Fluoride, bellyaches, food, and concentration....

In Stanley Kubrick's classic 1964 movie, Dr. Strangelove, the deranged General Jack D. Ripper thinks he knows a secret communist plot to destroy Americans from within. "A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice," he says ominously. He's referring to water fluoridation, "the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face."

It is really easy to find lots of horror stories about fluoridated water on the internet but they never mention the benefits of it. And there are lots of benefits to fluoridated water.

I've told this story before but I'll tell it here again:

When I first moved to Oregon and went to my first dental cleaning the first thing the dentist asked was "You didn't grow up here, did you?" When I asked how he could tell it was because I still had all my teeth. I was in my early 30s -- not the age you think people would be losing their teeth but in Oregon it is rare for a dentist to see someone in their 30s whose teeth aren't falling out of their mouths.

I grew up drinking fluoridated water and I benefit from that. If you look into the history of fluoridation you will find some interesting facts about how it occurs naturally in a lot of water and that is how they discovered the benefits it carries.

If it weren't for Mo's bellyaches and the dentists confirmation that some people do have a sensitivity to ingested fluoride I would never have given it a second thought.

I sent an email to Mo's teacher today asking for some information about the program and about Mo's behavior and letting her know what thoughts I was chasing. I probably won't hear back until Monday when school resumes but I'll be sure to let you all know what she has to say.

As to bottled water. I had a bit of a rethink on that not long ago when I realized how many plastic bottles I was throwing into the recycling bin each week so I went out and bought a water filter for my tap. The lesser of two evils, I suppose.....

But it says that on every tube of toothpaste, roger.

For every article a person can find about the horrors of fluoride there are more about it's benefits.

"Fatal if swallowed". Sounds like kind of a negative, to me.