AI Summary:
- Utah is poised to ban fluoride in public water systems, pending the governor’s signature.
- The bill prohibits adding fluoride to public water and repeals previous related laws.
- Federal health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has criticized fluoride, influencing the bill.
- Studies on fluoride’s impact on children’s IQ have mixed results, with some showing negative effects and others showing no harm.
- Major public health groups support fluoridation for dental health benefits.
- The anti-fluoridation movement has gained popularity post-Covid-19.
- Similar legislation is proposed in Florida, emphasizing the importance of consent in public health measures.
Want job security? Become a dentist
Fluoride in the water didn’t help anyone’s teeth. But your point remains valid I think
Didn’t what anyone’s teeth?
Lmao didn’t help guess I forgot a whole word
The tooth fairy economy is about to face an inflation crisis.
They should put lead back into gasoline as well, while they’re at it…and asbestos in a baby powder.
Slaps dental premiums this baby is going places!
When I was younger, I was confused as to why fluoride was in water, since we would receive regular fluoride tablets in grade school. I’m sure not every school does that…
Somewhere there’s a cabal of dentists sitting around a table in a dark and shadowy room cackling madly
I think I’m well past the point of caring if a bunch of conservative’s teeth fall out.
As for those living there that are smarter than their conservative neighbors, honestly, we’re heading toward a future in this country where you may actually need to move to a blue state to have a decent future. Sorry.
The (d/m)ental decline in the US is real…
Uh, here in Oregon it’s already been banned for a long time. This headline is sus.
The difference is in verbiage. Oregon doesn’t require it, but Oregon also doesn’t ban it and leaves it up to municipalities. Utah is trying to actively force municipalities to not be allowed to use it.
Ah makes sense.
It isn’t banned in Oregon. Many communities have simply decided not to do it. Hillsboro recently voted to stop fluoridating their water, for example.
This would be the first time an entire state has literally banned the practice.
And it’s stupid. There are maps of the US that show which states have the lowest/highest rates of dental caries. The states with the lowest rates just happen to have mandatory water fluoridation, and the states with the lowest rates of fluoridation all have the worst dental health. Meanwhile there’s zero evidence that drinking fluoridated water has negative health effects.
Wanna add that Columbia County has fluorinated and chlorinated water.
Ah gotcha. And yeah I agree it’s dumb to not fluoridate our water but toothpaste companies need to be able to upcharge on extra fluoride toothpaste and dentists need work right? /s
In a few years americans will be known for their bad teeth like the English are now
Get some baking soda toothpaste and some fluoride rinse and you’ll be okay.
What’s the point of baking soda toothpaste if you’re going to use fluoride rinse anyway
Dan Halen is ecstatic 14 years later
Dental issues increased in Calgary and they voted to put it back.
This is the way. The idiots have been coddled for generations. They need to have the experience of their teeth rotting out for themselves.
And what about the other 49% they dragged down with them? You’ve also just made everyone’s dental insurance 10x more expensive. Thanks!
If you needed one last excuse to get out of Utah, then let this be it.
For anyone in a state without fluoridated water, you can get fluoride drops to put in your/your children’s water.
I grew up with well water and we didn’t have naturally occurring water.
Our doctor prescribed us a chewable tablet we took every night after dinner.
Didn’t get my first, and only, cavity until I was 35.
My ex-wife who grew up with me had a dad who was “they’re putting gay vaccines in our fluoride to turn our cavities to queers” type and they didn’t …. Cavity city.
Why not just brush their teeth? I’m pretty sure fluoridated toothpaste is much easier to come by than fluoride drops.
Because adding fluoride to tap water provides measurable benifits regardless of socioeconomic status.
In addition, other countries where municpal water is not as developed, they will add fluoride to salts and other consumer products.
We’re comparing toothpaste to fluoride drops, not fluoridated tap water.
Because your logic is flawed coming to that question. It insinuates that one is needed over the other. This is not a fair comparison because toothpaste and fluoride suppliments are purchased and flouridated tap water costs almost nothing to consumers of municipal water. All sources must be taken into account for public health programs like this.
I bet the idiots have shares in the dental industry though.
next up (unless it happened first): no more data collection or research about statewide dental health
“Utah now has zero reported cavities! We were right to ban fluoride.”
Insurance companies will still collect it since they need to pay out for a lot of this shit. We’ll also be able to quantify this impact by looking at dental premiums and copays. They’ll eventually go up in states without fluoridated water.
Good Guy Insurance.
Dentists in
FloridaUtah: yesssss thanks for the increased business!The Utah dental association was strongly against it. Dentists already make good money and most of them actually care about their patients health.
Dental health is also strongly correlated with cardiovascular disease and other diseases.
Yeah I’m in dental myself (another country), and when anti-fluoride patients come in, we generally sassily remark that we thank them for keeping us in business. Bit of dark humour to see the silver lining in things, I guess?
There have certainly been dental clinics going out of business in the last few years, something quite unheard of - unlike other ‘new businesses’, the success rate of opening a new dental clinic was normally guaranteed (unlike say a new cafe).
If the general population want to remove one of the best public health initiatives, then so be it. We’ll make hay while the sun shines.
Bit of dark humour to see the silver lining in things, I guess?
Silver linings? Is that a dental filling turn of phrase? The joke doesn’t work with composites though. :(
Haha no: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_lining_(idiom)
But still funny in context 🤭
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I’m familiar with the saying, I thought you might be going for the double entendre. :)
why florida? i feel i’ve missed something
Last bullet point in OPs post:
- Similar legislation is proposed in Florida, emphasizing the importance of consent in public health measures.
thanks. i’m apparently still high from my saturday night
I 100% misread the title and thought it was Florida.
I mean, it’s a pretty safe bet for something like this.
I thought they just misspelled “Florida” myself.
