“What is that stuff, Fluoride?”
Fluoride. Before doing research on this topic I honestly knew nothing about it. I read the article “What’s that stuff? Fluroide” and some other informative websites and learned a great deal of information that was interesting and important to me.
Adding fluoride to drinking water can be effective in a positive way because fluoride prevents tooth decay. However, some people disapprove of adding fluoride to drinking water. One reason is because it is possible to stain your teeth brown. Also, with enough amounts of fluoride in your drinking water it can possibly, overtime, cause serious health effects. These effects include damage to the brain and kidney.
Personally, I am against putting fluoride in my drinking water for various reasons. One reason being the known health effects that it could have on me. From reading the aritcle “What’s that stuff? Fluroide” I learned a few of these health effects. Also by visiting other websites I consumed a great amount of more information invloving fluroide. Because of this, I now know that fluoride is present in all toothpastes, including the one that I use day and night. Since I am now aware that I intake fluoride twice a day when brushing my teeth I believe this is enough fluoride, and I do not need anymore of it in my drinking water. I also have learned that fluroide is more effective to preventing decay when put directly on the teeth. This even more ensures me that having fluoride in just my toothpaste is enough to get the job of preventing decay done. This is why I am against having fluoride in my drinking water.
In order for fluoride to be widely used in toothpaste companies had to make some technological advances. First of all, in order for fluoride to be present in toothpaste they had to find a right mixture of fluoride with a compatible abrasive so that the fluoride could still do it’s job in preventing tooth decay. Procter and Gamble was the first company to find a fluoride-abrasive combination that worked. They paired stannous fluoride with calcium pyrophosphate, and it launched this formula in 1955 as Crest and proceeded to dominate the fluoride toothpaste market for the next 10 years. Overtime two more decay-preventing compounds were found: sodium fluoride, and sodium monofluorophosphate (MFP). These two compounds and the stannous flouride compound which Procter and Gamble discovered, are all derived from hydrofluoric acid, which is made by reacting sulfuric acid with fluorspar, a calcium fluoride-rich ore.
From doing reserach, I have become aware of the numorous side effects of fluoride. The one that is of most concern to me is probably either the staining of the teeth and the brain damage. The less serious one being, of course, brown stains is not of my greatest concern. Though personally, having my teeth brown would not be good. I want nothing less then white teeth because I believe it portrays a more clean image and a brighter smile. On the other hand the brain damage that can be done in result to fluoride concerns me because that can lead to very, very serious illnesses including possible alltimers, which is probably the desease I would want in life the very least.
As you can see there is a whole lot of unknown information involving fluoride. I encourage you to do some research of your own because I guarentee you, you will come across information that is very interesting, and important to know.
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