Research finds fluoride in water of children prevents tooth loss inadulthood

 Carol Forsloff - In the 1950's the process of
fluoridation was so suspect it was called a Communist plot, but
scientists now tell us that putting fluoride in the water reduces tooth
loss in later adulthood.



Scientists have had years to make a
determination on fluoridation.  And what they have found is that
fluoride in the water makes a decided difference in keeping one's teeth.


 A new study finds that children who drink water where fluoride has been added to it have better dental health later.

The study is being printed in an article that will appear in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health.



Key researcher,  Matthew Neidell,
finds that the relationship between fluoride in a person's country when
they are born and their tooth loss as adults is significant.

“Your
fluoridation exposure at birth is affecting your tooth loss in your 40s
and 50s, regardless of what your fluoridation exposure was like when
you were 20 and 30 years old,” said Neidell, a health policy professor
at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Data from the 1950's and 1960's was used to establish these conclusions then looked at more than 40 years later.

Neidel
also said,“We know that the benefits of fluoridation are greatest from
birth,” said Howard Pollick, a professor of clinical dentistry at the
University of California, San Francisco. “This recent study adds
credence to that.”

For
children whose adult teeth have not shown yet, fluoride still improves
tooth enamel, the highly mineralized tissue on teeth’s surface. Fluoride
also helps teeth damaged from the decay process and breaks down
bacteria on teeth."

The American Dental Association has supported fluoridation of community water since 1950.