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In reply to the discussion: San Jose finally getting fluoride for city's drinking water [View all]waddirum
(979 posts)What percent of city water supplies are actually consumed orally? It has to be a fraction of a percent, based on everything else that uses municipal water supplies -- residential, commericial, and industrial. All the rest of that fluoride additive is flushed down the toilet, bathtub, sink, boiler drain, etc.
If children require fluoride, it should be given in the form of a rinse that they can spit out. Fluoridating water seems to me a very inefficient way to meet the goal of reducing childhood cavities.
Now consider that the aerosols from your shower head contain the dissolved fluoride, which can be breathed in pretty deeply. We are delivering fluoride to our entire bodies (internal and external), not just our mouths. Does this really make sense.
But any questioning of the legitimacy of water fluoridation gets an automatic reference to Dr. Strangelove or to the John Birch Society.
(For the record, I drink city water directly from the tap and do indeed take showers)