In response to the article “Park City doesn’t have fluoride in the water to ban”:
This ban is state government overreach and sets a dangerous precedent for other states to prohibit fluoridation and possibly other important public health measures. The state should have left it to the vote of each municipality/water district instead of an outright ban.
“All things are poison, nothing is without poison, only the dose permits the poison.” We need to learn from Paracelsus, to whom this quote is credited, and insist on relying on facts rather than authority alone.
Fluoride is an essential nutrient. Essential nutrients have been identified through decades of scientific research, and by definition are substances that all human bodies need to be provided in our diets — that have at least one biological function, in the absence of the nutrient we see decline(s) in function(s), and if the nutrient is added back to our diets the function can be restored.
There are a few exceptions to this last criterion — such as bones and teeth. While fluoride’s primary functional role is to strengthen teeth, it also is essential for bone health. If there is not adequate fluoride present in small amounts during critical periods of growth and development, bones and teeth are not able to rebound.
Assessing fluoride status individually would be incredibly difficult — if not impossible — as compared to measuring levels of other micronutrients, such as vitamin D, and treat accordingly. And that is if one has the resources and access.
We are fortunate to live in a country with effectively limitless access to potable drinking water — a public health measure in and of itself that has existed for decades to help prevent the spread of disease.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral micronutrient that in some parts of the country, and the world, can be present naturally in high enough levels to have negative effects. It was discovered after dentists observed people who lived in areas with naturally higher levels of fluoride had fewer cavities.
However, the dose permits the poison, and the amount of fluoride added to water to prevent cavities is a level that is tested and proven safe by public health scientists.
Many of us in the Park City area are privileged to have access to fluoride alternatives individually, but an outright ban disproportionately affects children and those of lower socioeconomic status statewide.
Fluoridation is necessary in the United States because unlike most European countries, the U.S. does not have school-based dental care and many children do not visit a dentist regularly — so for many U.S. children water fluoridation is the primary source of exposure to fluoride. In Europe there are different public health safeguards in place to provide fluoride, such as fortification of salt or milk.
We all end up paying for the consequences of those who do not have adequate means or access to basic health care.
Julia Wylie, MS, RDN, CSSD
Park City