Today’s blog is inspired by my normal 6 monthly checkup with the dentist (oh exciting I hear you say)!
When I got there today, there was a new dentist, a new fluoride pushing dentist! I say this as I happened to mention to her I only use natural toothpaste and mouthwash……..this may have been my first mistake!
She proceeded to tell me why fluoride is good for dental health, so I countered her argument with one of my own about why fluoride is bad for your teeth and more importantly for overall health. I was already starting to think at this stage that this could all go horribly wrong, as both of us had poplar opposite opinions on this subject and she, of course, held all the cards, as in she had the sharp metal instruments hovering over my mouth and face!
I decided at this point (don’t ask me why I had to rub salt into the wound but I couldn’t help myself) to ask her her opinion on why since using natural tooth paste and mouth wash my teeth were noticeably whiter, are no longer sensitive (even when eating very hot foods), my gums no longer bleed and I never have to have any work completed on my teeth. She of course couldn’t answer, but was good enough not to try to wire my jaw together to shut me up, so I feel we both won a little bit of this round and we continued the rest of my checkup in begrudging silence.
One of the reasons I felt inspired to write a blog about this was because this episode made me realise I hadn’t had any plans to add dental care to the book I’m writing about living a less toxic life (yet it most definitely should be in there). I have found in the last few weeks a few things like this have come up and on each occasion I’ve realised I would have missed an important element of my book if this hadn’t happened to me to remind me to add it in. So I’m very grateful for these slightly uncomfortable showdowns, but I’m also wondering if that’s the end of it or am I going to upset everyone I come across until the book is finished?
The other reason I wanted to write a blog about this was to just share the basics of why fluoride is potentially damaging to our health, as most people don’t realise this and it’s really important people begin to realise the potential harmful effects of what’s in normal everyday items we use in our homes and on our bodies, as we can easily make small changes to address these.
So I’ve put together a little list of the possible side effects of using fluoride based products and drinking fluoridated water:
* Increase risk of thyroid disease (and worsening of symptoms if you already have this)
* Decrease in bone strength
* Acute body toxicity
* Affects sleep
* Can affect children’s brain development and even intelligence
* Arthritis
* Hormonal Issues
* Kidney Disease
* Hypersensitivity (rashes, lesions, headaches, joint pain, fatigue, intolerances and vision problems)
* Can hinder teeth development in children (yep, you read this right)
* Digestive Issues
* Infertility
* Cancer
* Cardiovascular Issues
* Hinders the absorption of antioxidants
* Incresed risk of Alzheimer’s
* Muscle pain
* Hair loss
* Weight gain
And lastly, if you cook with fluoridated water in aluminum pans then this makes the pan leach more of the aluminum into your food!
If all this wasn’t bad enough there have been a number of studies recently, that suggests fluoride isn’t even as good for our teeth’s health and development as first thought all those years ago when they started adding it into dental products and our water, but for some reason we’re still adding it and being told it’s good for us??
So you all now see why I got on my soap box today and why I was pretty lucky my dentist didn’t wire my mouth shut. I’m pretty sure I won’t change my dentists views on the subject (although I’m tempted to send her a copy of my book when it’s published, ha) but perhaps I’ve opened your eyes to it instead.
For those of you that want to know, I use the following toothpaste as it’s the closest one I’ve found to normal toothpaste, as in it doesn’t feel like your brushing your teeth with clay like a lot of the natural toothpastes do and I know this is one of the things that put people off going natural. You can get this brand in most health stores, online and obviously in Holland & Barrett (where it’s often on special offer), oh and a little goes a long way, so don’t be put off by the price.
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=1675&prodid=1759#.Un05AHDwle8
Thanks for reading my dentist-inspired rant/educational blog today, ha =0)
I am confused about this one Faith, I started using a herbal toothpaste too and as I was trying to avoid sulphates and fluoride but my dentist who is very open to holistic therapy strongly advised me to buy a fluoride toothpaste and recommended sensodyne which I use presently. He stated that too much fluoride use was more of an issue in America where they have a lot added to water compared with us who have very little. As there is no way of me proving this I am left feeling confused though still and really don’t know if I want to risk not use fluoride for my teeth or not.
Fluoride is incredibly bad for your health and especially so for anyone with suspected thyroid issues. They even have warnings on such tooth pastes to say if you swallow any then consult a doctor, yet you absorb loads of it through brushing alone. I have watched loads of Your Tube clips from ex dentists etc who recommend removing all fluoride products from your daily routine. It’s also worth remembering that fluoride is just one of the many, many toxic chemicals in commercial toothpastes that you don’t want it your body.
Read some of the articles on this page: http://www.nofluoride.com/
Thanks for that link Faith I did have a good read of it but for as many of the articles I have read about fluoride being bad for you I have read just as many about the benefits. So then I have to weigh things up by taking our own personal circumstances into account and also trusting what my insticts are telling me. For us we are lucky as we don’t have any chemicals added to our water, it is sourced from a local stream and we use a uv filter. My three boys have always used a pea sized amount of fluoride toothpaste twice a day and are now in their teens and twenties and none of them have ever had fillings, unlike me who has 14 in big long lines on all my molars, put their when I was ten. I’m not saying that was all due to a lack of fluoride as I have heard many of my generation complaining about the large amount of fillings fitted back then that may of been due to a more lucrative pay packet for dentists or used as a preventative measure. I did have a lot of worries about mercury too but then knew many people with m.e who didn’t have fillings and to cut a very long story short I did get my mercury levels tested and I was okay. Anyway I am like you always looking at ways of improving things and eliminating anything I feel is affecting my health and with many toxins either nutritional, household environmental or cosmetics I have noticed a difference. However when I used the herbal toothpaste for all those months my gums still bled each day and I didn’t notice any other improvement. So I think for me certainty at this time I will continue to use my sensodyne as I have noticed it is easier on my gums. I also noticed a big improvement when I started oil pulling with seasame oil for twenty minutes each morning. The dentist was amazed at how it repaired my recededing gums said he hadn’t seen anything like it before. Anyway Faith I’ve decided not to keep searching about fluoride at this time as I realise too much of that can be detrimental health wise and from what I have experienced and read their isn’t any conclusive proof. Love reading your posts…keep shining x