Fluoridation May Not Prevent Cavities, Scientific Review Shows

[Caretaker]

Full article: http://www.newsweek.com/fluoridation-may-not-prevent-cavities-huge-study-shows-348251

But it is linked with impaired brain function and interfering with the endocrine system.

Excerpt:
*****************
Water fluoridation, which first began in 1945 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and expanded nationwide over the years, has always been controversial. Those opposed to the process have argued—and a growing number of studies have suggested—that the chemical may present a number of health risks, for example interfering with the endocrine system and increasing the risk of impaired brain function; two studies in the last few months, for example, have linked fluoridation to ADHD and underactive thyroid. Others argue against water fluoridation on ethical grounds, saying the process forces people to consume a substance they may not know is there—or that they’d rather avoid.
......
The Cochrane Collaboration, a group of doctors and researchers known for their comprehensive reviews—which are widely regarded as the gold standard of scientific rigor in assessing effectiveness of public health policies—recently set out to find out if fluoridation reduces cavities. They reviewed every study done on fluoridation that they could find, and then winnowed down the collection to only the most comprehensive, well-designed and reliable papers. Then they analyzed these studies’ results, and published their conclusion in a review earlier this month.
..........
“Frankly, this is pretty shocking,” says Thomas Zoeller, a scientist at UMass-Amherst uninvolved in the work. “This study does not support the use of fluoride in drinking water.” Trevor Sheldon concurred. Sheldon is the dean of the Hull York Medical School in the United Kingdom who led the advisory board that conducted a systematic review of water fluoridation in 2000, that came to similar conclusions as the Cochrane review. The lack of good evidence of effectiveness has shocked him. “I had assumed because of everything I’d heard that water fluoridation reduces cavities but I was completely amazed by the lack of evidence,” he says. “My prior view was completely reversed."

 

[JCFantasy23]

Ive been hearing this for years. We get it pushed on us how it's healthy but there's a lot of disputing evidence out there.

 

[Gene2memE]

Did anyone actually read the papers the Newsweek article is based on? Anyone?

Before you all get up on the anti-fluoride bandwagon and take it on a ride to crazy-town, the Cochrane study states that:

Key results

Data suggest that the introduction of water fluoridation resulted in a 35% reduction in decayed, missing or filled baby teeth and a 26% reduction in decayed, missing or filled permanent teeth. It also increased the percentage of children with no decay by 15%. Although these results indicate that water fluoridation is effective at reducing levels of tooth decay in children's baby and permanent teeth, the applicability of the results to current lifestyles is unclear because the majority of the studies were conducted before fluoride toothpastes and the other preventative meaures were widely used in many communities around the world.

There was insufficient information available to find out whether the introduction of a water fluoridation programme changed existing differences in tooth decay across socioeconomic groups.

There was insufficient information available to understand the effect of stopping water fluoridation programmes on tooth decay.

No studies met the review’s inclusion criteria that investigated the effectiveness of water fluoridation for preventing tooth decay in adults, rather than children.

The researchers calculated that, in areas with a fluoride level of 0.7 ppm in the water, approximately 12% of the people evaluated had fluorosis that could cause concern about their appearance.

Oh, and that UK review study. It doesn't say what Newsweek says it does. NOT EVEN REMOTELY

12.1 Objective 1: What are the effects of fluoridation of drinking water supplies
on the incidence of caries?
The best available evidence (level B) from studies on the initiation and discontinuation of water
fluoridation suggests that fluoridation does reduce caries prevalence, both as measured by the
proportion of children who are caries-free and by the mean dmft/DMFT score. The degree to which
caries is reduced, however, is not clear from the data available. The range of the mean difference in
the proportion (%) of caries-free children is -5.0 to 64%, with a median of 14.6% (interquartile range
5.05, 22.1%). The range of mean change in dmft/DMFT score was from 0.5 to 4.4, median 2.25 teeth
(interquartile range 1.28, 3.63 teeth). It is estimated that a median of six people need to receive
fluoridated water for one extra person to be caries-free (interquartile range of study NNTs 4, 9). The
best available evidence on stopping water fluoridation indicates that when fluoridation is discontinued
caries prevalence appears to increase in the area that had been fluoridated compared with the control
area. Interpreting from this data the degree to which water fluoridation works to reduce caries is more
difficult. The studies included for Objective 1 were of moderate quality (level B), and limited quantity.

So. Yes, fluoridation of drinking water does prevent cavities, but there really haven't been enough studies done in the post-1975 period to determine the effects of stopping fluoridation on adult teeth.

Honestly people, do the ruddy reading yourselves, instead of relying on journalists. I've worked as a journalist, I know just how bad they can be on specialist areas.

 

[Caretaker]

The review identified only three studies since 1975—of sufficient quality to be included—that addressed the effectiveness of fluoridation on tooth decay in the population at large. These papers determined that fluoridation does not reduce cavities to a statistically significant degree in permanent teeth, says study co-author Anne-Marie Glenny, a health science researcher at Manchester University in the United Kingdom.

The authors also found only two studies since 1975 that looked at the effectiveness of reducing cavities in baby teeth, and found fluoridation to have no statistically significant impact here, either.

The scientists also found “insufficient evidence” that fluoridation reduces tooth decay in adults (children excluded).

Overall the review suggests that stopping fluoridation would be unlikely to increase the risk of tooth decay, says Kathleen Thiessen, a senior scientist at the Oak Ridge Center for Risk Analysis, which does human health risk assessments of environmental contaminants.

Studies that attest to the effectiveness of fluoridation were generally done before the widespread usage of fluoride-containing dental products like rinses and toothpastes in the 1970s and later, according to the recent Cochrane study. So while it may have once made sense to add fluoride to water, it no longer appears to be necessary or useful, Thiessen says.

It has also become clear in the last 15 years that fluoride primarily acts topically, according to the CDC. It reacts with the surface of the tooth enamel, making it more resistant to acids excreted by bacteria. Thus, there's no good reason to swallow fluoride and subject every tissue of your body to it, Thiessen says.

But meanwhile:

Harvard Study Confirms Fluoride Reduces Children's IQ
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/14/fluoride-effects-in-children.aspx