How do you feel about reducing fluoride in Sacramento tap water?

There's too much fluoride in the tap water of many cities in the USA causing children's teeth to acquire brown spots that can't be removed very easily. The spots usually are permanent. How can consumers get Sacramento tap water to avoid fluoride?

To find statistics on the health effects of fluoride, such as dental fluorosis, a primary source is the National Center for Health Statistics, Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004. See the website, Products -Data Briefs - Number 53 - November 2010, "Prevalence and Severity of Dental Fluorosis in the United States, 1999–2004."

Check out the January 7, 2011 CBS news article, "U.S. Says too Much Fluoride in Water - CBS News. Fluorosis is causing streaking and spotting because of too much fluoride in 2 out of 5 teenagers. Sacramentans have to worry about getting fluoride rinses when they get their teeth cleaned, when they use commercial toothpaste, and when they buy mouthwash that is labeled as containing fluoride.

Also see my other Examiner.com article, "Sacramento parents don't want their children's I.Q. lowered by fluoride in water." Sacramento parents are worried about the high daily use of fluoride in many commercial toothpastes, some mouthwashes, dental rinses, and whether fluoride in drinking water, which is not yet in Sacramento County tap water, can lower their children's I.Q. Fluoride in drinking water has been linked to lower I.Q. in children, according to a  Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/  press release. "Fluoride In Water Linked to Lower I.Q.in Children."

Exposure to fluoride may lower children’s intelligence says a new study pre-published in Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (online December 17, 2010). Read the study for yourself,  Serum Fluoride Level and Children's Intelligence Quotient in Two Villages in China.

Although the latest fluoride study reported in December 2010 was done in China, fluoride is added to 70% of U.S. public drinking water supplies. See the website from last summer, Action Alert: Stop Water Fluoridation in Sacramento: Indybay. Regarding the December 2010 study on fluoride in water and children, according to Paul Connett, Ph.D., director of the Fluoride Action Network, “This is the 24th study that has found this association," as reported in the December 21, 2010 news release, "Fluoride In Water Linked to Lower I.Q.in Children." Also see the Fluoride Health Effects Database.

One alternative is to make your own toothpaste from baking soda and glycerin. According to yesterday's breaking news on too much fluoride being in the drinking water of many cities in the USA, fluoride in drinking water — credited with dramatically cutting cavities and tooth decay — may now be too much of a good thing. Getting too much of it causes brown spots and/or streaks on some kids' teeth.

A reported increase in the spotting problem is one reason the federal government said Friday it plans to lower the recommended levels for fluoride in water supplies — the first such change in nearly 50 years, accroding to the CBS news article.

Are you suffering from fluorosis? Your teeth can be pitted by fluoride you get not only from water but from mouthwash containing fluoride and fluoride toothpaste. Some Sacramento dentists are still looking at fluorosis streaks as a cosmetic issue.

Health officials note that most communities have fluoride in their water supplies, and toothpaste has it too. Some kids are even given fluoride supplements. What's the issue in Sacramento regarding fluoride?

See the articles, Action Alert: Stop Water Fluoridation in Sacramento: Indybay and Sacramento Press / Health professionals urge city to keep fluoride. In Sacramento you have two opposing agruments and opinions. On one hand the health professionals who have not been trained in holistic dentistry using natural ingredients to fight tooth decay, including nutritional changes, urge Sacramento to keep fluoride. On the other hand, you have most consumers concerned about health issues hoping to stop water fluoridation in Sacramento. The issues came up last summer in May and June 2010.

Now, with this new study being released on January 7, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is proposing changing the recommended fluoride level to 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. And the Environmental Protection Agency will review whether the maximum cutoff of 4 milligrams per liter is too high.

The standard since 1962 has been a range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams per liter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the splotchy tooth condition, fluorosis, is unexpectedly common in kids ages 12 through 15. And it appears to have grown much more common since the 1980s.

Look at the 2005 scientific report that emphasized how people who consume a lifetime of too much fluoride — an amount over EPA's limit of 4 milligrams — can lead to crippling bone abnormalities and brittleness. Watch the uTube videos of what happens when people are sensitive to fluoride, how it can cripple them with neurological problems, arthritis pain, and various autoimmune responses.

Sacramento needs to re-energize its groups to fight against fluoride in Sacramento water. If you brush your teeth with baking soda, glycerin, and water to make a paste, you'll keep away some of that acid that's destroying children's teeth (along with a reduction in sugary foods). The first step is to look at the research issued Friday by the EPA about health effects of fluoride.

At last, the American Dental Association released a statement agreeing with the government's announcement to change fluoride guidance. Ask a holistic-trained dentist about what to use on your teeth, for example herbal or 'natural' toothpaste, or make your own toothpaste with ingredients not too abrasive that don't build up in your body.

There's enough fluoride already in the soil. So why would you put it on children's teeth? And in some of the elderly who receive those fluoride rinses when they go for a cleaning, sometimes report arthritic pain in the following days after treatment with fluoride.

Scientists discovered that people whose supplies naturally had more fluoride also had fewer cavities back in 1940. But if you look at natural fluoride in water in some locations, the fluoride may continue to measure at levels above 1.2. Today, most public drinking water is fluoridated, especially in larger cities. An estimated 64 percent of Americans drink fluoridated water.

Sacramento does not need fluoride in drinking water. People should have a choice of what to put in their bodies from the water they drink. You can buy water that's not fluoridated, but water in home should be free. Or you can buy filters to remove the fluoride if they really work to remove fluoride. Sacramentans can't all move to Portland, Oregon, where the water is free from fluoridation.

Sacramento needs an anti-fluoridation law or movement similar to Portland's anti-fluoridation policies that were supported by anti-fluoridation activists. Talk to your local Dental Assocations. The state with the most fluoride is Maryland. Have you looked at reports of health issues related to fluoride sensitivity in that state? Compare that to Hawaii, with only 11 percent of residens drinking fluoridated tap water. Maybe avoiding fluoride is one of the reasons people buy filters or water imported from other areas.

In Sacramento, activists and consumers have been fighting against fluoride for decades, showing reports of health issues reported. Fluoride is nasty, and if your dentist has been convinced of its value by recommending fluoride toothpaste, fluoride mouthwash, and fluoride rinses day after day, year after year, it's not healthy. And people sensitive to fluoride with health problems have not been showcased in mainstream media other than on uTube videos.

Put this issue on Sacramento ballots, and work to get fluoride out of city water supplies, here in Sacramento and elsewhere. If you can reduce fluoride to the point that it's not spotting and staining the teeth of children and teenagers or causing crippling arthritic reactions or autoimmune issues on the elderly, it's one beginning step. How long must you suffer from knee or back pain to realize that you're sensitive to fluoride in your tap water?

Does it take dentists and doctors to complain? Or can consumers have a voice of confidence and resilience in Sacramento?
Look at the March, 2006 reports from the National Academy of Sciences that recommended the EPA lower its maximum standard for fluoride in drinking water to below 4 milligrams. Did anyone take action and cut the level of fluoride? Not really.

The report warned severe fluorosis could occur at 2 milligrams. Also, a majority of the report's authors said a lifetime of drinking water with fluoride at 4 milligrams or higher could raise the risk of broken bones. How brittle will your teeth become after a lifetime of drinking fluoride?

And how many elderly people fall and break a hip from brittle bones, possibly caused, at least in part, by drinking fluoride? Do as many cases of brittle bones in the elderly occur in cities around the world without fluoride added to drinking water? Who is in charge of reporting the health statistics related to fluoride to the EPA?

Check out the website of the Fluoride Action Network, Beyond Pesticides, and Environmental Working Group. Also, see the website, Contact EWG Sacramento Office | Environmental Working Group.

It's up to the EPA to lower the amount of fluoride in drinking water. If you travel to Europe, you won't find many countries adding fluoride to tap water. In Britain, only about 10 percent of the population has fluoridated water. See, 50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation.

Fluoride is for Sacramento consumers a medical treatment that is forced on you if you accept fluoride in Sacramento drinking water. In areas with really bad dental health, it's the diet and the acids and bacteria in the mouth causing the problems rather than a deficiency of fluoride in the organs of people.

How much water do you drink for your health? Is the water pure and filtered? What is in Sacramento's drinking water, and how can you find out? Maybe you already have fluorosis from the toothpaste, mouthwash, fluoride rinses, and other ways of getting fluoride in your body. Is it already in your bones making you problems such as painful knees?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has studies of children suffering from fluorosis.  Did you know that the CDC has statistics that report almost 23 percent of children ages 12-15 had fluorosis in a study done in 1986 and 1987? The incidence of fluorosis is rising. Another CDC study showed that incidence rose to 41 percent in a study covering the years 1999 through 2004.

There has to be a healthier way of reducing tooth decay in teenagers other than fluoridation, even though the rate of decay did decrease from 90 percent to 60 percent over the past 100 years. But is fluoridation the reason, or are teens brushing aftereating and flossing?

A century ago dentists usually didn't mention flossing to patients. And how many teens use a Water Pik®  to remove food particles from teeth after a meal or snack? Health leaders seem to want a quick-fix for cavities in the form of a commercial drug or a chemical, such as fluoride. But can cavities among poor families be prevented by simpling brushing, flossing, and rinsing with baking soda and water or swishing salt water in the mouth after brushing and flossing?

The problem focuses on kids without dental care. It's going to take months before anyone makes a decision. In the meantime, Sacramento consumers can become activists in the sense of reporting credible health effects of fluoride reports and studies to those with the power to make decisions.

See the local May 18, 2010 Sacramento Press article by Kathleen Haley, Health professionals urge city to keep fluoride in water. According to the article, fluoride in Sacramento’s water was a hot topic during a Sacramento City Council budget discussion in May, 2010. Several members of the public, including dentists, a school nurse and local public health officer urged the City Council to keep fluoride in the city’s drinking water supply.

You notice, Sacramento consumers, how it's usually dentists touting fluoride in Sacramento's water and patients, that is consumers wanting not to have forced medication dumped in their drinking water, particularly if they can't afford to filter out the fluoride? Sacramentans want a choice.

According to that Sacramento Press article, Management Partners, a consulting group hired by the city, suggested that the city stop fluoridating its water supply. The firm states that if the city cuts water fluoridation from its budget, it could retain $836,000 each year. Last May, the city of Sacramento had a $43 million budget gap.

What websites can you check out? You might try the  Sacramento County’s Public Health Division. Why do school nurses want to force kids to drink fluoride in Sacramento city water?

Do they still believe what they've been told that fluoride is the best way to protect kid's teeth? How about a change in diet to less sugary foods and beverages, to better nutrition, and even if a kid is in a poor environment, teeth can be brushed with basic foods such as baking soda, for those who can't afford toothpaste, rinsed with salt and water, for those too poor to buy mouthwash, and kept clean and flossed, even if the kid has to use yarn as dental floss.

There are ways to save a child's teeth. It starts with nutrition and keeping the teeth clean. A dental cleaning every six months works wonders instead of forced drugs, fluoride, for example, in Sacramento city's water. And who is studying the effects on senior citizens of drinking fluoride on top of using commercial toothpastes and mouthwashes containing fluoride?

So where do you stand--fluoride or no fluoride in Sacramento water? How many brittle bones have been formed by too much fluoride over a lifetime consumed by senior citizens? What's your opinion, and to whom will you present your facts and studies? When it comes to teeth, nutrition is important.