That is certainly one way to look at it. :-) Fluoride is toxic So we'll die with fewer cavities.... Best--Michael

Bob Lowe wrote: >That is certainly one way to look at it. :-) > > >Fluoride is toxic > > >So we'll die with fewer cavities.... > >Best--Michael > Eric, Bob, et al, In response to Eric from Abyssinia in an earlier post, the answer is "it depends". Fluoride supplementation in adults is not usually critical unless you have a problem with root decay. If your hygienist was concerned, it may be because you have a tendency to get decay or sensitivity on exposed root surfaces. This could account for each of you getting different advice. As for the subject of fluoride in general, probably the best way to understand the problem with the "fluoride is toxic" argument is to draw a parallel with another better known halogen, chlorine. Not good stuff, right? They gassed old uncle Joe with it in WW1 and it's found in polychlorinatedbiphenyls and in a host of other nasty bits of chemistry. Yet you can go down to the health food store and what's that sitting on the shelf? Organic sea salt - made up of about half chloride ions. Two things are important to remember here. First, as in the above example, a given atom can be found in either very toxic or very benign compounds. Context and concentration determine whether fluoride or anything else is good or bad. Fluoride, like chloride, carbon, sodium, etc. etc. all the way down the periodic table, is found in both dangerous and beneficial forms. Second, as Paracelcus said a few centuries ago, "the dose makes the poison" (a paraphrase). Fluoride, in varying concentrations, is a natural component of ground water. It is normal and inevitable to have fluoride incorporated into the crystal structure of teeth. There is a percentage of fluoride in tooth enamel that results in optimal resistance to decay. There is a MASSIVE technical literature on this subject and the level of fluoride that is both safe and effective in the promotion of health is well understood. I have to suspect that Bob (my wooden GB guru, and a God I do not wish to piss off) has read some very bad quality information on this subject. In my experience, (in addition to being a dentist, my academic hobby is studying health fraud, quackery and pseudoscience in general) antifluoride websites and literature are, for the most part, pure and unadulterated bull shit. If evidence exists that fluoride as used in water supplementation and topically in rinses is unhealthy, that information has yet to be published and replicated in any peer reviewed forum. Regards, and sorry for the diversion, Ken Phelps, DDS PS. But hey, how about amalgam fillings, and magnets, and astrology, and psychics, and creationists, and.... Oh God, don't get me started....... --------------------- Count not the authorities, but weigh their truth. - St. Thomas Aquinas