They should not stop fluoridating the water in the Region of Waterloo. It is a practice that has been going on for over 40 years in the region and has never caused serious problems for students or the residents in the area. While it is known that fluoride is dangerous in large quantities, as is almost any chemical, the concentrations in the Waterloo Region are under 1ppm (1 mg/L) and as such does not cause harm to people.
The goal in adding fluoride to water is that fluoride helps children and adults reduce cavities by helping strengthen their enamel. Over the past years, tooth decay has become a problem for more and more people, due to changes in diet and people being too busy to properly take care of their teeth. In allowing the Region of Waterloo to fluoridate the water, it allows those who do not take full care of their teeth to still be able to maintain some dental health.
Bacteria on your teeth produce acids when they ingest sugar or any other carbohydrate, which causes tooth decay. These acids then begin to break down the outer layer and the enamel of a person’s tooth. When too much of the enamel is dissolved, it becomes a cavity. By using fluoridated water (or toothpaste or anything else with fluoride) the saliva in your mouth increases its concentration of fluoride. Fluoride works to slow down the process of the acids breaking down teeth, so that it may be possible for the enamel to build back up before more acid comes in.
One concern that has been brought up is that the chemical used to add fluoride to water, hydrofluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6), is considered dangerous. Water which has been fluoridated has higher concentrations of lead, arsenic and other heavy metals. While this may be the case, keep in mind that there have never been reports on major incidences of lead or arsenic poisoning due to drinking too much water. I could not find a study about the concentrations of these contaminants in the Waterloo water supply, but there is no evidence that it has previously been a problem. There does not appear to be the need to focus on the topic until the cases of poisoning start increasing and can be correlated to the drinking water.
Many health organizations also support the use of fluoride in city water supplies. These include Health Canada, The Canadian Dental Association, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States, and the World Health Organization. When it comes to almost every health aspect of our lives, we trust that they are making well-informed decisions based on scientific data. Similarly, we should trust that they have done the appropriate research demonstrating that fluoridating a city’s water supply is beneficial to the community.
Leave a Reply