“What is That Stuff Fluoride?”
I recently read the article, “What is That Stuff Fluoride?” I thought this article was very interesting and informative. Just from reading this short article, I learned a great amount of facts about adding fluoride to everyday things like drinking water and toothpaste. I wanted to know a little bit more about fluoridated water, so I did some research and found another good article. I read this website all about fluoride, and I found out even more about fluoride.
Adding fluoride to drinking water can have many benefits. It helps prevent tooth decay. However, some people disapprove of adding fluoride to drinking water. When fluoride is added to drinking water in levels above 1ppm it can cause staining of teeth. Frederick S. McKay found this after setting up his dentistry in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1901. There he found that many people had stained teeth, but they were very resistant to decay. He did research and found out that the water in the town had high levels of fluoride in it which was causing the teeth not to decay, but also staining them.
Personally, I think adding fluoride to drinking water is a good idea. I think that today scientists have researched enough to know how much to add so that we get the benefits of fluoride without the side effects. Water with fluoride added can help prevent tooth decay, and keep our teeth healthier.
Many advances had to be made before fluoridated toothpastes could be widely used. When you make a toothpaste with fluoride in it, you must find the right mixture of fluoride and an abrasive. Most early toothpastes used calcium phosphate as their abrasive. The obstacle toothpaste companies had to overcome was finding a fluoride choice that worked with this. Procter & Gamble overcame this obstacle by matching stannous fluoride with calcium phosphate and launching Crest in 1955. However, when MFP, or sodium monofluorophosphate, was discovered, Colgate was introduced into the market and created newer fluoridated toothpaste. The discovery of MFP and the creating of Colgate helped secure fluoridated toothpaste’s spot on shelves everywhere.
The only side effect of using fluoride in drinking water, that is proven with substantial and creditable scientific research, is that it may cause staining of the teeth. However, this is not a large concern to me. These side effects have more of an effect on smaller children. Also, I think the benefits of fluoride added to drinking water are much better than the side effect of stained teeth.
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