Fluoride and Cognitive Decline

February 08, 2021

Fluoride and Cognitive Decline


It's almost a sacred given that fluoride in public water supplies reduced childhood cavities. The CDC website says it's good for you, calling it one of the 10 greatest health care advances of the 20th century. But hold on a little. Good, rigorous scientific review suggests that the original proponents of fluoridation were a little over-enthusiastic. A 15% reduction might be closer to the truth. Even a Cochrane review suggests the scientific underpinnings of fluoridation are not as rigorous as previously entertained. A little too much enthusiasm on the part of dentists to promote their profession and a touch too much enthusiasm on the part of the fluorine industry to sell their product. Hmmm.


So, what would you say if you saw an article in JAMA Pediatrics that shows for every 1 mg/L increase of fluoride in drinking water during pregnancy results in 4.9 less IQ points in children? Anyone want to sign up to drink that? That study was done in Canada, and published with some caution because of its controversy. The Europeans promptly dismissed it with a study of their own.  But the study stands!

 

If I came back and said that a carefully controlled study of mice's ability to learn while being given fluoride shows significant deterioration in just 12 weeks upon exposure to the same fluoride level we get in our water, then what would you say? Granted, those mice had some prearranged mutations that made them more vulnerable to cognitive decline but still! "The lower levels of synaptic proteins and enhanced oxidative stress detected in the hippocampus of APP mice were aggravated by fluoride".

This is concerning! If you do a deeper dive into the biomechanics of energy in the brain, and the damage caused by fluorine to mitochondria, you might just come away a bit shaken. It appears there is bench research showing that fluorine causes multiple problems at the molecular level that would give plausibility to the hypothesis that the presence of fluoride exacerbates many of the conditions that lead to cognitive decline.

Face it! Bottom line. It is a potent neurotoxin. We have been cautiously dancing around it for decades, trying to be nice for the dentists, the same crowd that told us that mercury in our mouths was ok. We need to respectfully ask our dental colleagues to prove fluoride to be safe before promoting it any further.

I'm not an "anti-vaxer" and I have always felt the "anti-fluoride" crowd was something cut from the same cloth. But when I read that Bredesen insists that all of his cognitive decline patients avoid fluoride, my feelings tipped. I think it's time to get on that train.


www.What will Work for me. I don't have city water so I'm not in the position to worry about that. I do have grandchildren who live in places where their water is fluoridated. I do have a Keurig for which we buy distilled water. But I just started using fluoride-free toothpaste. And no more painting my mouth with fluoride treatment after cleaning. I'll floss. I'll water-pik. But no fluoride.  I believe the decades it takes to develop cognitive issues hide the danger.  It's too hard to prove.


References: Colgate Network, CDC,  Int Jour Mol Sci, JAMA Pediatrics, Cochrane Reviews, Am Jr Public Health , Archives Toxicology, Alz Res and Ther., Int Jour Molecular Sci, Science Alert,  


Pop Quiz


1. What do we think the "real" dispassionate effect on cavities in children is true with fluoride? Answer: Probably about a 15% reduction.

2. For every 1 mg/L of extra fluoride, what happens to children's IQs? Answer: A 4.9 point decrease.

3. f it has that effect on kids, what about seniors worried about memory? Answer: Same problem - appears to accelerate it.

4. Where is your daily exposure to fluoride? Answer: Your toothpaste, your drinking water, your use of Teflon coated cookware......

5. Is it possible to lower your exposure? Answer: Over 77 cities in America have voted to have fluoride taken out of their water. Were they crazy or are you late to the show? Juneau studied it and found that kids got about 1 cavity a year extra. So, would you rather pay your dentist extra or pay the memory unit for long term memory care? Hmmm. Sophie might have something to say about that.


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