Unknown to many, fluoride naturally comes from rocks and minerals and the amount present in water varies from area to area. We will analyze how fluoride is linked to a major decrease in tooth decay and how strong anti-fluoride advocates almost outlawed the adding of this substance to general tap water as well as spring water. It is truly fascinating to learn how the cause and effect is researched about particular ailments such as the very substance that caused Colorado Brown Stain ultimately became a huge cavity preventer. It’s reminiscent of how penicillin was discovered from moldy bread.

What Is Fluoride?

Although we know fluoride as a water additive whose purpose is to prevent and reduce tooth decay, it is a natural mineral that is found in rocks, soil, and plants entering different water systems at different levels depending on the place of origin. Although laced with controversy, fluoride today is added to local water in most cities in America. It was originally discovered as a risk for brown discolored teeth when present in large amounts contaminating the water supply of certain towns.

The Risk of Fluorosis

Fluorosis is a distinct and severe discoloration of the teeth named after many years of research to find the reason why a certain town’s citizens had this symptom while other towns did not.

Alcoa Aluminum Helps Find The Culprit For Brown Teeth

It all started in 1901 when Frederick McKay finished dental school and moved from the East Coast to Colorado Springs, Colorado to open his own dental practice. Being from a completely different part of the United States he was able to notice a shocking occurrence, permanent brown stains on the teeth of the inhabitants of Colorado Springs. Some stains were so severe in their dark brown color that folks compared it to the color of chocolate candy. These stains could not be removed, and the locals explained these stains away as too much calcium in the water and the over consumption of pork.

McKay, like any good novice dentist consulted his textbooks but could not find any record of such a disorder which was ultimately named, Colorado Black Stain by a well-known dental researcher, Dr. G.V. Black in 1909. Black was asked to come to Colorado by McKay to see if he could help discover the cause of this ailment which was affecting close to ninety-percent of the children in this area.

Black was quite puzzled that neither he nor Mckay could find this condition in any dental literature. Although Black died in 1925 before the research was completed, he and Mckay did discover an interesting phenomenon, the very teeth of the people who were afflicted with the brown stain had less tooth decay, meaning less cavities. Black and McKay disagreed on a theory that McKay expounded, that something in the water supply was causing the community’s teeth to turn brown. This theory was introduced to these two dentists by none other than some local residents themselves.

McKay’s theory was not proven until 1923 when parents in Oakley, Idaho asked McKay to come to meet them since they were noticing this type of brown stain on their children’s teeth. McKay questioned the parents about when the staining began, and they responded that it started soon after Oakley built a community water pipeline to a water spring five miles away. Although McKay could not find anything in the water to explain the cause of the brown teeth, he still advised them to relinquish the pipeline entirely.

Would you believe that the advice that McKay gave to the parents of Oakley actually kept the color of the children’s permanent teeth white? So even though McKay did not have the sophisticated tools to check the water source he was still able to solve the issue. The puzzle was solved when McKay was called to Bauxite, Arkansas along with Dr Grover Kempf from the United States Public Health Service. Bauxite, Arkansas belongs to ALCOA (aluminum) and they were experiencing the same issue as Oakley, the brown stained teeth. What was quite interesting is that although the children in Bauxite had the staining, a town only five miles away did not. McKay and Dr. Kempf were not able to find any distinct differences in the Bauxite water, so they gave the task over to an ALCOA chemist, H.V. Churchill.

The chemical department at ALCOA had more intricate methods of scientific analysis, one which is called photo spectrographic, and this analysis did find the culprit in the Bauxite water, high levels of fluoride. McKay’s thirty-year mission was coming to a close as Churchill instructed him to pick water samples from other towns who were experiencing brown stained teeth. The next step was to find out what were safe levels of fluoride in water sources. This was handled by several other dental professionals who were able to publicize that 1.0ppm was a safe level for drinking water that would not cause severe discoloration.

Fluoride Prevents Tooth Decay

Now that the fluorosis problem was solved, the head of the dental department at the National Institute of Health, Dr. H. Trendly Dean was onto another project, that although the contaminated teeth were brown and ugly looking, they were amazingly resilient to decay, decreasing the number of cavities.

Fluoride is Added to the Water Supply

It took a couple of years to convince the government agencies that a limited amount of fluoride in the water could save the teeth of countless people, children and adults alike especially considering the fact that fluoride was originally the scrooge of the brown teeth. In 1944, the Michigan Department of Health agreed to add fluoride to the drinking water. For fifteen years tooth decay rates were monitored, and the results were amazing. Tooth decay dropped to over sixty- percent in the children born after fluoridation of the drinking water. The study was quite extensive including approximately thirty-thousand children.

The Red Menace of Fluoridation

Each generation has their own menaces. Today we are dealing with challenges that prior generations have never imagined. In the 1950’s the menace was Communism. Innocent people were accused and blacklisted never to be allowed to work again especially in the entertainment industry. Organizations such as Citizens for Safe Drinking Water accused the advocates of fluoridation of keeping the harmful effects from the public such as lowered IQ scores in children, cancer, infertility, heart disease and birth defects. The anti-fluoride folks believed that the government was infringing on the private citizens’ rights to decide on the quality of their drinking water Many were not against fluoride per say they just did not want it in their drinking water only in their toothpaste and mouthwash.

In 1950, Alexander H. Wallace, an anti-fluoride advocate called fluoride a poison and publicized his opinion through protests and letters to the editors of prominent publications. He even collected signatures from those who were against fluoridation. He wanted the people to vote on it through a referendum, but the City Council pulled a fast one on him and secretly proceeded with adding fluoride to the water. When Wallace heard about this he published and handed out flyers stating, “Get the Poison Out of Our Drinking Water”. The City Council was quite surprised when the people voted against fluoridation on September 19, 1950.

Movies such as” Dr Stangelove” in 1964 called fluoride a dangerous Communist plot and the right winged, John Birch Society claimed secret motives behind fluoridation of the country’s water supply. When the futuristic novel, Brave New World came out it contained information about mandatory government drugs that would keep the population subdued and Wallace convinced people that the government is doing the same thing with fluoridation of drinking water.

What About Bottled Spring Water?

Check out a bottle of spring water such as Poland Spring and you will not find any indication that it contains fluoride. Now this is neither good nor bad because fluoride is safe in low dosages and beneficial for dental health. Yet, as stated earlier fluoride is naturally found on rocks and soil so if the rocks and soil that a spring water flows through has fluoride the water will naturally pick it up. The amount of fluoride depends on the region but most spring water will have less than one milligram per liter.

Although spring water contains traces of fluoride naturally it is much less than tap water. Since fluoride is purposely added to tap water to prevent cavities it will usually be higher. If you are concerned about the levels of fluoride in your spring water (which you should not be since no one is getting brown teeth) there are test kits that will give you the exact amount of fluoride in the brand of spring water, you choose. Always buy a reputable brand of spring water and that will assure you a safe drinking water experience.

Final Words

Today the word fluoride written on the front of most toothpastes is a given. However back in the 1940’s and 1950’s lots of controversy surrounded this chemical that is found in just about every drinking water even in spring water to a lesser degree. Fluorosis, Communism and just plain skepticism still keeps fluoride in the news to this day. We should know how much fluoride is in the water that we drink but most people are only interested in analyzing their drinking water for other types of harmful contaminants. Spring water companies are not required by law to list fluoride in their ingredients. The amount could be insignificant or more apparent depending on which springs the water originates. Fluoride is a natural occurrence, and each area has their own statistics.