And indeed, the impact on public health has been dramatic: After Calgary ended fluoridation, 700 percent more children needed intravenous antibiotics to avoid fatal dental infection. The city is now working to upgrade systems to turn the fluoride back on in 2025 after citizens mobilized to add it back.
this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2025
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Ahhh Calgary, everything makes sense now
My mother was one of the most ignorant people I've ever known. Clueless, uneducated, proud of it, assured she was right about everything.
I remember her cursing her bad teeth due to lack of fluoridation in Depression-era West Virginia. I remember her telling me what a miracle the polio vaccine was, and how scared she was a child before it came along.
One time I asked my great-great-aunt, an old woman living on a Civil War-era farm, why the moon was round. She explained gravity and how it pulls the moon into a sphere.
And somehow, it this wondrous age of free information, we've collectively become more ignorant than these people. And it fucking enrages me.
So just a genuine question, but do some % of the population just have awful teeth? Or is it just a ton of sugar?
For 95% of my life (including my childhood) I have lived in an area without fluoride, and I have never had a problem. And I only usually brush my teeth once a day. I only go to the dentist when I have insurance that covers it, which has been off and on every like 5 years of my life.
So just a genuine question, but do some % of the population just have awful teeth?
To the best of my knowledge, kinda
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-some-people-get-mo/
There are definitely differences person to person on how prone they are to various dental issues.
Seems like after reading that article, the answer to my question is just "yes"
Genetic makeup has a factor and sugar has a factor, probably more so.
It makes me wonder after reading this why people aren't encouraged to increase the alkalinity of their mouth? It seems relatively straightforward.
I knew acids were bad for the teeth, but I never realized more basic environments are actually restorative.
My other thought is I wonder how much well drinking environments differ? My dad once tested our water as a kid, and it was very mineral dense (also evident by our dishwasher). So I have to wonder how much that comes into play.
vaccines and flouride in water are the most definitive helpful things. Its so funny that in doctor strange love it was used to clearly indicate the character was a nutter.
Do these people not use fluorinated toothpaste? I've been drinking primarily distilled water for about ten years now and I'm not aware of it having caused any issues for me. I'd have thought I'd get enough fluoride from brushing my teeth.
Do you mind if I ask why you've been drinking primarily distilled water for about ten years?
Is it because you can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of your precious bodily fluids?
... no? I drink distilled because it's the most effective filtration method, especially for PFAS.
It is a reference to the film Dr. Strangelove.
No snark question, why not drink tap water or rain water?
Where do you get the water, etc. I'm just curious, no snark.
It's from the tap. As I said, you still need to filter it. Look up PFAS.
Damn, I'm sorry to hear you've gotta do that.
But of course. What a way to drive business to dentists.
Same reason capitalists won't cure cancer. If the cure were discovered tomorrow, they'd spend money to cover it up.
So we really are doing the bit from Dr.Strangelove just, you know, with the executive cabinet and not a single crazed general. Once again pitching the idea of spreading conspiracy theories that just take out the believers instead of convincing them to take the rest of us with them.
Haven't watched Dr. Strangelove but yeah, fatal conspiracy theories seem to be what's happening. The problem now is that people believing these conspiracy theories can get into power to force them onto the wider population. (I'm wondering if this could eventually give rise to counter-conspiracy theories, e.g. the government hiding flouridated water and vaccines from us.)
Short summary of the relevant thing (not really a spoiler since the whole plot gets more or less explained immediately) a general in charge of nuclear weapons gets the idea that fluorinated water is a communist conspiracy to turn people to their side and things go downhill from there.
Haven't watched Dr. Strangelove
Strong recommend to do so, for whatever that's worth from some dude on the internet.
sponsored by dentist lobby?
Do you really need it?
Out of a population of about three-quarters of a billion, under 14 million people (approximately 2%) in Europe receive artificially-fluoridated water. Those people are in the UK (5,797,000), Republic of Ireland (4,780,000), Spain (4,250,000), and Serbia (300,000).
Most European countries don't use it and we are fine.
I think it would be less important in a place with universal health care and dental care as kids would probably be brushing their teeth and get taken care of properly, but it's more dire in North America than you would think. Canada doesn't have free dental and America doesn't have free health or dental whereas lots of European countries have universal healthcare.
whereas lots of European countries have universal healthcare.
Almost none of which include dental care.
They're called luxury bones for a reason..
Wait hold on really? I saw NHS covers dental and eye exams. Do the countries with universal healthcare that do not cover dental, also not cover eye exams?
I'm from the Netherlands, we have healthcare but dental is usually not included and most people pay it themselves. You can include it but it's usually more expensive than a normal yealy check-up.
Why do Americans and Canadians have bad teeth? Is brushing something people just don't do?
but dental is usually not included and most people pay it themselve
Children under 18 are covered for almost all dental care under the basic Dutch health insurance and therefor free of charge.
https://iwcn.nl/living/healthcare/dental-care/
So you are wrong, you had free dental as a child, the fluoride is aimed at children who are not guarenteed that in the US, it varies state to state and depending on your income.
That I didn't know, the healthcare system was very different when I was a kid myself. We have made it a lot more commercial on the last 20 years.
And if you look at Canada the province with the worst dental health is Quebec and it's the only province where fluoridation is pretty much non existent.
But why is dental health so bad? Is going to the dentist very expensive? I don't have dental insurance and I pay about a 100 euros to get my teeth checked and cleaned yearly. But for most people it's about 50 for a normal check-up.
No more expensive than anywhere else in Canada especially now that they've launched an instance program for anyone under 18 and over 65 for the whole country.
If you’re not getting X-rays, how are they finding cavities or other issues?
I pay about $200 CAD per visit for cleanings and x-rays, so about $400 per year. That is an acceptable amount for me, personally, but that can be a lot for some people, especially low income households that have more than one child.