This morning, I’m off to the dentist. I actually like my dentist, but the dental hygienist — not so much. Admittedly, I’m not the best patient: I had a tongue ring, I slacked off when it came to wearing my retainer, I broke my bottom braces and still haven’t bothered to get them fixed at the orthodontist, I don’t floss as much as I should, I eat too many sweets and now I’ve stopped using toothpaste with fluoride.
Still, that woman knows full well that I have extremely sensitive molars, and yet she continues to scrape away at them like some famished vampire, desperate to get her next meal from my poor gums (Ed note: Turns out, I had a different hygienist today, and she was much nicer — went gentle on the scraping, got the polishing over with quickly and was more than happy to accommodate my silly bib).
Anyway, a little while back, I wrote about how I was going to decline the paper gown at the doctor’s office. Well, now, I’m going to green my dental visits and BYOB — as in, bring my own bib. Rather than actually go out and buy one, however, I’ll just use my large organic cotton handkerchief, which they should be able to attach with those little metal alligator clips that go around your neck. At least if I’m going to make a bloody drooling mess everywhere, I can wipe myself up with something soft and unbleached.
October 25, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I missed your post on toothpaste without fluoride, or I’d have tossed in my two cents before. You NEED the fluoride!
Well, maybe, depending. My own teeth look like something from the bottom of the 3rd world- because I grew up before science discovered that human teeth NEED a tiny amount of fluoride in order to be truly strong and decay resistant. My sons, who got fluoride pills when they were little, because we are not on a city water system- have teeth that could go on posters. No cavities; ZERO, as children. I think they’ve got 1 each, now that they’ve become sloppy adults.
Yes, fluorine is toxic, in many situations. Duh. So is arsenic- which is vastly worse. Reality though, is that our bodies have many arcane needs- including both fluorine- AND arsenic. It’s true- your body needs a tiny tiny amount of arsenic- if you have ZERO- you will get sick and die. Same thing is true of many other weird elements, including stuff like gold. It may have something to do with life originating in the sea.
Teeth are alive. Difficult as that is to visualize. The minerals in them are constantly being updated, shifted, replaced, repaired. With zero fluorine- teeth are enormously more decay prone.
Now. If you’re on “city water” - most likely they are putting tiny amounts of fluorine in it (one of the most cost effective public health policies ever, in the USA - not sure if it’s policy in Canada, but you guys are usually smarter than we are, so I’d bet it IS.) - in which case you likely do not NEED fluorine in your toothpaste.
A basic test for your “fluoride is evil” advisors - do they also believe in Big Foot?
Grains of salt make be called for. Iodized salt.
October 25, 2007 at 1:25 pm
hm. obviously, that’s MAY be called for; my caffeine titer is low yet this morning…
October 25, 2007 at 2:43 pm
I agree with Greenpa on this one - I have very cavity-prone teeth, regardless of how diligent I am with flossing and brushing. I’m only 29 and grew up with the flouride program at school (since I was on well water) and I still have problems. I finally asked my dentist what the solution was, and he said some people just have naturally weaker enamel and more acidic saliva. I can’t imagine what my teeth would be like without a regular dose of fluoride!
Might be worth monitoring and discussing with your dentist.
October 25, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Isn’t flouride also contained in some foods, though? I couldn’t find good information quickly–but if you eat enough flouride, why smear it all over your teeth in addition?
http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/000109.htm
This was the best-looking thing that I could quickly find.
I recall hearing a biology student point out to me once that flouride is often an industrial byproduct, sold cheaply to toothpaste manyfacturers and marketed as being vital. She was upset about it because some study had apparently linked it to hyperactivity in some children.
October 25, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Yes, iron is also toxic when we’ve got too much but we certainly need it. Aren’t most minerals/metals necessary but toxic?
I am seriously doubtful about flouride being link to hyperactivity. If that were true, everyone who grew up in an area with flourided (?) water would have a higher chance of being hyperactive. I don’t know how you could isolate flouride as a factor when there are so many other social and environmental things that have changed along with increased availability to flouride.
October 25, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Hey everyone,
So I actually asked my dentist about the whole fluoride thing and whether or not he was being brainwashed by the fluoride secret service, and he said that there have been a million studies showing that it’s important for kids to get fluoride — however they don’t need as much as was originally thought some years ago — but that adults are usually fine without it, unless they have particularly sensitive or cavity-prone teeth. As well, like Greenpa mentioned, there’s usually a fair amount of fluoride in city-treated water, so sometimes kids who drink well water in rural areas need a titch more. Either way, there’s no point freaking out over whether you’re getting too much or too little of it; it’s not going to lead to a life or death situation!
October 26, 2007 at 8:06 am
I went to my dentist a couple of weeks ago and took along my newly acquired all natural toothpaste (without flouride) and asked her about it. She said it would be fine to use because it would clean my teeth adequately, but I would also need to use a mouthwash with flouride. I told her that I drink lots of tap water (with flouride) and she said flouride in the diet is necessary for children until about age 13 when teeth stop growing. From then on you need it in toothpaste or mouthwash. I asked if using tap water as a mouthwash would work, but that doesn’t have enough flouride.
I can’t remember her exact words, but it was along the lines of, keeping your teeth clean will help prevent decay, but flouride is necessary too. The dentist was impressed with the state of my teeth so I’m going to go along with her advice to make sure they stay that way. I think the main reason my teeth are doing pretty well (at 30) is that when I was a kid we weren’t allowed sweets, lollies, soft drink, etc and when we had a drink it was tap water or milk. I always wished for junk food, but I’m glad of it now.
I was devastated to hear my toothpaste wasn’t adequate (just when I’d got used to the strange taste) and I’ve gone back to an ordinary toothpaste. But I’m still on the lookout for a toothpaste without such abrasive cleaning agents and flouride as well.
May 22, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Genuine Leather Handbag…
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you….
August 13, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I enjoy my time at the dentist for the most part. I hate it when they scrape my gums off with the claw, and then comment on how my gums are bleeding. I also hate it when they try to talk to me while both of their hands are in my mouth.