Floride or Not to Floride 6Month Old

We have mixed feelings about flouride. My husband has mottled teeth from "Flouridosis" or too much flouride as a kid. I have chronic dental problems but probably mor eform poor dental hygiene as a child than lack of flouride. Thyroid problems run in my family and flouride can be bad for someone with thyroid issues. We've compromised on the flouride issue. Our drinking water in North Marin does not have flouride. Until our chidlren are 3 or 4 they simply get the flouride treatments at the dentist and we faithfully brush and floss. After that they do take flouride until all their adult teeth are in place. Is this based on medical advise, NO, it is our compromise because we cannot know for sure who is tellign the truth and we don't want to be on the wrong side with our kids. We've never had flouride drops reccommended before teeth emerged. Also the reason they reccommend against flouride toothpaste before age two is that it is very hard on the stomach and most kids swallow their toothpaste before age 2.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi, M. C--

Here is a write-up about fluoride that answers your question:

Fluoride conference reveals fraudulent science behind mass fluoridation; fluoride policy is a public fraud
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

The First Citizens' Conference on Fluoride was recently held in Canton, New York, and it revealed some astonishing new research about the dangers of fluoride and why the current political position on fluoridation of public water supplies is based on fraudulent science.

The fluoridation of public water is something that has been highly debated for decades -- and yet the practice continues today, despite the growing body of evidence showing that fluoridation causes untold human suffering and disease. Some of the research presented at the conference showed, for example, that fluoridation damages the brain, increases levels of lead in children's blood and therefore leads to behavioral disorders and brain damage. It also showed that humans are accumulating fluoride in their bones, that fluoride's toxicity is systemic in the human body, and that the current safe drinking water standards for fluoride were fraudulently authored by officials at the Environmental Protection Agency who were pressured.

These findings were presented by a variety of scientists and researchers, including a senior EPA scientist and a doctor of the Forsyth Dental Center. Not surprisingly, both of these individuals have been fired and have had their careers jeopardized after participating in this conference.

One of the more interesting bits of evidence presented in the study was an internal memo issued by the EPA professional who wrote the current fluoridation safe drinking water standards. In the memo, the official notes how this new standard would produce "teeth gross enough to gag a maggot." The conference also featured author Christopher Bryson, who wrote the book The Fluoride Deception, who said, "Fluoride science is corporate science, fluoride science is DDT science, it's asbestos science, it's tobacco science."

In other words, fluoride science isn't scientific at all -- it's distorted science made up by bureaucrats and political officials who have some other agenda in mind rather than public health. If you're new to this debate on fluoride, you might find some of this information shocking. But I've been covering fluoride for several years, and have fought hard at both the local and national level to educate people about the dangers of fluoridation.

There are so many things wrong with the mass fluoridation of the U.S. population that it's hard to know where to begin talking about it. First off, there's the idea that fluoride is a so-called "naturally occurring substance in water." That's the lie propagated by dentists and the American Dental Association to try to convince people that simply "adjusting the naturally occurring levels" is somehow a good thing to do.

But all of this is based on a distortion. In reality, the fluoride added to the public water supplies in the United States is not organic fluoride at all. It is in fact fluorosilicic acid, which is purchased in bulk from chemical companies, who must be laughing loudly at the idea that they can actually sell this toxic waste product. Why? Because if cities weren't buying it and putting it into the public water supply, these industrial companies would have to spend millions of dollars disposing of fluorosilicic acid because it is an EPA regulated toxic waste.

Let me put this another way -- fluorosilicic acid is a toxic waste byproduct that is produced in the United States by various chemical companies. It represents such a health hazard to human beings that it is regulated by the EPA, and must be disposed of as a toxic waste. And yet, municipalities throughout the United States actually purchase this product and then drip it into the public water supply, and simultaneously call it "fluoride."

Fluorosilicic acid is not fluoride, it is something very different, and it strikes me as downright bizarre that it is perfectly legal to dump this toxic waste product into the rivers and streams of America as long as it passes through the bodies of human beings first. In other words, it's illegal to take a bucket of fluorosilicic acid and dump it into a stream, but it is perfectly legal to dump it into the bodies of human beings, whose waste products will subsequently enter those same streams and rivers.

All of this is done under the guise of distorted scientific evidence that claims the mass consumption of fluorosilicic acid somehow improves the dental health of Americans. And yet there is no credible evidence that this is the case. All of the evidence cited by the EPA, the American Dental Association, and dentists has been fraudulently concocted, and quite frankly is decades old.

Across America today, you see the effects of mass fluoridation all around you -- you see children with darkened teeth from fluoridosis, you see elderly people breaking their bones because fluoridation of the water supplies contributes to brittle bones. You see children with behavioral disorders that are multiplied by the effects of lead in their bloodstream, and lead uptake is enhanced in the presence of fluoride in public water.

You also see a great number of neurological disorders in the U.S. population. You see problems with migraine headaches, clinical depression, dementia, and Alzheimer's, and there is a very strong link between these diseases and the long-term consumption of fluoride in the public water supply.

Beyond all of this, there's the important question of why dentists and public health officials think the public water supply is an acceptable medium through which to mass medicate the U.S. population in the first place. It is a forced medication that has no consideration for the nutritional choices made by individuals who might be drinking that water. Some individuals might be using fluoridated toothpaste, and thus if they're drinking fluoridated water, they could easily be getting too much fluoride and suffer from fluoridosis.

The public water supply is a bad place to be putting drugs and medications in an effort to alter the chemistry of the U.S. population. I've even heard some doctors who are excited about the supposed benefits of statin drugs say that we should drip statin drugs into the public water supply the way we do fluoride. They say the benefit is so widespread that everybody should be taking these drugs. It would be ludicrous to suppose that we should mass-medicate the entire U.S. public with statin drugs by dripping them into the public water supply, and yet this is exactly what takes place every day right now with fluoride, which is also a bioactive chemical compound that could reasonably be classified as a drug. Using the public water supply to mass medicate people is bad policy. It's also bad science, and it takes away the freedom of choice from the U.S. population. It is Big Brother at its worst.

One of the other things I find so interesting about this debate on fluoride is that dentists and doctors will leap to defend this practice at every opportunity -- and why? Is it because there's good scientific evidence that fluoridination is somehow beneficial to the public? No, it's because they've been told to support it by their associations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association.

In community meetings, I've seen local dentists jump up and down and scream about how important fluoridation is for public health. These people use their apparent authority to try to convince everyone that they should be mass medicated with this substance. I find this especially bizarre because many of these dentists and doctors promote this as a nutritional prevention strategy -- they're talking about fluoride as being essential nutrition for the human body, and therefore we should put it into the water supply. And yet, if you mention that the most common nutritional deficiencies are in fact magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, and the B vitamins, they will look at you as if you are speaking some kind of alien tongue. Apparently in their minds, there is only one nutritional deficiency that exists in the world, and that is a fluoride deficiency. All other nutritional deficiencies are called quackery, and the idea of dripping zinc into the public water supply would be called absurd by these doctors and dentists. And yet they are more than happy to drip a toxic waste byproduct into the water supply, as long as it is called a nutritional deficiency that needs to be overcome through the forced mass medication of the entire population.

All of this is so bizarre that a reasonable person can only conclude these doctors and dentists are operating on auto-pilot. They are parroting whatever their organizing associations are telling them to say. They've been sucked into the myth that fluoride is automatically good for everyone and that every person in the country should be dosed with this bioactive chemical compound.

And to top it off, they are extremely arrogant about the whole thing. They act like because they are dentists, they are qualified to talk about this one single nutritional deficiency and its effects on the entire human body. In fact, dentists have no qualifications to talk about the effects of fluoride on the human nervous system, the blood supply, behavioral disorders or other physiological effects. Dentists are really only qualified to talk about what's happening with your teeth -- not drugs or chemicals that you ingest and that have a systemic effect.

At the same time, most western doctors aren't qualified to talk about nutrition, either. They've had almost no nutritional training in their medical schools, and simply remain illiterate about the relationships between nutritional deficiencies and chronic disease. So, you essentially have a whole group of experts that know nothing about the subject they are talking about, but yet who grandstand and claim to be the authorities on it and pound the public into the mistaken belief that people should be dosed with this toxic waste product regardless of the scientific facts.

This is essentially a mass experiment now being conducted on the American population, and I think we are seeing some the effects of this in the worsening health statistics in this country. Fluoride is also thought to suppress intelligence and independent will, which may explain some of the reasons why the U.S. population is so easy to control through propaganda and media manipulation. In fact, there is some interesting research going way back about fluoride being used on wartime prisoners as a truth serum in an effort to get them to go along with the capturing nation's propaganda. So, in an almost comic sense, the mass medication of the U.S. population with fluoride could, in a very real sense, be turning our country into a nation of mindless zombies. Of course, that's an exaggeration of what's probably really happening, but no doubt it has some influence.

Now what does all of this mean for you, as consumer? What should you do to protect yourself from fluoride? First off, you should never use products that contain fluoride. That is, don't use toothpaste or mouthwashes that contain fluoride. Also, don't purchase bottled water that has added fluoride in it. I think that's a ridiculous product to have on the shelves.

Don't drink from the public water supply. Of course, if you're drinking tap water right now, you probably need to step back and question your judgment anyway -- tap water contains so many toxic chemicals (such as chlorine) that it represents a risk to human health even without the fluoride. One of the simplest and most important things you can do to protect your health and the health of your family is to get yourself a faucet-mounted water filter such as a Britta filer or a PUR filter that uses carbon-block filtration to remove fluoride, chlorine, and other water contaminants. Better yet, drink water that is filtered through reverse osmosis or is distilled.

Best of all, if you can afford it, drink spring water as your primary source of water. And don't fall for the propaganda that says we should be mass medicating our entire population with a toxic waste product called "fluoride." It's based on bad science, the egos of misinformed medical authorities, and political power grabs that have nothing whatsoever to do with protecting the public health.

E. C

1 mom found this helpful

Dear M.,
I didn't want to give my daughter flouride. She's had dental problems. She's 23. When my son was born, I let him have it and he's had 3 cavities in his life. He's 14. They were raised with the same diet and hygiene but one had issues and one didn't.
My mother was anti flouride...of course she lost her teeth at 42. My sister and I have tooth issues. I don't know about the whole "rat poison" theory, but people who get flouride treatments seem to have better dental health. That's just my observation.

If it is sodium floride (which it usually is) you are in trouble. It is an aluminum (poison) waste product in which we were conned to think it was not harmful.

Excerpts from the transcript of a speech delivered by George Racey Jordan, Major USAF (ret) at the Hotel Statler in Washington, D.C. on February 17, 1956, as follows:

The original claims for fluoridation came from the discovery that Texas children seemed to have less cavities, which after all, is not a contagious disease. It was assumed to be due to natural high percentage of calcium-fluoride in the soil. This type of fluoride is not retained in the body like the aluminum waste product [sodium flouride].

The big problem has been for the aluminum manufacturers to so present, as to transfer the idea, of supposed benefits, from the natural calcium-fluoride, over to the unnatural sodium-fluoride.

They used the big lie technique, that, A FLUORIDE ION, is a FLUORIDE ION, whether it is in combination with calcium or sodium, it would make no difference to humans. They are completely lost if they cannot hold the line on this one point.

Their case falls like a house of cards if it is ever universally understood that calcium-fluoride which is found in hundreds of ordinary foods, is not retained in the body, to poison one, like the artificial aluminum waste product which is harmful, because like arsenic, it is retained in the body.

. . . . A new toothpaste named CREST is on the market. It cautions:

"Children under 6 should not use CREST, because. . . they might swallow when brushing".

So -- it is dangerous! Well listen to this one. Department of Agriculture Yearbook for 1939:

"It is especially important that fluorine be avoided from birth to the age of 12 years".

. . . .I could stand here all afternoon and quote reputable medical men who are urging extreme caution, but to save time I will quote only a few.

Dr. A. L. Miller, formerly Public Health Commissioner of Nebraska, now in Congress,

"These groups, dental associations, and several other health agencies, now recommending the fluoridation of water were simply endorsing each other's opinions and had never done any original work of their own."

Dr. Miley Wesson, famous urologist and former editor of the magazine, UROLOGY, informs the city manager of San Francisco by letter:

"After studying the evidence against fluoridation, city water is on my blacklist, I am drinking Poland Springs water."

Dr. Leo Spira's book, THE DRAMA OF FLUORINE. Says:

"The close similarity between the action of arsenic and that of fluorine is manifest."

I didn't even get into the fact that the Nazi's poisoned the water the concentration camp prisoners to make them docile. It is bad for the brain. The Russian's used it next to poison the drinking water of the people they were trying to conquer. Amazing information is found on the internet.
STAY HEALTHY.
GOOD LUCK.

Do you use a private well or are you in the city? Most cities put flouride in the water. I gave my son the drops because I'm on a private well and the flouride protects his teeth. The drops don't taste great so I put them in juice and he never knew the difference.

I have two children and chose not to use the floride drops or pills. However, once their teeth came in we used the floride rinse that you can purchase at discount stores. It took some practice with plain water to teach them not to swallow it...just rinse and spit. They do it at bedtime so it stays on their teeth longer. They have not had cavities and have nice strong teeth(except for a development problem with one). Just an idea that has worked for us.

My children are 3 and 2 and have both taken the fluordide drops since they have had teeth. Both of them first saw the dentist at age 1 and she encourages it. Their toothpaste does not have fluoride in it that's why it's best to start them with the drops. Once they can brush their teeth without swallowing then you can stop the fluoride drops.

Do floride. WE DID FLORIDE WITH THE OLDEST DAUGHTER AND NOT THE YOUNGEST. Oldest daughter teeth are much whiter.

Hi M.,

I took my daughter for her first dentist appointment a bit before she turned two. Her dentist did not suggest anything to me about fluoride supplements. She did tell me to keep her on a fluoride-free toothpaste for now. Not sure if this will help.

i strongley advice the floride only if your local drinking water dosnt have it already we moved to an area that didnt have floride and didn't know i have always brushed my childrens teeth twice a day and flossed.. to get to the point my daughter who was two at the time went to the dentist had to go to an oral surgeon to have to crowns placed the dentist informed me that unfoutnaley he sees it more often here or in areas with out floride and is very preventable. i have given floride ever since and no more cavites good luck and i hope you find a soltion that is right for you

I know you will get a lot of responses about having fluoride in your city water. Check with your local water department before you rely on that information. I know up in Sonoma County only one town has it, but most people think every town does.
I do fluoride for my daughter, but no fluoride in her tooth paste.
Best of luck,
C.

we live in san jose, cambrian area, our ped prescribed fluoride for both of my babies. all teeth are healthy and good. i also use toothpaste without fluoride for now.

I have been a dental hygienist for over 20 years, and have seen such a decrease in decay in children due to fluoride. My own 12 year old twins have never had a cavity. By giving children fluoride oraly, it can get into the adult teeth that are forming in the jaw. It works by tightening the bond between the enamel, (outside layer of the tooth) and making the teeth much more resistant to decay. I highly recommend fluoride for kids up until the age of 10. It is much more traumatic for the child and the parent to have "drilling and filling".
L.

Hi M.-
I have been told that fluoride is an off shoot of a basic rat poison. While the bones need strength, ingesting it is probably not a great idea. I cannot confirm the rat poison thing, but there have been alot of liver and organ issues taht stem from kids ingesting fluoride. This is also why they say not to swallow fluoride toothpaste. It's basically a mild poison. As long as your baby is getting it's mouth cleaned out at the end of the day so any juices and foods do not build up bacteria, you should be just fine. And if you don't already, water down any juice the baby gets. It keeps the sugars mild in the baby's mouth and body.
Anyway, I am pretty much anti fluoride except for tooth brushing as long as it does not get swallowed.
Hope this helps!
-E. M

I was a slacker with floride for our son and my husband is quite annoyed. Our son (now 7) has LOTS of teeth problems (cavities, including some that had to be pulled early because they were so badly decayed and now it is messing up the spacing of his adult teeth coming in because his baby molars are no longer there, etc.)

My husband is from a large family and he says for most of them they had floridated water or drops and their teeth were fine but the few that didn't, have had a lot of cavities and fillings, more than all the others. He is a big believer in it, and my recommendation is to give floride.

We buy floridated water ("nursery water" from the baby section at the store for him, and fill up our jugs with plain ol water from the 25 cents RO machines (we dislike the taste of water here in AZ) It is kind of a pain to keep two jugs, one for him and one for us since they both have to have it COLD. So I have small (8oz juice bottles) that I refill with floridated water and freeze the bottom 2 or so inches of it, then top off to send to school, or bed with him, or wherever he wants water.

Just do it, dont listen to all the conspiracy theorists. Do it in moderation of course.

For everything in this world you will find pros and cons and some really scarey stuff will be told to you to make you feel like you are terrible if you do the wrong thing. I just wanted to let you know that I have 5 kids (12,9,4 year old twins and a 6 month old) and have and will give them all fluoride drops. They all have impecable oral hygiene and have never had a single cavity. Each time they get their teeth cleaned the hygenists are always so impressed by their teeth. Also, I grew up in the bay area drinking the water once it was fluodidated and I have great teeth as well. My first cavity was at the age of 30, and that was due to my twin pregnancy. Myself and my children do not have any problems that they say will happen. Whatever your decision is about anything mothering, don't let others make you feel terrible about the decision you make. Just one more thing, I know so many kids whos parents decided to not do the fluoride thing and their teeth are terrible. Do what you feel is right for you and your kids.

Good Morning,
I have 4 children 23, 22,21 and 16. I used Alhambra
flouridated water for my children (even in formula) from when they were first born for my first 3 children. We
then purchased a water purifier and got rid of alhambra. My 3 older children have had only a few cavities while my
youngest who received no floride has tons. My youngest brushed her teeth all the time and she has horrible teeth.
I can't prove that the floridated alhambra made that big of a difference but I truly believe it did.
Just my 2 cents.
Have a wonderful day,
K.

I am having the same disagreement. My husband swears by fluoride, I question it. So, I tell him that HE has to give it to our now 15-month-old if HE wants her to take it. Guess what? The box is still sealed.
Not that this was very helpful.
Nor was that write-up about how the media is using fluoride to stupify us.
I was glad to see someone post about the negatives, but I wish they had used a more intelligent report, that one just makes those of us against fluoride look like paranoid lunatics.
After reading these responses, I think I might slip a small dose into her sippy cups and see how much she actually gets, maybe less than recommended, yet better than nothing?

~S.

I would say no. Especially if they don't have teeth yet.

My 17 month old has been on drops since about 6 months and will continue for a few years. I would check about your water ... we have well water which is not supplemented so we supplement. Our Dr. said this was good to do.

Hi M.,
I would encourage you to start doing some internet reading about the safety of the synthetic fluoride that is used. Yes, fluoride is natural and found in our teeth but it isn't the same as the fluoride that is given to our kiddies or in our water. That fluoride is a production by-product. There is a huge deception going on here and once again the american people are the "test rats". I don't give it to my son and I have a whole house water filter and a RO system for drinking water to remove all the fluoride and other toxins. Healthy teeth are all about diet. Fluoride is not the answer.

1)A profesional opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhYSKAgOih4

2)Would you let your child brush his teeth with Prozac?!!! http://poisonfluoride.com/pfpc/html/prozac.html

3)The Dangers Of Fluoride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlLGQ2QYrRw

4)Poisoned Babies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DTQlflYHnY

P.S. My children don't take floride in any form and have NO CAVITIES, NO PLAQUE at all!!!

Check with your water company but I believe that all bay area water is floridated so if he drinks tap water regularly then he's fine. Also britta filters do not remove floride, so if you use them you're still ok.

When in doubt talk to your ped at your next visit.

Hi M.,

If you live in San Mateo County, they put floride in the water...so I just let my 8 month old girl practice drinking from a cup. She get's cup/drinking practice and she get's floride. My pedetrician gave me a prescription for the supplement before she remembered what count I lived in and said drinking a little water daily was enough.

S.

We started with floride drops, but I kept forgetting to give them so I switched to Nursery Water bought in gallon jugs at the store. I figure, even if I go through only a gallon a month my son is still getting some floride.

I give my daughter floride drops when she has been or will be home all day. We live in Suisun, which as I understand it is one of the few cities in California that does not have floridated water. When we are spending the day at grandma's and I know she will be drinking tap water there, then i skip it. If my pedi hadn't prescribed them the pedi dentist would have when I took my daughter in for her first appointment at a little over 1 (the dentists reccomend before 1 by the way, but I didn't get her in that soon, some will even do the first visit for free if it's done before 1!)

Regardless of what folks here say, I hope you give the final vote to your child's pediatrician. Good luck deciding.

My friend's kids have children's toothpaste minus the fluoride. I think if a toothpaste doesn't include it then your baby shouldn't have it. You have a lot of great advice but the best advice is to seek your doctor's recommendation.