What’s That Stuff Fluoride
The actual definition of fluoride is a salt of hydrofluoric acid consisting of two elements, one of which is fluorine, as sodium fluoride, NaF. Fluoride is a substance that can be found in our drinking water. Some people like it in our drinking water and some people do not. People disapprove of adding fluoride to drinking water for many reasons. One reason is that scientists do not know enough about the element fluoride. Some people claim that fluoride can lead to cancer and bone damage such as calcification and abnormal growth. Others claim it can lead to genetic mutations and chromosome aberrations. Some argue that it has led to better dental health; others view it as ‘mass medication’ with a substance that could actually be detrimental to health. There are two sides to the argument. Some other symptoms/ risks include:
Increased bone fractures, fluorosis (discoloration /,
mottling, pitting of teeth), osteosclerosis, tinnitus,
hearing loss, stomach ulcers, skin rash, tremors,
delayed brain development, bone / arthritic pains,
greater risk of some cancers, convulsions, death, also is said to harm infants.
After researching about the controversy over fluoride in drinking water I am pretty sure I do not like the idea of fluoride in our drinking water. People have claimed that it causes all kinds of health problems such as: cancer, bone damage, genetic mutations, chromosome aberrations, and more. My opinion, on adding fluoride to our drinking water, is that it is too much of a health risk. All of the side effects do not sound that great to me. The one that sticks out the most, for me, is bone damage. While too little fluoride has a weakening effect on bone, too much fluoride causes
brittleness of bone and thus increases fracture rates. This scares me because it basically means bones are easily broken or fractured. I would be weak the rest of my life and I would always have to be very careful. I would never get to anything fun like go bungee jumping and things like that.
There have been many advances in fluoride before it was widely spread and used in toothpastes and mouthwashes. Advances had to be made in toothpaste before fluoride could be widely used in toothpaste and mouthwashes because Fluoride has a high reactivity so scientists had to make changes so the Fluoride would not react. Some of these changes included increasing the Ph and altering the ingredients to the substances. The changes made to the toothpaste which allowed fluoride to be widely used was advantageous to the consumers of the mouthwashes/ toothpastes because scientists say that just the right amount of fluoride really helps prevent cavities and build up of decay.
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