To the Editor:
I grew up in Louisville, Ky., one of the first cities to have fluoridated water. Nonetheless, I spent the entire summer before high school in the dentist’s chair. My mother was afraid of dentists and didn’t take me. My father was only home on weekends. Dental care is still not part of many cultures, nor is it affordable to many.
Cavity rates may be going down, but I suspect it is better education in schools and on TV that is doing it, not because most people are getting dental care. I do not think fluoride in the water has much to do with it, as evidenced by my own teeth, and those of my friends in younger days.
Fluoride is unnecessary if children are taught to brush properly, floss, strictly limit sugared drinks, and receive good dental care. Fluoride cannot save them otherwise. Unfortunately dental care is just not available to far too many Americans.
Finally, and what’s important to me as an adult, is that fluoride was used as a treatment for over-active thyroid (Grave’s disease) to suppress thyroid production until Big Pharma came up with other products. I didn’t swallow fluoridated toothpaste, when I used it (heeding the warning label not to do so), but how much fluoride in coffee, tea, soup, canned goods, bottled (and brewed) drinks, plus bath, shower and swimming pool water that enters through the skin has contributed to the endocrine imbalance I now struggle with?
You may note that one of Jay Leno’s recurring jokes is about the terrible teeth of Kentuckians. So much for fluoridation when good dental care is lacking. His jokes are funny, but I was quite surprised when I moved to Maine 14 years ago and saw how many Mainers sill had their teeth. Could it be good well water?
Lynne Norris, Newcastle
