diet lays the foundation of your gut health. Only if your gut is healthy you are healthy and consequently your teeth are healthy.

It is not the bacteria that CAUSE tooth decay. They are just the opportunistic critters that benefit from a lousy diet. I believe this to be great news. It’s great news because you don’t just have to wait until tooth decay strikes you at random, NO, you can actively do something about it. You can prevent your teeth from decaying in the first place. You are in charge. You are in the driver seat. It’s your choice, your responsibility.

Okay, so diet is key. But what about these fluorides. Are they really no good? Do they cause more harm than provide benefits as some claim?

Let’s look into this a bit closer.

Risks and Benefits of fluoridation

Where does Fluoride occur naturally. Fluoride occurs naturally minerals, soil, water and air and certain geographic areas have higher levels of natural fluoride than others.

Did you know that fluorides were not at all a discovery of dentists?

The first time we heard of artificial water fluoridation was when fluoride from industrial plants got into streams and lakes and contaminated the tap water.

Such an accident happened for example in 2019 in Sandy, Utah when a power outage occurred causing dangerously high levels of fluoridation chemicals to enter the drinking water supply, which then corroded the pipes allowing high levels of copper and lead to enter the system. Most accidents are down to equipment malfunction

Research on the topic of fluoride and dental decay back in the nineteenth century has already been a cause of much controversy from both advocates and adversaries.

The history of the fluoridation of drinking water from the years 1916 to 2009 has been excellently documented by Peter Meiers and Val Valerians and can be read on their respective websites.

Which country adds fluoride to their drinking water?

Countries which force more than 50% of their population to drink fluoridated water are:  Hong Kong (100%), Singapore (100%), Australia (80%), Brunei (95%), Malaysia (75%), Republic of Ireland (73%), Chile (70%), Israel (70%), New Zealand (60%), and the US (64%).

Actually, there are more people drinking fluoridated water in the United States than the rest of the world combined.

Brazil and Canada have about 40% of their population drink fluoridated water and Spain still 10%.

In the UK only 10% of the UK population mostly in the West Midlands and the North East have their water fluoridated. Wales and Scotland don’t fluoridate their drinking water.

Already back in 1961 the Swedish Court of Justice made drinking water fluoridation illegal.

Where is water fluoridation banned?

Water fluoridation is banned in Austria, Belgium, China – they have naturally high fluoride levels which poses serious problems, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Russia or Switzerland.

What sun cream has to do with tooth decay

My dear colleague Dr Graeme Munro-Hall said it very pointedly, putting fluoride in drinking water to prevent tooth decay makes as much sense as putting sun cream it to prevent sunburn.

Despite the fact that many countries do not fluoridate their drinking water, many suggest it is still important to handle drinking water with care as there are other contaminants contained within it. But that is a topic for another day.

There are other products where fluoride is mixed into which include daily hygiene products such as toothpaste, and the dental offices are full of materials containing fluoride such as filling materials, fluoridating gels, polish paste or mouth washes and there are foods which have added fluoride such as table salt.

The question is if it is poisonous in drinking water why should it be healthy in toothpaste or in table salt?

What is the original reason for fluoridation?

It is supposed to make the enamel more resistant to decay. Nutritionists and many doctors say that a healthy diet as I pointed out in the beginning and good oral health can do much better and are non-poisonous.

How poisonous fluoridated toothpastes are is shown by the death of young children who have swallowed the contents of a tube of toothpaste and died. This means that a tube of toothpaste contains enough poison to kill a 7-year old child and this happens more often than we read in the newspapers.

Even if you are very careful when you brush your teeth you will still swallow some toothpaste. And that is when the problem starts.

These fluorides react with your stomach acid and build a very strong fluoride acid which is so strong it can dissolve even glass and especially in children can lead to quite severe stomach pain.

On top of fluoride there are other ingredients in toothpaste such as sugar or Sodium Laureth Sulphate. Sodium Laureth Sulphate is a foaming agent and is known for its detrimental health effects. Artificial colourings and flavourings add to the toxic concoction.

Toothpaste is in no way essential for clean teeth anyway. A proper technique such as the blotting technique developed by Dr Philips is far more important and effective for clean teeth.

It is often claimed that tooth decay is due to fluoride deficiency. But that is not the case. Fluoridation is not a tooth decay prevention.

What does Fluoride do once it is in your body?

Fluoride, once in your body, enters the bloodstream through the digestive tract and if not released through urine is stored to 99% in the bone.

Exposure to excess fluoride can result in dental fluorosis, a condition in which the tooth enamel becomes irreversibly damaged and the teeth become permanently discoloured. Those teeth are displaying a white or brown mottling pattern, forming brittle teeth that break and stain easily.

We call this Dental fluorosis and it has already been known since the 1940’s. Dental fluorosis is a symptom of fluoride intoxication.

Like mercury from amalgam fillings fluoride can also disturb your thyroid hormones because it acts as a competitor to iodine on the thyroid cells just like chlorine and bromine do.

The National Cancer Institute in the USA says that fluoride is a carcinogenic substance and the New Jersey Health Department found there was a seven-times increase in bone cancer in young males.

Dr Dean Burk, a former Chief Chemist at the National Cancer Institute published a research paper showing that in the US there are ten thousand fluoride related deaths every year.

Fluoride increases the risks of gene defects, remarkably it also increases the risk of hip fractures as well as the risk of fluorosis, which is the discoloration of teeth with white sometimes brownish spots.

Back in 1931 the University of Arizona found that fluorides are highly poisonous and the manual for clinical toxicology for commercial products ranks fluoride more poisonous than lead and only slightly less poisonous than arsenic.

Also, in 1937 the American Dental Association described the use of fluoride in toothpaste as unscientific and irrational and it shouldn’t be allowed. Some decades later they fully promote the use of fluorides and condemn all colleagues who oppose fluoride.

The city of Basel in Switzerland has, after 40 years, aborted the fluoridation because they couldn’t see any proof of benefit and the incidence of decay didn’t decrease in any way. And in Eastern Germany dental health improved after fluoridation of drinking water ceased

Did you know it is stated that during the Second World War in Nazi and Russian concentration camps, fluoridation was supposedly used because they knew that fluoride even in small amounts, was enough to make the prisoners docile? They probably knew about the neurotoxic effects that fluoride has on the brain and on your pituitary gland.

How can you reduce your fluoride exposure?

Here are some ideas how to do this:

You can filter your water, stop swallowing toothpaste, avoid non-stick cooking pans, refuse fluoride treatment at your dentist, eat fresh unprocessed organic food, reduce your black and green tea consumption.

To stick to those guidelines is even more important for parents of babies and small children because they are far more susceptible to the side effects fluoride can cause.

That’s it for today. Thank for listening.

The next episode brings you into contact with the mysterious abyss of root canals. We discuss, what a root canal is, why it is done and what problems can arise from a root canal.

Until next time. This is: Elmar´s Tooth Talk. The missing link to total health. Bye for now.

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