"Medical freedom", the rallying cry for all kinds of grifters spreading disinformation and wanting to roll back the progress made in public health.

The thing that seriously hurts those anti-fluoridation nuts is that fluoride can naturally be in water supplies and there are water supplies with higher PPM fluoride amounts than municipalities that add them in the U.S., but there don't appear to be any increased health issues.

Not that such people generally care.

For once, the answer to a question posed in the headline is obviously yes.

They have their freedom, they are free to do whatever they want to filter their own drinking water. They're free to buy or produce distilled water for all their consumption. They're free to only ever drink beer. But the drinking water provided as a public good should be maintained for the good of the public, and when the studies are pretty clear that fluoridated water fights tooth decay, then fluoridated water it is.

Hey, a article that bucks Betteridge's Law.

Of course there's no question, yes, and Republicans and communities should be ashamed at being this stupid to cater to such a dumb, ridiculous, and small group of idiots and are going to cost everyone more in dental insurance to socialize the cost of their stupidity.

I'm very much on the pro-flouride but it came up in a conversation with my coworker who won't drink tap water.

I said that in a country without universal healthcare, fluoride is free dental care. He said he agreed about the benefit to teeth but his concern was with what it might do to your body. He's a health nut but not a conspiracy theories and I was really thrown off and didn't have a counterpoint.

I just assumed it was fine because I knew fluoride is often found in water naturally...but...can someone with more knowledge tell me how they would have replied? I don't like speaking on things I can't back up with data so I just let it go

So we've circled back to to water/fluoride water conspiracies again?

History, doomed to repeat, before our very eyes once more..

Put the lithium in already.

All cite studies that show it reduces tooth decay by 25%

But because of my sugar intake, my teeth are shit anyway

/s

I absolutely can't stand minty or cinnamon toothpaste, and have really struggled with brushing my teeth because of it. It drives me absolutely insane that so many of the flavors I can tolerate are only available in fluoride free formulations and/or get discontinued.

We should not be encouraging the least among us.

Here in Germany, drinking water isn't fluoridated but fluoridated salt is sold at every grocery store. I assume that fluoridated salt isn't as easily available to those in the US who could now end up without fluoridated water, is it?

Yes. The answer is yes.

1. Ask the experts. You'll find their names have "D.D.S" after them.

2. Do what they say.

The only thing "bad" about flouride I know that is true is that it can lower DHT levels in your blood. I put bad in quotes because I don't know what DHT actually does, but the conspiracy I've heard is that DHT is needed to dream and imagine, so by drinking fluoridated water you're destroying your own creativity or whatever.

I always thought it was funny.