Flouride 5UxOrs?
I have been thinking about dental hygiene, and the use of fluoride in the water supply. It seems that many dentists see fluoride as the silver bullet against tooth decay.
In a recent article on Med Page Today blames a LACK OF FLOURIDE in bottled water on an increase in bottled water. I decided to consider a few other potential reasons.
I have been thinking recently about the evolutionary impact of fluoride infused water on the bacteria in plaque, and the potential impact of that water as a selection pressure on the acid produced by the bacteria that exists in plaque. This is unlikely as the acid that eats into teeth is, as I understand it, a byproduct of those bacteria metabolizing sugars on the enamel, rather than some tool to aid in natural selection.
This did raise an interesting question though about what the selection impact is on us, which has lead to a new hypothesis: our dependence on fluorinated water puts a negative selection pressure on our teeth?
Basically, this theory goes that the artificial introduction of fluoride takes the pressure off the genetic selection pressure for strong natural teeth protection (I don’t know exactly what that would be, I assume some variation of how saliva either kills bacteria, neutralizes plaque or destroys sugars, rendering them “inedible” to the bacteria).
The result is the body’s dependence on artificial fluoride just to maintain the status quo, while it fundamentally undermines the other systems designed through millions of years of evolution to maintain effective oral hygiene.
I don’t plan on doing any further investigation on this, and I don’t expect to see any actually scientific study on this in the near future, but it is an interesting thing to consider.