Aprill wrote in message . au...
HI all,

Given our recent tank talk I am curious about what people do about
flouride, if anything. I have seen the wonders of flouride in our urban
drinking water and I am wondering do any of you take any measures with
your rain water?

cheerio,
aprill

Actually, researchers found little or no difference in decay rates
between Australian children who drink fluoridated tap water and those
who drink non-fluoridated tank or bottled water. Here's the story.

Fluoridation: No Benefit, Another Study Shows

New York -- August 2004 -- Dental examinations of 4800 South
Australian ten- to fifteen-year-olds' permanent teeth reveal
unexpected results - similar cavity rates whether they drink
fluoridated water or not, reports Armfield and Spencer in the August
2004 "Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology"(1).

Children sampled lived in fluoridated and nonfluoridated metropolitan
and rural areas of the Australian state, South Australia.

Collected rainwater, or tank water, is the main non-fluoridated
(non-public) water source for 37% of South Australians, 8% drink
bottled water. The public water supply is fluoridated in Adelaide,
South Australia's capital city. The rest of South Australia is
predominantly non-fluoridated, the authors report.

"The effect of consumption of nonpublic (non-fluoridated) water on
permanent caries (cavities) experience was not significant," report
Armfield and Spencer.

"It should be noted that, as discussed here, the drinking of bottled
or tank water is neither immediately deleterious nor beneficial to
oral health in and of itself," write the authors.

The American Dental Association asserts that fluoridation provides
15-35% cavity reductions in fourteen to seventeen-year-olds. But South
Australian adolescents averaged less than 1 ½ decayed, missing or
filled permanent tooth surfaces (28 teeth have 128 surfaces), whether
they drank fluoridated water or not.

Actually, many studies show, after fluoridation ceases, cavities
decline(2). Others reveal fluoridation is ineffective at reducing
tooth decay(3a-j).

The media recently used the Australian study to blame fluoride-free
bottled or tank water for increased cavity rates in primary or baby
teeth(4). However, no decay data was included for one- to
four-year-olds, the children with the most baby teeth. The studied
group (5100 five- to nine-year-olds) already shed primary teeth,
perhaps some decayed. This places doubt on the validity of the
conclusion that fluoridated water is linked to decreased primary-tooth
cavities in this population sample.

"Cities waste millions of dollars fluoridating their water supplies;
but the poor, malnourished or less educated still get the most
cavities and the least dental care," says lawyer Paul Beeber,
President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.

"Dental health crises exist in many, fluoridated cities(5); while
residents of non-fluoridated Wichita, Kansas and Long Island, NY, have
better dental health than many fluoridated areas(6)," says Beeber.

In fact, non-water-fluoridated Finland, Sweden and Holland have cut
tooth decay rates by 92%, 82% and 72% respectively over the past 20
years. (7)

In the US, where around 60% of the country's water supply, and
virtually all foods and beverages, is fluoridated, health chiefs only
managed to cut rates by 50% over the same period.(7)

References:

1) Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, August 2004 Consumption
of nonpublic water: implications for children's caries experience,
byArmfield JM, Spencer AJ.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15239780

2) "When Fluoridation Ends - So Do Cavities"
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof/_pgg6.php3

3a) Quintessence Internation, May 2002, "Dental caries and fluorosis
in low- and high-fluoride areas in Turkey. Ermis RB, Koray F, Akdeniz
BG. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

b) Journal of Rural Health, Summer 2003, "Oral health status of
children and adolescents by rural residence, United States." by
Clemencia M. Vargas, DDS, PhD; Cynthia R. Ronzio, PhD; and Kathy L.
Hayes, DMD, MPH http://www.nrharural.org/JRH/JRH19-3/rurh-19-03-260.pdf

c) http://www.enn.com/direct/display-re...3F2C0618E21B27

d) FLUORIDE 31(2), 1998, pp 103-118
http://www.fluoride-journal.com/98-31-2/312103.htm

e) http://www.fluoridealert.org/diesendorf.htm

f) http://www.slweb.org/glass-1981.html

g) http://www.slweb.org/gray-1987.html

h) http://www.fluoridealert.org/DMFTs.htm

i) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...t_uids=8402302

j) http://www.fluoridation.com/caries1.htm

4) http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...?oneclick=true

(5) Cavity Crises Exist in Fluoridated Cities
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof2/_pgg6.php3

(6) "Dentists Award the Cavity-prone and Toothless,"
http://www.enn.com/direct/display-re...B93DC906D7E56F

(7) How Other Countries Have Stopped the Rot; THE INTERNATIONAL
SOLUTION Evening Times; Glasgow (UK) Aug 19, 01:49 AM EST
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk or
http://businesscontent.verizon.net/p...ory=Computers&

New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/newyorkst...tofluoridation
http://www.freewebs.com/nyscof

Fluoride NewsTracker Blog
http://www.fluoridenews.blogspot.com

Fluoride Action Network
http://www.fluoridealert.org