Bottled Water NOT linked to More Tooth Decay, Dentists Admit

"There has been no research to show using bottled water causes tooth decay," reports American Dental Association spokesman Dr. Johnathan Shenkin in a Healthday.com article.

Dr. Burton Edelstein agrees. He is president of the DC-based Children's Dental Health Project and Columbia University dentistry professor who describes the increasing prevalence of tooth decay among young children as "alarming."

"[Today] one in 10 2-year olds, one in five 3-year olds, one in three 4-year olds and approaching half of 5-year-olds have visually evident tooth decay experience," he said, adding that "the consequences in terms of pain, infection, dysfunction and unmet treatment need are significant.” Edelstein told Healthday.com

No US child is fluoride-deficient. But up to 60% show signs of fluoride-overdose (dental fluorosis), Tooth decay rates are soaring despite 67 years of fluoridation, 57 years of fluoridated toothpaste, a glut of fluoridated dental products, and a fluoride-saturated food supply. 

The U.S. Surgeon General reports that excessive fluoride increases susceptibility to cavities.

To avoid crippling skeletal fluorosis, the Environmental Protection Agency sets 4 parts per million (ppm) or 4 milligrams per quart of water as a “safe” water level.. Many  Americans exceed that amount from all sources.

The Iowa Fluoride Study's principal investigator, Steven Levy, found that some babies ingest 6 milligrams fluoride daily. Furthermore, Levy found 90% of 3-month-olds consumed over their recommended fluoride levels. "There is no specific nutritional requirement for fluoride...,” Levy et al. admit.

Levy also found:

-- 77% of soft drinks had fluoride levels greater than 0.60 ppm
-- two ounces of baby chicken food provides baby's maximum dose
-- foods high in fluoride -- teas, dry infant cereals, dried chicken, and
seafood
-- grape juice, especially white, contains very high fluoride levels
-- 42% of juice and juice drinks tested revealed unlabeled fluoride levels
greater than 0.60 ppm
-- cereals processed in fluoridated areas contain from 3.8 to 6.3 ppm
fluoride

The USDA provides a database of fluoride contents of food
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/Fluoride.html

Reports that bottled-water drinkers risk more cavities are
unsubstantiated. The Wall Street Journal reported, "Little research has been
done on the use of bottled water and risk of tooth decay, dental experts
concede. 

"For children's dental health measures, it was found that fluoridation rates were not significantly related to the measures of either caries or overall condition of the teeth for urban or rural areas." (West Virginia University Rural Health Research Center, 2012) 

"It may...be that fluoridation of drinking water does not have a strong protective effect against early childhood caries (cavities)," reports dentist Howard Pollick, University of California, and colleagues, in the Winter 2003 Journal of Public Health Dentistry.

Even when fluoridated water is the most consumed item, cavities are extensive when diets are poor, according to Caries Research.

Burt and colleagues studied low-income African-American adults, 14-years-old and over, living in Detroit, Michigan, where water suppliers add fluoride chemicals attempting to prevent cavities. Yet, 83%of this population has severe tooth decay and diets high in sugars and fats, and low in fruits and vegetables.

"The most frequently reported food on a daily basis was [fluoridated] tap water," write Burt's research team. Second were [probably fluoridated] soft drinks and third were potato chips.

Tooth decay in fluoridated Detroit's toddlers' teeth is also shocking. Almost all of Detroit's five-year-olds have cavities; most of them go unfilled.

The scientific literature now tells us that ingesting fluoride does not reduce tooth decay so it’s no surprise that drinking fluoride-free bottled water is not linked to higher rates of tooth decay and that people who drink fluoridated tap water are not experiencing less tooth decay.