Tap Water Vs. Bottled Fluoridated Water

Hello! You should read a book called, "The Slow Poisoning of America". It is full of information that will help you make an educated choice. Fluoride is a toxin, and isnt necessary for dental health. The majority of responses you have gotten are right on the money-I cant believe any Pediatrician would ever recommend tap water for ANYONE.

Contact SD's water district and find out how much fluoride is in your city water. Here is a statement directly contradicting the poster who said there is no proof that countries with fluoride in the water have fewer cavities:

Fluoride consumed in water appears to have a systemic effect in children before teeth erupt, as well as a topical (surface) effect in adults and children after teeth have erupted. Between 1950 and 1980 clinical studies in 20 different countries demonstrated that the addition of fluoride to community water supplies (0.7-1.2 ppm) reduced caries by 40%-50% in primary (baby) teeth and 50%-60% in permanent teeth. (DePaola DP. Nutrition in relation to dental medicine. In: Shils M, Olson JA, Shike M, Ross AC, eds. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1999:1099-1124.)

Your son's dentist is probably concerned about your son getting too much fluoride if he were to get it both from the water and from a supplement. Too much fluoride can result in fluorosis, the white mottling of the permanent teeth. As stated above, this damage occurs before they appear in the mouth. Perhaps your pediatrician and your pediatric dentist should have a conversation. The supplement is intended for areas with no or little fluoride in the water. The water district should be able to give you a report on exactly how much fluoride is in SD's water. The idea is not to get too little and not to get too much.

By the way, "reverse osmosis systems, distillation units, and some water filters have been found to remove significant amounts of fluoride from water. However, Brita-type filters do not remove fluoride." (American Dietetic Association. Position of the American Dietetic Association: the impact of fluoride on health. J Am Diet Assoc. 2001;101(1):126-132.)

Hi A.,
I have read in several places that flouride is actually no good for kids or adults. I have pasted a link for you here. http://www.apfn.org/apfn/flouride.htm
All you have to do is go to Google and look up flouride, and you will be amazed! I just give my daughter plain bottled water. And toothpaste for kids with NO flouride.

I have been using the Nursery water that has fluoride in it since my baby was 2 weeks old. I live in golden valley and we have well water, it seems that every time I try to give her tap water she gets sick no matter where we are. The bottle water is smoother and easier on their stomache

My pediatrician and dentist say that toothpaste and rinses are the best way to apply fluoride to children's teeth. In the water or via oral supplement, it is delivered systemically which is kind of overkill since you really only need it on the teeth. And some dentists say that children only need it in toothpaste/rinses from years 5-12 (during growth and development of adult teeth.)

I remember when I was a kid my dentist always commented on how many kids he saw that couldn't afford toothpaste and as long as they brushed well enough, ended up cavity free.

Try to learn as much as you can either way you decide. Good luck!

I agree with a few of the responses that you have already gotten. Floride is a toxin and my four children only get the very little bit that I can not control outside of my home. We do not even use flouridated toothpaste in our home as I have Thyroid disease and in my research found that flouride can be a huge culprit in thyroid disease. I personally would never give my children tap water, alone form the flouride issue there is also mass amounts of chlorine and other toxins in city water, it is not safe! Our family uses Lifesource, it is a whole home purification system, I am sure you can see it at www.lifesource.com I would really look in to this, it can cause several health issues if you continue to use water that is not pure. Go to www.mercola.com and check out info on bottled water too.

Good luck!

Good Morning A.,

You may want to see a naturopathic doctor or nutritionist and have a discussion with them about Fluoride.

Be Well.

N.

My pediatrician brought to my attention that studies with fluoride and its affect on our children are actually inconclusive and controversial. She encouraged me to do research on the subject and I was pretty shocked at what I found. There is a book called Healing with Whole Foods and in it is a section that talks all about tap water and fluoride. I would recommend reading it. The book is at most health food stores and you could just thumb through the book if you didn't want to purchase it. Anyway, I would encourage you to do your own research before you continue with the supplements or tap water. You could visit the websites of holistic dentists to explore some other perspectives. Hope this helps.

#1 I ask your water department for info abt how much fluride is in you water. #2 I say your dentist is probably right & I wouldn't give him the floride tables unless you tap water is low in floride or until he is older. #3 I'd buy 1 of those water filters & put it on you faucet. You hear more & more all the time abt bottle water which claims to be filtered & spring water being nothing but tap water.
Besides once you buy the filter system the filter are much cheaper to replace than what you spend on bottle water. We leave our filters on until you can notice the water is coming threw the filter alot slower or you can notice the taste.

fluoride is a poison. think twice (or more) before getting extra doses of it. don't want to promote one website over another, but you'll be able to get enough by googling "fluoride for babies".
Good Luck
V

Okay, here's my two cents...Flouride is actually a poison. It IS good for teeth but not so much for the rest of the body. And your kids are sooo little!

Most toothpastes have flouride in them. (Don't put a lot on the brush and don't let them swallow a lot.) My kid is 19 now and doesn't have one cavity. He sometimes used flouride toothpaste and sometimes not. No pills. No tap water. No flouridated water. (There are tons of other bad things in tap water beside flouride! You can test it to see all the awful junk....)

Good nutrition and good tooth brushing goes a loooooong way!

I know it is confusing but my rule is always listen to everyone's advise--smile and nod--and then do what your heart tells you. Worked (still is working) for me!!

Blessings,
Deb

Personally, I bought a filter to remove the fluoride - it's toxic. Please do a little research on fluoride before giving to your kids in any form.

A.,
As a Mom of 3 kids who are all grown-up now. And they all did very well on Sparklets bottled water. I had a delivery service and myself and the kids all drank and used it from the time they were infants. I myself was raised on it and didn't have a cavity until I was in my 30's. It averages out to the same as the bottled water you buy in the store. YOu can get the fluoridated version which would benefit the whole family. I see you have a system in place and if they have a fluoride version I would go with that. It is worth it in the long run.

There have been recent studies on this. Don't give fluoridated tablets or fluoridated water. The fluoride in the tap water is fine. Too much fluoride can actually damage the teeth.

I've read recently that flouride treatment is way more effective when it is applied topically and does not help much if taken internally, as was belived once.(hence the local water supply being treated with it) My ped. also prescribed vitamins with flouride for my son but I was skeptical since I saw that a lot of natural baby toothpastes don't contain flouride so they don't ingest it. I didn't give him the flouride supplement just in case. You've got to do your own research. I wish it was as easy as just listening to the doc. Follow your heart and listen your motherly intuition.

Oi! Avoid fluoride like the plague!!!! (Except in toothpaste)

My aunt is on the water board up in Washington and she fights tooth and nail to keep fluoride in the water...for ONE reason...even though it's a stronger carcinogen then cigarettes, it helps the teeth of "underserved populations". The water board's reasoning is that more "affluent populations" can afford bottled water with no fluoride.

Pfui.

It's also poisonous on the short term. You can commit suicide by swallowing one tube of Rx grade toothpaste.

It is FANTASTIC for your teeth...and should NEVER EVER EVER be taken internally. Your dentist was floored because EVERY dentist/orthodontist/hygienist KNOWS how poisonous the stuff is, and has had to at least read about the longterm studies done on rats/primates.

It's in such small doses in the water (usually, sometimes the workers forget and leave the lever in the "on" position the whole shift...at least up in Seattle, so I'm assuming there'd be human error here, too), that it's only about as bad for you as smoking...which takes decades to catch up with most people...so in school we're taught not to "freak people out"...but daaaang. Why not? It's not like I wouldn't scare someone who was letting their 7 year old smoke.

Anyhow. This has been a public service announcement by another unfortunate who has had to read one too many peer review journals. Avoid it...apply topically to your teeth, rinse & spit & rinse again. Try not to eat for awhile afterward.

I think there is an obsession against tap water that is rather ridiculous. As far as fluoride is concerned, my sister and I grew up in Oregon where there was no natural fluoride, before the days when it was possible to get it elsewhere, and we and everyone we know have always had terrible dental problems. My children always got extra fluoride, and I was grateful that it was available. They are in their forties and fifties now, and certainly have not been poisoned by it, and definitely have better teeth than we have.

I grew up in San Diego and my parents gave us flouridated water. I don't think there was flouride in the SD water system at that time. 2 of my kids were born in SD and their ped never gave us flouride prescriptions, the tap water flouride was enough. The water is hard though and we usually had one of those on faucet filters so the kids would drink the water. Now that we're in NV their ped's wish there was fluoride in the water and they're on prescription. I'd listen to the dentist. They know about how much fluoride a child needs, don't over do the fluoride. You can multi-vit's over the counter with fluoride too, so I wonder why your ped gave a perscription... Do what you feel is right. If it was too dengerous for your child it would be outlawed. I never had one cavity until I was on my own so I am all for fluoride. Don't let your child eat a tube of toothpaste and you should be fine :)

You can get the vitamin supplement without fluoride.
A child only needs fluoride from 1 source, or it will be too much duplicating/over supplementing. And too much fluoride is not good.

You get bottled water.... thus purified, right? Good.
Yes, some tap water in some areas are bad. I would not want to drink that stuff myself.

In each case, tap or bottled water... I would ask how much fluoride is in it. But just omit the tap water route....yuck!

In my state, the water is not fluoridated...thus I give my kids supplemental prescription fluoride drops. That is what I had as a child, and all my life I've only had 1 cavity gotten in adult-hood.

Ask your Pediatrician, and TELL him/her what your child's Dentist said.

I would give him bottled water, and a vitamin supplement, sans the fluoride, if you are getting the bottled water WITH fluoride. And then too, toddler toothpastes have fluoride in it too (it's a topical versus an ingested fluoride).... and some kids drink a lot of water... so just HOW does one determine how much fluoride a child is getting?
Going more conservatively is probably better... better than over-doing the fluoride. But NO tap water.... in your area, it sounds pretty bad and yucky.

Good luck, so confusing, eh?
Susan

I wouldn't trust the water salesman. I have not heard anything about the SD water being awful. Get a Brita filter and let everyone drink tap. I think I checked and they don't filter out fluoride. You can get too much fluoride by the way and it can discolor teeth, though I think it has to be a lot to much for that to happen. We did the vitamins until I learned or water has fluoride. Kids are 7 and no cavities. Stop worrying about this! There are a lot worse things out there than cavities. Like I said though, I wouldn't keep paying for water--it's a bit of a scam.

There should be as loud a hue and cry over aspartame.

Here is what I know:

Tap water, in most cities, has more than flouride in it. In my city it has over 740 chemicals to make it "drinkable". Read this to see whatelse has been found. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3545684.stm Flouride is the LEAST OF OUR WORRIES IN TAP WATER! My family has an Reverse Osmosis system in our house for our drinking and cooking water. And as soon as I can get one, our entire water tank will be converted as well.

I know that when I did my due dilegence on flouride, I chose to remove it from my house, my daughters (12 and 9) love the Toms brand and I enjoy the Jasons brand found at Whole Foods.

I know that peds and dentists and family docs etc will all tell you differnt things. As parents, our kids health (and our own health) is in our control, we have to do our due diligence. I am sure you realized this when two of your trusted health care professionals disagreed. It will not be the last time that happens either.

I know that in the last 4 years I have done A LOT of studies on vitamins, minerals and supplements for my family. I know that in 1953 UCLA did a study on spinach. 1 bowl would give women them the RDA of iron. in 1997, the same study says that women need 43 bowls. So that tells me that our food supply is not sufficient any more, I need to supplement. My kids get a nutrition shake every day, and a childrens multivitiamin 2 X a day. NO, I DO NOT BUY THE STORE BRANDS, i did my due diligence on them as well.

I know that for the last 4 years, the 100's of families that I have been working with are healthier and are enjoying a much better quality of life because of the right nutrition and information.

I know that with the right information we can thrive.

B.
Family Wellness Coach

my son has been on the multi-vitamin w/ fluoride since he was 6 months and we have always just used filtered water. my son is 5 with strong teeth and he hardly ever gets sick with the multi-vitamin.

As far as i know american dental association has changed its guideliness as to supplementing with floride: don't give any floride becuase too much of it actually CAUSES decay. . Wee don't take my word for it because i am as much confused as well. My sons' dentist recommended him to take floride supllments-which he has been on since birth and we are brusinh his teeth-despite he had 8 cavities. My younder on the other hand has never been on floride yet AND SO FAR HE HAS NO CAVITIES.

Hi A.-

The San Diego tap water is terrible, and I would never give it to my children. Someone mentioned the Brita, and I have friend's who have used that. I know that there is a lot of controversy on flouride but I do give my kid's bottled fluoradated water. Both my kid's Peds Dr. & Peds. Dentist recommended it as well.

Do your research and follow your gut. Good luck!

HI! I will try to give you a little info. I used to have a distiller and how it works is that it evaporates the water and the clean water flows out into a container. When the water evaporates, it leaves behind all the bad stuff in the water. For each gallon of city water that I distilled there was about 2 tablespoons of stuff left in the bottom. It was very foul smelling and gross and you would never drink it. The problem is that it goes undetected in the full gallon, because it is diluted. Also, flouride is proven to be a poison. You can do the research. God bless you for trying to do the best for your child.

Do your research about fluoride. And more was just added to our water supply recently, so be careful at just how many sources he's getting!

Fluoride-containing compounds are used in topical and systemic fluoride therapy for preventing tooth decay. They are used for water fluoridation and in many products associated with oral hygiene.[13] Originally, sodium fluoride was used to fluoridate water, however, hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6) and its salt sodium hexafluorosilicate (Na2SiF6) are more commonly used additives, especially in the United States. The fluoridation of water prevents tooth decay[14][15] and is considered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as "one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century".[16] In some countries where large, centralized water systems are uncommon, fluoride is delivered to the populace by fluoridating table salt. Fluoridation of water is not without critics, however (see water fluoridation opposition).[17]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_opposition

Soluble fluoride salts, of which NaF is the most common, are mildly toxic but have resulted in both accidental and suicidal deaths from acute poisoning.[6] While the minimum fatal dose in humans is not known,

A.,

I too use to think flouride was safe and good for kids. Here are a few links you can look into. Hope this helps.

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/flouride.htm

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/0...

http://www.all-natural.com/fleffect.html

Please read up on fluoride and the dangers it pose to children. Here's a quote from the folllowing website. "The US Public Health Service has stated that fluoride makes the bones more brittle and the dental enamel more porous."

We don't use fluoridated toothpaste in our house and I recently bought a Berkey water filter to filter out the fluoride. THere has been a lot of controversy about fluoride in our water supplies. Several communities have been fighting it, some with success. As people become more aware I hope to see this fight grow. Just google "fluoride dangers children."

http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/fluoride.htm

Flouride is poisonous (which is why theconcentration is so small in toothpaste). There is no proof that countries with flouride in the water have fewer cavities. In fact, most countries in Europe have gone back to no flouride in the water because of this. Choose the option with the least amount of flouride.

Hi A.,
You'll have to decide on the fluoride itself. It is a class A toxin, but then the dentist says that kids need it for their teeth.
The reason for your ped prescribing it is probably because there is no fluoride in bottled drinking water. Kids used to get it from the tap water. Now that most people use bottled water, unless it's specifically fluoridated, they're not getting fluoride.
My son's dentist said that they need fluoride now for their adult teeth, and that this is the only time that it matters. He says that once their adult teeth are formed, the fluoride no longer has an effect.
That's just the info from my docs. Obviously, there is a lot of info against using fluoride as well. I don't what the answer is, but I do have reservations about giving my son anything that is considered a poison.
It can be so confusing. All the best to you in your decision!
M.

Hi A.,
I actually found out that our tap water did not have flouride in it until recently (when my son was about 4). I gave him bottled water with flouride with his formula then went to tap water (filtered through the refrigerator) only to find that it didn't have any flouride in it. Now it does have flouride so we just use the filtered water. If you are filtering the water for your son, it should be fine. I would go with whatever the pediatrician suggests.

Good luck.

This is just an opinion and what I have done with my 3 children ages 4, 3, and 1. I am also a dental hygienist (not a dentist). Our pediatrician gave a prescription at one year for the multivitamin with fluoride. During this time the extra fluoride in the vitamin aids in strengthening the adult permanent teeth which are forming during that time. At age two she recommended just an over the counter vitamin supplement. The fluoridated water that we drink mainly helps prevent decay in the teeth that we have in our mouth. It also helps with the forming teeth, but it is at a much lowere concentration then the vitamins. In cities where the fluoride is not controlled as well, there is fear of receiving too much fluoride and that would cause "dental fluorosis". Not really something you need to be concerned about living in a big city with much control over the amount of fluoride in the water. I am sure your dentist knows the amount of water in your cities water. The comment from the water guy, I would have to think is a marketng tool to get you to buy more water. If you don't mind the taste of your cities water, then drink it. There is much poorer water out there in this world that people are drinking. Hope that helps...

Fluoride is a toxin and should not be in the water. Go to www.drmercola.com and type in flouride and read some of the many articles. I am out the door right now, otherwise I would type more.

It is something that was started over 100 years ago and then it has just snowballed into being the 'truth' even though studies show fluoride is doing the opposite of what they think it should be doing.

I took a seminar from a naturopath last Fall and learned so much that it was truly eye opening. One thing I learned is that there is no evidence out there that suggests fluoride prevents cavities and decay. There is also research out there to suggest that even small amounts of fluoride have been shown to cause cancer in mice. Dentists are only going by what they learn in dental school, which isn't always correct. The same is true of the medical field. I wouldn't chance it with fluoride. Do your own research on the internet and see for yourself. There's plenty of stuff out there but here's one website:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/teeth/caries/topical-...

A., I agree with Ann and Jennifer. Do your own research on fluoride and you will be quite surprised. It is actually a poison. The water district just increased the amount of fluoride in water in OC (not sure about bordering counties). The water district framed it as "more beneficial" for end users (us), but when I did a bit of research, I discovered that there isn't a safe and easy way to dispose of fluoride, so increasing the amount in our water supply was an easy out and way to get rid of it. I don't mean to alarm you, but what I've learned over the years is that we all need to be more proactive about our and our family's health and look out for ourselves. Look at all the drugs that are approved by the FDA, then go on to hurt thousands of people who thought they were safe. That's just one example. We need to be our own health advocates! Best of luck to you!

Hi A.,

Whether Fluoride is in the drinking water or in the supplements prescribed for your baby, it is a danger to your baby. Here's a few links on fluoride in water, etc. you'll find helpful:

The Environmental Working Group:
Major Infant Bottled Water Company Provides Parents with Misleading & False Information About Benefits of Fluoridated Water
http://www.ewg.org/node/25958

Natural News
Public water fluoridation push may expose infants to dangerous levels
http://www.naturalnews.com/021991.html

Fluoride Action Network
http://www.fluoridealert.org/

Natural News
(I just put in a search for 'fluoride report' and it gave me all these articles, look below the google ads.)
http://www.naturalnews.com/GoogleSearchResults.html?q=flu...

Effects of Fluoride:
http://www.preferrednetwork.com/FLUORIDE_STUPIDITY.htm

I hope this helps. We as parents have enough on our hands protecting our children from the exposure to toxic ingredients in our normal everyday cleaning, laundry and personal care products, we don't need to worry that we are putting it right into their little mouths too.

Take care,

T.
www.sharethecause.com/T.

my opinion is this to you....water man knows his water dentist knows his teeth and pediatricians knows there vaccines. trust yourself. if you don't drink the water don't make your child drink it. if you don't feel comfy with anything or there's some kind of doubt do research on the matter...type in google..tap water vs bottled water. research your tap water results for your state or county....