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We dentists are an evil group of sociopaths. When we’re not trying to kill you or give you chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis with our toxic mercury saturated fillings, we are advocating for the placement of rat poison/industrial waste (i.e. fluoride) in your water supply by our governmental overlords. What is up with us?

The problem is, we’re failing miserably. Even after more than 150 years of placing silver amalgam restorations in our patients, thereby saving untold numbers of teeth, reducing pain and suffering, and improving chewing ability for millions upon millions of people, there is still no evidence worth a damn that shows any correlation or causative effects for any known disease or condition. And with fluoride, after adjusting fluoride levels in municipal water supplies throughout the U.S. and in many places world wide for over sixty years, after adding fluoride to toothpastes and mouthwashes, and giving fluoride treatments to patients in our offices, the only nefarious result we have obtained is the significant reduction of dental decay with its concomitant savings of billions of health care dollars and untold pain and suffering for our patients. Man, we can’t do anything right.

Now, with the help of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), there’s a new strategy.

Our new strategy is to recommend the use of fluoride toothpaste as soon as the first tooth erupts, which is typically around six months of age. On August 25th, the AAP issued new guidelines to that effect. To summarize their position, which echoes the positions of the American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), the AAP stated:

Fluoridated toothpaste is recommended for all children starting at tooth eruption, regardless of caries risk.

A smear (the size of a grain of rice) of toothpaste should be used up to age 3. After age 3, a pea-sized amount may be used. Parents should dispense toothpaste for young children and supervise and assist with brushing.

Fluoride varnish is recommended in the primary care setting every 3–6 months starting at tooth emergence.

Over-the counter fluoride rinse is not recommended for children younger than 6 years due to risk of swallowing higher-than-recommended levels of fluoride.

Dentists, myself included, are pleased that the AAP issued these guidelines, both because of the content but also because getting this information out to pediatricians and other physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals is instrumental in the education of new parents and the dental health of the child. The opportunity for interaction between parent and doctor during the first six months of the child’s life is going to be much greater at the physician’s office during well (and sick) baby visits than at the dentist’s. Moreover, we dentists are rejoicing at the increased role that Primary Care Providers (PCP) are playing in the dental health education of children, an area long neglected in the past. They, not we dentists, are almost always the earliest contact point between child and dental health, both in the clinic and in public health programs. In fact, last January, two extremely intelligent and handsome Science Based Medicine authors wrote a blog post about this very subject. However, if you look back at that article, it described the old guidelines for fluoride use, which stated that a fluoride containing toothpaste should be used as soon as the first tooth erupts in high-decay-risk children, and at two years old otherwise. Now, as stated above, it is recommended that fluoride-containing toothpaste be used at tooth emergence on all children. When followed properly, the benefit to the child can be significant while lowering risks (namely dental fluorosis) to nearly zero. And to reiterate the recommendations, if you’re brushing your precious lil’ nipper’s first tooth, do not use a full fledged nurdle, but instead place a tiny smear no larger than a grain of rice on the toothbrush to minimize swallowing any excess toothpaste.

When the AAP made its recommendations a couple of weeks ago, I prepared myself for the outrage and pushback from the likes of Mercola and other associated Woomeisters. But to my surprise, there was almost no backlash, no indignation, no accusations of sapping and impurifying our precious bodily fluids by dentists and school and public health outreach programs. Oh sure, there were a few cries in the wilderness, such as the one from a Susan Posel at OccupyCorporatism.com, who goes on a random and somewhat irrational screed about fluoride being a neurotoxin, and sometimes “…fluoride, among other neurotoxins are causational to the onset of neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs).

The researchers identify a few NDDs [sic] as:

Autism

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Dyslexia”

Fortunately and to my delight, Aimee Ogden at Mommyish.com wrote a witty piece in support of the AAP’s position, complete with a game of Anti-Fluoride Bingo to play with the comments to her post. I will unashamedly and with gratitude steal her bingo card for use here so you readers can play along at home.

So there you have it. Although there are no epidemiological studies that demonstrate a causative link between professionally applied fluoride or fluoride-containing products and any of the above disorders (or any other disorders for that matter), this is the tack the anti-fluoridationists take. Perhaps they cite a study from industrial pollution, or from areas of the world that have many times the recommended concentration of fluoride naturally occurring in their water supply. But in the case of optimal fluoridation of municipal water supplies, the literature is clear: tooth decay is significantly reduced (30-60%, depending on demographic factors), period, with almost no adverse side effects other than cosmetic blemishes on teeth. That’s it. No lowered IQs, no neurotoxicity, no calcification of the pineal gland which, as we all know, is the seat of the soul. Consequently, before you feel the need to run out and detoxify yourself, either by eating turmeric, a spice alleged in the Pharmacognosy Magazine to mitigate the effects of fluoride toxicity, or any of the other detox remedies on the market.

So rest easy gentle readers. No matter how hard we try, we dentists aren’t very good at poisoning you people. In fact all those things we recommend to you actually are beneficial to your dental and overall health and have a long track record of success as well as reams of solid scientific evidence to back up their safety and efficacy. And kudos to the AAP for updating their fluoride recommendations to better protect our young children from dental decay, the number one malady affecting children.