Listening to the Juke Box

“Clearly, the fluoride argument is a very complex issue, many differing scientific studies, with many different stakeholders who have many different perspectives, some well meaning and some self-serving, motivated by profit, and many just ignorant of the facts. Cui bono (latin for “as a benefit to whom”) more colloquially, WHO benefits?”

Perhaps it was rather an inauspicious date, September 11, 2009. I never got to hear Waipukurau dentist John Jukes deliver his opinion at a public meeting to discuss the Fluoridation of my home town’s water supply. So I decided to give it some Juke box time here in PLO.com The full transcript of John’s opinion is reprinted below.

“Good evening, my name is John Jukes, Thank you for inviting me to share my opinion regarding ‘Fluoridation of the town’s water supply’. I am a dentist, I have been practising in Waipukurau for 27 years. When I arrived in Waipukurau I believed that fluoridating a water supply was sound medicine. I now believe the opposite.

Tooth Decay Rates

I now believe that fluoride in the water has very little effect on tooth decay rates. I treat people from a catchment of 12 thousand people. Four thousand i.e. one third have their water fluoridated. I do not observe a difference in decay rates from the fluoridated population to the and non fluoridated. But I do observe a difference when the oral hygiene and the diet is poor. I also believe it is foolish medically and is contrary to a basic medical ethic.

* Tooth decay is caused by sugar.
* Tooth decay is not caused by lack of fluoride.
* Fluoride is not a nutrient

When fluoride is put in the water supply it not only changes the structure of our growing teeth but also changes the chemical composition of our entire skeleton. Our bones have taken thousands of year to evolve to where they are now. To change the chemical structure of the population’s bones, especially without telling them, seems foolhardy if not cavalier.

Dental Fluorosis

I routinely observe fluorosis of the enamel. Dental fluorosis is the first sign of fluoride toxicity or fluoride poisoning. I first observed this when I arrived in Waipukurau. I rang the provincial dental health officer and told him. His reply was “a nods as good as a wink to a blind horse” and I was encouraged to stay quiet. I found this response both disconcerting and alarming. It was this that stimulated my further reading on the subject.

The fluoride not only gets into our bones but also into our soft tissue. The fluoride ion is a chemically very active substance. It not only permeates our body it also combines with other chemicals and aids them in crossing tissue barriers. For example, if I want iodine to penetrate further into soft tissue I combine the iodine with fluoride. This is called povidine iodine and it penetrates further into the tissue. If one wished to bring fluoride therapy to bear, with regard to tooth decay it can be very adequately applied using a fluoridated toothpaste which should be spat out, not swallowed.

Studies

The studies I have read show an increasing volume of evidence linking fluoride with an array of pathology; hormonal, neurological, carcinogenic, inflammatory, and structural. The questions about fluoride as a toxin are vast. The World Health Organisation links certain arthritis with early stage skeletal fluorosis. There are animal studies and statistical studies linking fluoride with increased bone cancer. Yet I feel we have so little knowledge of fluoride’s negative effects that we are in no position to advise that it be taken systemically, that is by swallowing it.

There are many studies now showing that fluoride has a minimal influence on decay rate in teeth and that diet and oral hygiene are the overwhelming dominant factors. Since the cervical cancer experiments in the National Women’s Hospital in Auckland the new ethic of informed consent has been added to our ethical code. When treating a patient firstly they must be fully informed and secondly they must consent to the treatment. Fluoridating a water supply is medically treating a population that is neither informed nor consenting. Fluoridation of a water supply is unethical.

Twin City Studies in New Zealand

When the twin city studies were done in New Zealand the experiments were done with sodium fluoride yet we put an industrial grade fluorosilicate in the water. This opens another can of worms. In speaking of canned worms there is very little study on the environmental effects of flowing all this fluorosilicate into our water. Consider the quantity of that fluoridated water flowing into the Tuki Tuki from Waipukurau.

It has been observed, when a fluoride level, much lower than our drinking water enters the Columbian river the salmon don’t run. So, as I say the questions are vast. The science to support fluoridation is questionable. The evidence against fluoride increases by the years.

I reiterate:

* Tooth decay is not caused by a lack of fluoride
* Fluoride is not a nutrient
* Science is continually proving it’s toxicity
* It is medication
* It is impossible to fluoridate a water supply using informed consent.

Therefore, with today’s standards it is unethical. I believe, through observation and study that the fluoridation of Waipukurau’s water supply is foolish. Thank you.” Ask yourself, Cui bono – WHO benefits?

The VIDEO

* This is 3 of a 7 part blog. The NEXT blog is entitled ‘Consensus as scarce as Hen’s Teeth’