Ask Lemmy

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Everyone, even dogs benefit from fluoride in the water. It's not just children. Virtually all toothpaste contains it too. Some groundwater sources also contain it naturally, some even above the recommended max level from health associations. So I'd say, document yourself with official sources. Test your well levels, then decide. Be mindful that regular consumption of soft drinks, processed foods and even air conditioning nullifies the effects for cavities.

Here in Germany, fluoride is ~~mandated by law~~ recommended to be added to table salt, so I assume it is good to have in general.

However, regular toothpaste as well as many mouthwashes contain fluoride. In particular, they can contain a much higher dosis, because you spit it back out, so if you're worried about your teeth, these are definitely the way to go.

Yes, keep using toothpaste with flouride.

I tried toothpaste without flouride. It hurt my teeth after weeks (i.e: i also heavy drinking sweet drink like pepsi and snack at night, At night, I brush my teeth always before sleep or after snack.).

Swede here. I'm a bit confused by the whole flouride thing in the US.

We don't add flouride in the water. At least not in amounts needed to get better tooth health.

Almost everyone users toothpaste with fluoride. The concentration is 1000ppm in toothpaste for children (below 6 years of age) and 1450ppm in toothpaste for children (6 years and older) and grown-ups.

We also used to have mandatory sessions with the "fluoride lady" in school. We all had to bring our toothbrush to school and got to dip it in a fluoride solution (mouthwash I presume) and brush our teeth while the fluoride lady pointed at a large scale model of teeth and gums. All kids were a little bit afraid of the fluoride ladies. I'm not sure if it's still mandatory today, but I think a lot of schools (1st to 3rd grade maybe?) still has this on the schedule once a year.

Sweden has got a history of focus on tooth health since we have cheap healthcare (was free 50 years ago. Times are harder now so we pay $10-$13 per night at a hospital. Life is so hard! 😉) and bad tooth health is the cause of a lot of other health issues. Which in the end would cost our state medical insurance a lot more than fixing tooth health.

For the one with waaaaat too much time on their hands, Sweden has done some pretty dark shit in the name of "for the greater good". Google a documentary about the Vipeholm experiments if you want to know more about one of the reasons to how the world knows so much about tooth decay.

Yes, the benefit doesn’t vary by age. Flouridated water prevents cavities throughout your life.

I grew up in a house with well water, no fluoride. I've had a million cavities, and my dentist suggested that was a contributing factor, although certainly diet and genetics are too.

The scientific concensus is certainly 'Yes', but my own personal experience backs that up. I struggled with cavities well into my 30s, especially while at college where I mostly drank distilled water I bought in jugs at the grocery store (the local water supply had frequent issues I was trying to avoid). At some point, my dentist put me on a high-fluoride toothpaste, and the cavities basically stopped. The extra fluoride seems to have a definitive effect for me.

I've never heard of floride treating a well. But wouldn't it be better to add floride after the filter etc, for more consistent dosage?

This is the wrong question.

You should be asking, "While flouride helps other people, does it hurt me or is it all-good?"

Because, really, that's the only part that matters.

Do you even know how much fluoride is in your water? Sometimes it's naturally high, that's how they figured out it was good for your teeth.

I moved to Germany in my late 20’s and lived there for 2 years. I went with perfect teeth; I returned with several cavities. My brushing habits did not change, and while you could blame my cavities on several factors (the food was different; I drank way more beer; I got two years older), I've always attributed it to the fact that Germany does not fluoridate their municipal water - and everyone drinks bottled water anyway. At least, the crowd I ran with did. It's been years, but as I remember, you didn't get water at restaurants unless you asked, and then if you did, you got bottled water. In any case, I went from drinking fluoridated water regularly to zero flouride except what was in the toothpaste. And, honestly, I don't remember paying much attention to which toothpaste I bought, and many don't have flouride in them.

So, yeah. It's just one anecdote, and there could have been many other factors, but it convinced me about the importance of flouride. Now we drink municipal water (US), but it's going through a whole-house triple filtration system and I don't know how much flouride we're getting. So in addition to the usual tooth care (brushing, flossing) I also rinse with a flouride mouth rinse, and I've been doing OK dentally.

Chances are unless you're actively trying to avoid it the toothpaste you use has it already. I'm not aware of any particular benefits or detriments to having it in the water supply versus the more direct application route.

There's a Sawbones episode on fluoride and its effects on teeth (and why it's good for you), if you like to be educated and entertained at the same time, I highly recommend listening to it! Great podcast.

And yes, fluoride is good for adult teeth, too.

For a municipal supply it's worth the effort, it improves oral health for a whole community at the cost of some fluoride and a dosimeter. For a private supply it's not worth it. Fluoridated toothpaste and mouthwash will give you a good dose of fluoride.