Fluoride Essay -- essays research papers

FluorideFluoride is a mineral that occurs naturally in almost all foods and urinesupplies. The fluoride ion comes from the element fluorine. Fluorine, the thirteenthmost abundant element in the earths crust, is never encountered in its laxstate in nature. It exists only in combination with other elements as a fluoridecompound. Fluoride is publicationive in preventing and reversing the early signs oftooth decay. Researchers have shown that there atomic number 18 several ways through whichfluoride achieves its decay-preventive effects. It makes the tooth structurestronger, so teeth are more resistant to acid attacks. Acid is formed when thebacteria in plaque break graduate sugars and carbohydrates from the diet. Repeatedacid attacks break down the tooth, which causes cavities. Fluoride also acts torepair areas in which acid attacks have already begun. The remineralizationeffect of fluoride is important because it reverses the early decay process aswell as creating a tooth surfac e that is more resistant to decay. Communitywater fluoridization is the adjustment of the amount of the beneficial traceelement fluoride found in water to provide for the proper protection of teeth.Fluoridation has been widely use in this country since 1945. It does noninvolve adding anything to the water that is not already there, since virtuallyall sources of drinking water in the United States see to it some fluoride.Fluoridation is a form of nutritional supplementation that is not unlike theaddition of vitamins to milk, breads and fruit drinks iodine to table salt and both(prenominal) vitamins and minerals to breakfast cereals, grains and pastas. Theprotection of fluoridation reaches community members in their homes, at usage andat school -- simply by drinking the water. The only requirements for the writ of execution of fluoridation are the presence of a treatable centralized water tally and approval by appropriate decision makers. Some people intend thatthere are effecti ve alternatives to community water fluoridation as a publichealth measure for the prevention of tooth decay in the United States. The factof the matter is that while other community-based methods of systemic andtopical fluoride delivery (i.e. school-based fluoride mouthwash or tabletprograms) have been developed everywhere the five decades that water fluoridation hasbeen practiced, none is as effective as community water fluori... ...ny evidence to show that dental fluorosis is a harbinger to any diseaseor dysfunction. Mild to moderate dental fluorosis is no more a pathologicalcondition than is having freckles. There has never been a single valid, peer-reviewed laboratory, clinical or epidemiological study that showed that drinkingwater with fluoride at optimal directs caused cancer, heart disease, or any ofthe other peck of diseases proclaimed by very small groups ofantifluoridationists to be caused by fluoridation. Because fluoride is soeffective, those fortunate enough to be provided with fluoridated water cancount on an up to 40- to 50-percent reduction in the number of dental cavitiesthey would have see without fluoridation. Fluoridation is an extremelycost-effective public health measure because the engineering is so simple and thefluoride so inexpensive. Studies indicate that a $100,000 investment in waterfluoridation prevents 500,000 cavities. Moreover, for each dollar invested influoridation, over $80 in dental treatment costs are prevented, amounting to an801 benefit-to-cost ratio. Few disease prevention efforts, public or private,achieve that level of return on investment.