Flouride drops

[spiritofthings]

Was wondering what y'all thought about fluoride drops for infants. I'm having difficulty finding any credible information for or against.

Thank you.

[janellesmommy]

You could check out the info in my signature.

[Plummeting]

Well, since the ADA recently came out and said that children under 1 year should not even be given formula made with fluoridated tap water or fluoridated "nursery water" I think that's a pretty strong statement against supplemental fluoride.

This is from the American Dental Association website (emphasis mine to show that they do not support daily/routine supplemental fluoride for infants):

• feeding infants breast milk, widely acknowledged as the most complete form of nutrition for infants;
  
• for infants who get most of their nutrition from formula during the first 12 months, choosing ready-to-feed formula over formula mixed with fluoridated water to help ensure that infants do not exceed the optimal amount of fluoride intake;
  
• if liquid or powdered concentrate infant formulas is the primary source of nutrition, it can be mixed with water that is fluoride free or contains low levels of fluoride to decrease the risk of fluorosis, including water that is labeled purified, demineralized, deionized, distilled or reverse osmosis filtered water (many grocery stores sell these types of drinking water for less than $1 per gallon);
  
• the occasional use of water containing optimal levels of fluoride should not appreciably increase a child's risk for fluorosis.

The article also says:

The guidance also notes that fluoride mouthrinses and dietary fluoride supplements should not be used for young children unless recommended by a dentist or other health professional and that people living in areas where naturally occurring fluoride levels in drinking water exceed 2 parts per million should consider an alternative water source or home water treatments to reduce the risk of fluorosis for young children.

http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pu...articleid=2212

Okay, it says "unless recommended by a....health professional...." but I'm sure that when a ped routinely recommends fluoride supplements to all patients or all breastfed patients, they're not doing it because they have a good reason to, just because they're ignorant. Did your ped even ask what kind of water your child drinks, what city you live in exactly, etc.? If not, he/she isn't even following the ADA's recommendations on fluoride supplementation for infants.

If your ped did ask, then you have to decide for yourself whether or not fluoride is supposed to be ingested. Many scientists are strongly opposed to water fluoridation:

Why EPA's Headquarters Professionals' Union Opposes Fluoridation

by Dr. J. William Hirzy
Senior Vice President, NTEU Chapter 280

The following documents why our union, formerly National Federation of Federal Employees Local 2050 and since April 1998 Chapter 280 of the National Treasury Employees Union, took the stand it did opposing fluoridation of drinking water supplies. Our union is comprised of and represents the approximately 1500 scientists, lawyers, engineers and other professional employees at EPA Headquarters here in Washington, D.C. ............ Since then our opposition to drinking water fluoridation has grown, based on the scientific literature documenting the increasingly out-of-control exposures to fluoride, the lack of benefit to dental health from ingestion of fluoride and the hazards to human health from such ingestion. These hazards include acute toxic hazard, such as to people with impaired kidney function, as well as chronic toxic hazards of gene mutations, cancer, reproductive effects, neurotoxicity, bone pathology and dental fluorosis. First, a review of recent neurotoxicity research results.

http://www.fluoridealert.org/hp-epa.htm

Read the whole thing. There are links to study abstracts on Pubmed and tons of other information.

[lioralourie]

we live in China, where we all drink bottled water, and this question comes up a lot.

Nobody gives their babies fluoride drops. Even the docs and dentists say it is totally unnecessary. And the hospitals would stand to make oodles of cash if every over-insured expat over here decided to give their babies and kids the drops...

so I tend to trust them, for once.

[annettemarie]

Moving to the dental forum.

[gwynthfair]

http://www.iaomt.org/articles/catego...D=196&catid=30

[nyscof]

Avoid Fluoride

Originally Posted by spiritofthings

Was wondering what y'all thought about fluoride drops for infants. I'm having difficulty finding any credible information for or against.

Thank you.

Excerpt from below study: "the use of dietary fluoride supplements during the first 6 years of life is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing fluorosis'


Fluoridation Doing More Harm Than Good, Studies Show

New York – May 10 – Contrary to belief, fluoridation is damaging teeth with little cavity reduction, according to a review of recent studies reported in Clinical Oral Investigations.(1)

Pizzo and colleagues reviewed English-language fluoridation studies published from January 2001 to June 2006 and write, “Several epidemiological studies conducted in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities suggest that [fluoridation] may be unnecessary for caries prevention…”

They also report that fluoride-damaged teeth spiked upwards to 51% from the 10-12% found over 60 years ago in “optimally” fluoridated communities. Dental fluorosis is white-spotted, yellow, brown-stained and/or pitted teeth.

Fluoridation began in 1945 when dentists thought that ingested fluoride incorporated into children’s developing tooth enamel to prevent cavities. However, Pizzo’s group reports that fluoride ingestion confers little, if any, benefit and fails to reduce oral health disparities in low-income Americans.

Also, any difference in fluoride tooth enamel surface concentration between fluoridated and low-fluoridated areas is minimal. And the relationship between higher enamel fluoride levels to less tooth decay was not found.

“Some risk of increasing fluorosis may be attributed to the ingestion of powdered infant formula reconstituted with fluoridated water… [and] foods and beverages processed in fluoridated areas… Furthermore, the use of dietary fluoride supplements during the first 6 years of life is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing fluorosis,” they write.

Lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation says, “Recent news reports claiming fluoride-free bottled water caused the cavity increase trends in toddlers are implausible because rising fluorosis rates clearly indicate that children are over-fluoridated, not under-fluoridated.”

“There’s no dispute that too much fluoride damages teeth, actually making them more decay-prone. Research is indicated to see if fluoride is causing the cavity escalation,” says Beeber.

Some studies Pizzo reviewed focused on communities that stopped water fluoridation. “…after the cessation, caries prevalence did not rise, remained almost the same or even decreased further,” writes Pizzo’s group.

“In most European countries, where [water fluoridation] has never been adopted, a substantial decline [75%] in caries prevalence has been reported in the last decades,” they report.

To avoid dental fluorosis, the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control advise against mixing concentrated infant formulas with fluoridated water.

“Fluoride is bone- and health-damaging as well,” says Beeber. (2)

In 1999, researchers found that children in Connersville, Indiana, consumed over recommended levels of fluoride even though their water supply wasn’t fluoridated. (3) Organized dentistry still successfully instigated fluoridation and the American Dental Association bragged about it, carelessly putting more Connersville children at risk of developing dental fluorosis. (4)

Reference:

1) "Community Water Fluoridation and Caries Prevention: A Critical Review," Clinical Oral Investigations, by Giuseppe Pizzo & Maria R. Piscopo & Ignazio Pizzo &
Giovanna Giuliana 2007 Feb 27; [Epub ahead of print]


http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/Pizzo-2007.pdf

2) http://fluoridealert.org/health/epa/nrc/carton-2006.pdf

3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

4) http://www.ada.org/public/topics/flu...uoridation.pdf


New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof

http://www.FluorideAction.Net


Fluoridation News Releases
http://tinyurl.com/6kqtu

Tooth Decay Crises in Fluoridated Areas
http://www.fluoridenews.blogspot.com/