Most of the Western European countries have rejected water fluoridation including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. For good reason. The topical benefits of fluoride for dental caries are as good as systemic but the associated risks are maximal when ingested. The ideal recommendation would be to limit fluoride (or preferably hydroxyapaptite) to topical dentifrices and mouthwashes. Fluoridation of community drinking water supply is an unreasonable risk.
The USA is in the throws of a binary, reactionary dialogue on many issues, including fluoride in our drinking water. While fluoride can prevent, and even remediate dental caries when administered systemically in the drinking water, there are many negative consequences. A recent study revealed that the concentration of fluorine is elevated in the shells of senior nanocrystals relative to young and that the embrittlement of enamel is driven, at least in part, by the infusion of fluorine into the nanocrystals. In other words, as we age and the enamel of our teeth goes through deenamelization and reenamelization processes, fluoride from water and dental products enters the enamel and makes the enamel more brittle and susceptible to cracking. Using hydroxyapatite in our dental products, a normal mineral found in teeth, may not make the enamel more brittle, and therefore less susceptible to cracking. This needs to be tested.
A recent analysis by scientists at the National Toxicology Program of the US-HHS found that, given fluoride in the water negatively affects childrn’s IQ, “More studies are needed to fully understand the potential for lower fluoride exposure to affect children’s IQ.” Better to add fluoride or hydroxyapatite (a natural mineral found in teeth and bone that can remineralize teeth) to toothpaste, for example, than to administer fluoride to the whole body.
The US Center of Disease Control and Prevention declared that in the second half of the 20th century, the steep decline dental decay in the United States can be attributed to fluoridation. However, data have found that a similar decline in dental decay has been observed worldwide in countries that do not fluoridate their drinking water supplies. A 2024 Cochrane review article found that adding fluoride to drinking water may lead to slightly less tooth decay among children, but concluded that the practice’s effects are less dramatic today than they were before fluoride was widely found in toothpaste.
In 2006, a report by the National Research Council (NRC) acknowledged that fluoride exposure may be associated with adverse cognitive and endocrine outcomes, and recommended further study, especially for vulnerable populations. One NRC panel member, Dr. Robert Isaacson, Ph.D., said the report “should be a wake-up call”. Yet, for 10 years, not a single study had directly examined fetal exposure to fluoride in humans. Now studies have been conducted and fluoride has been found not to be safe in our drinking water. Let’s look at some of the evidence.
Fluoride absorbs into bone and is associated with bone cancer and fracture, therefore I recommend hydroxyapatite, and natural mineral found in teeth and bone. Fluoride in the water is associated with compromised bone quality and the interaction between osteoblasts and osteoclasts is altered and may aggravate osteoporosis and increase osteoporotic fractures. Combine fluoride with the highly overpresribed thyroid medication, Levothyroxine, that, according to scientists at Johns Hopkins, may be contributing to osteoporosis, and people, especially with a poor diet, may be losing bone mass and strength.
Once fluoride is added in the water, it is impossible to control the dose each individual receives. This is because some people, for example, manual laborers, athletes, diabetics, and people with kidney disease, drink more water than others. In addition, the average person receives fluoride from sources other than the water supply such as fluoridated oral hygiene products, food, and beverages processed with fluoridated water, mechanically deboned meat, and teas.
Only 50% of the daily ingested fluoride is excreted through the kidneys. The remainder accumulates in bones, the pineal gland, and other tissues. Initial studies on animals showed that fluoride accumulation in the pineal gland led to reduced melatonin production and an earlier onset of puberty. The same researcher then showed in later studies that fluoride can also accumulate to very high levels in the human pineal gland. Fluoride toxicity can lead to renal damage in children. Researchers studied 210 children living in areas of China with varying levels of fluoride in water (0.61–5.69 ppm). Among this group, the children drinking water with more than 2 ppm fluoride – particularly those with dental fluorosis – were found to have increased levels of NAG and y-GT in their urine, both of which are markers of kidney damage. The children’s urine also contains increased levels of lactic dehydrogenase – a possible indicator of liver damage. A diseased kidney is unable to effectively excrete fluoride, so individuals with compromised kidneys are at risk of developing fluorosis even at normal recommended limit of 0.7–1.2 ppm.
Fluoride has been found to be mutagenic by causing chromosome damage and interference with the enzymes involved with DNA repair in a variety of cell and tissue studies carried out in animals. Recent studies have also found a correlation between fluoride exposure and chromosome damage in humans. The only government-sanctioned animal study to investigate whether fluoride causes cancer, in 1990, found a dose-dependent increase in cancer in the target organ (bone) of fluoride-treated, male rats. This led to a 14-year study carried out by Harvard University that showed a significant link between fluoridation and a rare form of bone cancer called osteosarcoma in young boys, consistent with the results of the 1990 animal study.
Fluoride as a neurotoxin has been proven in several animal studies. For example, a 2024 study found a predominance of Ca2+-permeable AMPARs in membranes and a shift between different NMDARs subunits in hippocampal cells of Fluoride–-exposed rats, which is typical for neurodegeneration and can at least partially underly the observed disturbances in cognitive capacities of animals and humans. Another 2024 study found that prenatal fluoride exposure to fluoride in the drinking water in Los Angeles was associated with increased neurobehavioral problems. A 2006 National Research Council report stated that it is apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain and the body by direct and indirect means. This finding was confirmed by a study where groups of children exposed to 8 ppm fluoride in water were found to have lower average IQs, less children attaining high IQ, and more children affected by low IQ. While 8 ppm is much higher than the fluoride level added to water in fluoridation programs (0.7–1.2 ppm), these results are in congruence with previous studies from China indicating that fluoride may affect IQ at lower levels.
A recent systematic review conducted by the National Toxicology Program reported “with moderate confidence that higher fluoride exposure…is consistently associated with lower IQ in children.” The 2023 report also highlighted the lack of US studies investigating associations of fluoride exposure with neurodevelopment or cognition and stated that US studies would be valuable.
If fluoride is added to water which contains aluminum, then aluminum fluoride complexes will form. Aluminum fluoride complexes have the potential to interfere with many hormonal and some neurochemical signals. Aluminum fluoride was recently nominated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences as a “high health research priority” due to its “known neurotoxicity.”
Let’s stop our reactionary, binary thinking, listen to scientists, not physicians who are not trained to be scientists or analyze scientific data (most physicians spend an hour or two each week reading medical literature, not scientific studies), and take action on the chemicals, including fluoride, in our food supply and drinking water. Remember, it’s the lifetime of exposure (our exposome) to chemicals that causes most of our diseases.
Stem Cells, Health, Technology 