The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced it will begin the process of pulling prescription fluoride drops and tablets for children off the market. The supplements are usually given to kids at high risk for cavities.
The federal government and some state legislatures are increasingly drawing attention to what they claim are the risks associated with fluoride, a mineral that’s been used for decades in community water systems, toothpastes and mouth rinses to prevent tooth decay.
Dentists fiercely contest the notion that the harms of fluoride outweigh the benefits.
We did fluoride treatments but only at semi-annual dental checkups. It was a thick gel that they put in trays and we had to keep them in our mouths for a couple minutes. You had to lean over a sink and let any saliva just drip out because you weren’t supposed to swallow any of it.
But I also was trained from an early age to brush with fluoride toothpaste every night before bed, so…