Fluoride Essay -- essays research papers

FluorideFluoride is a mineral that occurs naturally in almost all foods and wetsupplies. The fluoride ion comes from the element fluorine. Fluorine, the 13thmost exuberant element in the earths crust, is never encountered in its freestate in nature. It exists only in combination with other(a) elements as a fluoridecompound. Fluoride is impelling in preventing and reversing the early signs oftooth decay. Researchers possess shown that there are several ways through whichfluoride achieves its decay-preventive effects. It makes the tooth structurestronger, so teeth are more resistant to acid attacks. sulphurous is formed when thebacteria in plaque break down sugars and carbohydrates from the diet. Repeatedacid attacks break down the tooth, which causes cavities. Fluoride also acts torepair areas in which acid attacks have already begun. The remineralizationeffect of fluoride is important because it reverses the early decay process aswell as creating a tooth surface that is more r esistant to decay. Communitywater fluoridation is the adjustment of the amount of the beneficial traceelement fluoride found in water to provide for the proper bulwark of teeth.Fluoridation has been widely utilise in this country since 1945. It does notinvolve adding anything to the water that is not already there, since virtuallyall sources of drinking water in the United States contain almost fluoride.Fluoridation is a form of nutritional supplementation that is not unlike theaddition of vitamins to milk, breads and fruit drinks iodine to table salt andboth vitamins and minerals to breakfast cereals, grains and pastas. Theprotection of fluoridation reaches participation members in their homes, at work andat school -- simply by drinking the water. The only requirements for theimplementation of fluoridation are the armorial bearing of a treatable centralized watersupply and approval by appropriate decision makers. Some people believe thatthere are effective alternatives to comm unity water fluoridation as a publichealth measure for the prevention of tooth decay in the United States. The factof the matter is that while other community-based methods of systemic andtopical fluoride delivery (i.e. school-based fluoride mouthwash or tabletprograms) have been developed over the five decades that water fluoridation hasbeen practiced, none is as effective as community water fluori... ...ny evidence to show that dental fluorosis is a precursor to any diseaseor dysfunction. Mild to moderate dental fluorosis is no more a pathologicalcondition than is having freckles. There has never been a single valid, peer-reviewed laboratory, clinical or epidemiological study that showed that drinkingwater with fluoride at optimal levels caused cancer, heart disease, or any ofthe other multitude of diseases proclaimed by very small groups ofantifluoridationists to be caused by fluoridation. Because fluoride is soeffective, those fortunate rich to be provided with fluoridated wat er cancount on an up to 40- to 50-percent reduction in the number of dental cavitiesthey would have experienced without fluoridation. Fluoridation is an extremely cost-efficient public health measure because the technology is so simple and thefluoride so inexpensive. Studies indicate that a $100,000 investment in waterfluoridation prevents 500,000 cavities. Moreover, for each horse invested influoridation, over $80 in dental treatment costs are prevented, amounting to an801 benefit-to-cost ratio. Few disease prevention efforts, public or private,achieve that level of return on investment.