What Is That Stuff? Fluoride
Fluoride is used for many purposes. Many people like having fluoride in their water, but some people disapprove. I believe that people disapprove of adding fluoride to drinking water, because in high levels, fluoride can be toxic. Fluoride also causes teeth to stain brown, although it still makes teeth stronger. Some people also believe that fluoride can also cause health effects, such as bone cancer, damage to the brain, and damage to the thyroid gland. Another reason people do not approve of it is because fluorine has bits of lead in it’s chemical makeup. I mostly believe that fluorine is disapproved of because of it’s link to cancer and other health problems.
I believe that until people have proven that fluoride does or does not have an effect on the health of citizens, fluoride should not be added to drinking water. If fluoride does cause health defects, then it should most definitely not be added to drinking water. If it doesn’t have health defects, then we should add it to drinking water, as it would help dental hygiene in the country. I am mostly undecided on my view to putting fluoride in drinking water because it has good qualities, such as making your teeth strong, and bad qualities, such as possible health defects. I believe that when confirmations about the effects of fluoride are confirmed, I will know whether or not I approve or disapprove of fluoride in drinking water. If you would like to look at the article this information came from, click on the link. http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/
Before fluoride was invented, many technological advances had to be made. In 23-79 AD, an oral cleaning regimen consisted of drinking goat milk, for sweet breath, eating ashes from burnt mice, rabbit, and wolves heads, for the gums, washing the teeth with tortoise blood three times a year, to prevent toothaches, and using mouthwash with either white wine or old urine. In the 18th century, the first toothpaste was created, which was a formula consisting of burnt bread. In the 19th century powder charcoal was very popular for cleaning your teeth, which was also flavored strawberry. In the 20th century liquid cleansers became popular and finally fluoride was introduced. To find more information about previous toothpaste, like I did, click here.
The most concerning side effect of fluoride, to me, is the risk of cancer. Cancer is such a horrible thing to go through, and I would hate for people in the world to go through it. I biggest reason I am concerned about the possibility of getting cancer is because one of my very close friends, Avery, suffered from leukemia and I would hate for someone to have to go through what she did. If cancer is a possible side effect of fluoride, I believe that fluoride should be taken out of drinking water as soon as possible.
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