Is Fluoride Good for You? The Truth About Fluoride

In 1901, a dentist living in Colorado Springs made an astonishing discovery: naturally-high fluoride levels in the water gave the local residents a high resistance to cavities, but at the expense of brown, dark colored teeth. The dentist naturally asked “Is fluoride good for you?”

The idea that fluoride is overall good for us has grown. It’s now responsible for the 75% of Americans that drink water with artificial levels of it in their water supply.

You’ve probably heard some hot-takes on fluoride usage, but you probably haven’t done any research yourself to really justify any conclusive decisions.

We’re told it’s important to incorporate fluoride because it makes your teeth stronger. But is that it? Surely there’s other effects that take place when you ingest a powerful chemical like fluoride into your body.

In this article, I describe the pros and cons of fluoride consumption in daily life and explain why you can be healthier without it!

Pros

Fluoride Helps Prevent Dental Cavities

How many cavities have you had in your life?

Cavities form when there’s a hotbed of bacteria in the inner crevices of your teeth that your toothbrush didn’t happen to catch. This hotbed of bacteria grows bigger and starts eating away at your enamel. This can cause tooth vulnerability and sensitivity over time (not to mention bad breath).

One solution dentists of the past came up with was applying fluoride via a paste. Since 99% of the body’s fluoride is in our bones, our teeth are receptive to this compound.

Killing bacteria isn’t the only thing fluoride does. It helps decelerate the loss of fluoride in the teeth. Additionally, it helps accelerate the amount of fluoride present when it’s in a recovery stage from a cavity.

To dentists, fluoride was an obvious answer to fighting cavities.

But was it the right choice?

Cons

Fluoride Causes Dental Fluorosis

Large amounts of fluoride use has been linked to spotty and stained teeth.

Kids younger than twelve may enjoy the taste of fluoridated toothpaste. They may even swallow the toothpaste when they’re done brushing instead of spitting it out. Not to mention fluoride supplements you’re instructed to give your kids!

This high level of consumption contributes to almost one in every four people in the US having some form of fluorosis!

You might think “Well maybe it was worse when our water wasn’t fluoridated?” but that’s not the case either. Since the 1980s, the frequency of this condition among young teenagers has been on the rise.

Being a kid in middle school is hard enough without having stained-looking teeth.

Bone Fractures

There is tremendous controversy and discussion around this topic, despite the years of research that has gone into it. What we know for sure is this: fluoride is known to increase bone density, which is generally a good thing.

What is NOT good is the accumulation of fluoride in your bones over years and years of drinking fluoridated water.

When the presence of fluoride increases in your bones over time, it makes your bones more dense. But it also increases the likelihood of your bones breaking by making them too brittle!

The reasoning behind this is that when fluoride deposits in our bones, it builds upon the existing bone structure but in a fragmented, inconsistent manner. This leads to higher bone fracture rates, especially among the elderly.

Fluoride is a Neurotoxin

We’ve focused on our bones so far. Now let’s take a look at the squishier and more sensitive parts of our bodies- like our brains.

It’s been observed that children who grow up in communities with higher levels of fluoride experience lower cognitive development. Children who grow up in these environments can expect a drop in their intelligence equal to that of seven IQ points, and have increased risk in the possibility of ADHD and dyslexia!

Needless to say, fluoride is a neurotoxin!

When fluoride deposits in your brain, it causes issues. Areas known for memory, learning, regulating emotions, coordination, balance, and where the brain processes sensory perception, conscious thought, and language skills are all negatively affected.

Autopsies have revealed that Alzheimer’s patients have increased levels of aluminum present in their brain. When aluminum comes in contact with fluoride, it turns into aluminum fluoride (AlF3) giving the harmful metal a VIP ride straight to the brain. The higher the levels of fluoride in your system, the higher the likelihood that aluminum will deposit in your brain!

Calcification of Your Pineal Gland

Fluoride loves to deposit in your pineal gland, and it can cause calcification. Do you have trouble falling asleep at night? A calcified pineal gland will struggle to release melatonin, which causes issues with sleeping.

Your pineal gland is in charge of releasing melatonin, an important regulating chemical in our body. Melatonin tells your body that it’s time to sleep. It’s also linked to seasonally induced depression/anxiety.

Are you currently or have you in the past taken the antidepressants Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, and Lexapro?

Also known as fluoxetine, these “medicines” are loaded with fluoride. Wondering about how they’re really affecting your brain? Re-read the last few paragraphs.

Fluoridated drinking water is known to nearly double the risk of an underactive thyroid, known as hypothyroidism.

One of my close friends has a thyroid disorder, and let me tell you that it’s HELL!

Side effects to thyroid disorders include brain fog, memory loss, lack of focus, depression, anxiety, nausea and migraines.

It seems clearer over time that doctors and local governments were wrong to dump fluoride into our drinking water.

Medication Without Consent

What if fluoride did prove to have unquestionable, long-lasting health benefits. Is fluoride in our water supply not medication without consent?

Despite all of the surfacing neurological effects of fluoride on our brain, why is this not brought up in public discussion?

What’s the possibility that we’ve been manipulated by our local, state, and federal governments to comply with having harmful neurotoxins in our water? Why do they promote dependency on more medication (anti-depressants) to combat existing medication (fluoride in our water)?

In the US, roughly 75% of Americans drink fluoridated water. But only six percent of the rest of world intentionally fluoridates their water. Shouldn’t that mean that their rates of cavities should be much higher than ours? The charts above and below tend to disagree.

Remember when the CDC and the American Dental Association (ADA) told us that fluoride decreases rates of cavities? It seems that yet another government agency and its henchmen at the ADA *conveniently* omitted data contrary to their agenda. The data from the chart above shows that all countries experienced drastic declines in tooth decay in the 20th century, regardless of artificial water fluoridation!

The government isn’t going to take care of you, as can be seen from this article. Your health is your own responsibility!

It’s up to you to decide if fluoride is good for you!

How to Fight Back Against Water Fluoridation?

Despite it’s cavity-reducing effects, I personally can’t bear the fact that I’m putting myself at risk for major health issues posed by drinking fluoridated water.

What can you do?

Luckily, there’s some solutions.

1. Eliminate Fluoride Intake

The single highest risk for ingesting fluoride is from your drinking water. Opt for filtered water or water bottles that are fluoride-free.

There are many water pitchers out there that claim to filter out fluoride, but they fail to mention the amount that’s actually filtered. This suggests to me that it’s hardly any amount at all. One company that does claim to correctly filter this chemical, backed up with data, is Clearly Filtered.

I’ve ditched fluoridated toothpaste for several years now, and my teeth are perfectly fine. Luckily, fluoride-free toothpaste can be found in most supermarkets.

Most don’t know that fluoride can be found in other drinks as well. Be sure to monitor how much fluoride you ingest with coffee and tea. I love black tea, but I may have to start finding alternatives after finding out how much fluoride it actually has!

2. Go On a Fluoride-Detox Diet

The foods that reduce fluoride in your body won’t surprise you. They include leafy greens, foods high in antioxidants, spices such as curcumin, tamarind, and cayenne. Buy organic, whole foods without additives.

In general, just eat healthy food.

The typical remedy for protection against unintentional fluoride consumption is milk. It helps protect the stomach lining and the fluoride binds to the calcium, helping it leave your system safely.

Wondering what foods are better than others? Check out this list.

3. Exercise

Everyone knows that exercise is good for you. It’s therefore no surprise that exercise helps with removal of toxic chemicals in your body as well!

The more active you are, the more your body flushes out fluoride and other harmful chemicals.

4. Vitamin Supplements

If you’re still nervous about fluoride’s impact on your body, you might take additional vitamin supplements.

The three most helpful are vitamin D, vitamin C, and calcium.

Americans have noticeably suffered from the unquestioned information given to us by the government and the ADA. But those days are over. You must take responsibility for your body. Because if you don’t, who will?