Comment by woodruffw
1 year ago
This stood out to me:
> The American Dental Association has strongly urged NTP to add a disclaimer to the report highlighting its scientific limitations.
A recurring theme in alternative health circles is that dentists, doctors, etc. fundamentally can’t be trusted due to profit motives: that “real” medicine is suppressed because there’s no profit in it.
I think this quote is worth highlighting because it’s the exact opposite: water fluoridation is virtually free, and has a lopsided positive impact on dental health. In other words: it’s hard to square with the normal claims of profit seeking.
There's profit motive everywhere. "Alternative" medicine is a many billion dollar massive business that often has higher margins than "big pharma" because they aren't highly regulated, yet a ton of people consider it more credible because they think only mainstream medicine has profit motive.
Somebody is getting paid for that fluoride.
Someone is always getting paid for something. That doesn’t mean dentists have a financial interest your municipality’s water supply.
They don't except for "eye wash" procedures like fluoride trays and polishes. The ADA has a vested interest in fluoridation because of reputation, and chemical suppliers do to a minimal degree.
A long time ago, it was decided US fluoridation "improved public health" with the quick win of moving the needle of tooth decay while failing to consider the long-term, detrimental health effects of systemic fluoride ingestion. The rest of the world doesn't do it because of the evidence against it and widespread availability of modern dental care products containing fluoride.
The trivialization of anti-fluoridation is primarily due to mass media indoctrination, i.e., Dr. Strangelove, and association with conspiracy wingnuts.
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> Losing fluoride would eliminate billable parts of appointments and even some dental visits costing association members.
Isn't this the opposite?
Removing fluoride from drinking water would presumably increase cavities, which would increase business for dentists.
Cavities would increase but your checkup appointment becomes unnecessary
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The point is about municipal water. I don’t have to (and in fact don’t) believe that the ADA is a virtuous organization to observe that there is no financial benefit to their support for fluoride in municipal water supplies. Less fluoride in the water means more money for them.