nietzsche wrote:Not sure if this has already been discussed here, did a quick search and didn't found a thread for it.
It was brought up in a couple of other threads, though perhaps not a single thread on its own.
nietzsche wrote:Does anyone really knows anything about it? Is it true that we are sacrificing a lot in order to have pretty teeth?
The health of people's teeth has significantly increased. It seems to have been a good, cost-effective decision at the time. However, now people brush their teeth more and can obtain flouride in other forms. With more and more people recently buying water in bottles instead of the much cheaper tap water, problems have begun to creep up again, but that can be combated by other types of fluoride use.
nietzsche wrote:I've read a bit about it, but not sure if it's really backed up by hard science or it's just a conspiracy theory...
What do you think?
You will find a lot of both. As a general rule, too often the first page or two of most "google" searches are mostly garbage, but if you take the time to verify sources, you can find the real science.
Flouride has absolutely resulted in better teeth, which results in better overall health in many ways. (its not just about looking pretty by any means). However, how much and whether municipal additions are currently the best way to do it is another question, and a complicated one.
When it comes to any public decision, its not just a matter of if something will or will not cause harm, because almost anything will, particularly given unlimited levels and time. I mean, you can be "poisoned" by drinking too much water, but we die pretty quickly without it! The question is whether the good significantly outweighs the harm. In the case of fluoride, things have changed a lot. It was a good decision to add it to water, but is could be that something like fluoride rinses in school (which they do in some parts of Scandinavia) or even giving supplements to some people might be better than adding it to all water.