Fluoridated water: good or bad?

Since the 1940s, the majority of US drinking water has been fluoridated. The reasoning is to promote dental health and fight tooth decay, especially for those citizens that cannot afford proper medical attention.
The majority of dentists in America have supported and continue to support the use of fluoride in the drinking water and tooth decay has declined in the last 60 years.
And yet there are a number of people and organizations who hold that fluoridated water not only does not improve dental health, but is potentially toxic.
Some sites "against" fluoride in water
http://www.fluoridealert.org/
http://www.nofluoride.com/
http://www.fluoridation.com/
Point to some rather damning evidence, many of which are highlighted in this paper:
http://www.garynull.com/Documents/Dental/Fluoride/fluoride_index.htm

I couldn't find that many sites that make clear, research based claims for fluoridating water- here was one site:
http://www.fluorideinfo.org/

I don't firmly know what to think yet, fluoride as a topical treatment does seem to promote tooth health. The evidence against fluoridating water seems overwhelming (to me), while the argument for fluoridated water seems to be backed more by tradition and dubious correlation. Yes, tooth decay has declined, but it has also declined in areas that do not treat the water with fluoride. That many european nations have also banned or altered the fluoridated water practice also seems a powerful argument.

This isn't an issue that gets much attention, even when the economy is strong.
What are people's thoughts on the issue?

Check these out too.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8570930/

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512585

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/12/AR2005071201277.html


Long story short: Harvard profesors team links fluoride to bone cancer in males after 15 year long study. Harvard profesor downplays/denies results. Harvard professor is editor in chief of the Colgate Oral Health Report, a quarterly newsletter funded by Colgate-Palmolive Co., which makes fluoridated toothpaste.


Studies show that topical application does just as good a job at preventing decay as ingesting the fluoride.

brita ftw?

[quote name='RAMSTORIA']brita ftw?[/QUOTE]

Brita doesn't filter out fluoride. You're ed.

I see... Drink water, get Bone-itis. What's a go getting 80's guy like me to do?

Freeze myself.

My one regret is that I have Bone-itis!

[quote name='Dead of Knight']Brita doesn't filter out fluoride. You're ed.[/QUOTE]

shit, i was wondering what that pain in my bones was...

I guess I have a harder time believing tap water is better for you than bottled because bottled isn't regulated at all so they could potentially put in whatever they wanted.

Obviously if you say went to Mexico tap water wouldn't be better than bottled...

You're still going to die in the end. Just drink the ing water.

^heh yeah. I switched to bottled water a few years ago and it turns out that has BPA or whatever that plastic chemical is.

But I don't delibrately ingest fluoride. and try not to. either way it seems i'm ed.

Collect your own rain water? That's actually illegal in some aprts of the country, believe it or not.

Am I the only one who thought of "Dr. Strangelove" when I saw this thread?

[quote name='Xevious']Am I the only one who thought of "Dr. Strangelove" when I saw this thread?[/QUOTE]

I was about to make a joke about precious bodily fluids...

From what I've read it's good for toothpaste but bad to eat/drink.

I found this info on whether bottled water has fluoride:

Arrowhead Drinking ND
Arrowhead Distilled ND
Arrowhead Fluoridated 0.76 -1.0
Arrowhead Mountain Spring < 0.10 – 1.0
Arrowhead Sparkling Water ND
Aqua Panna Natural Spring ND
Calistoga Sparkling Mineral ND
Calistoga Mountain Spring ND
Deer Park Distilled ND
Deer Park Drinking ND
Deer Park Fluoridated 0.67 - .77
Deer Park Natural Spring ND -0.17
Great Bear Distilled ND
Great Bear Drinking ND
Great Bear Natural Spring ND
Ice Mountain Natural Spring < 0.1
Ice Mountain Fluoridated 0.67 – 0.95
Ice Mountain Drinking ND
Ice Mountain Distilled ND
Nestle Pure Life Purified ND
Ozarka Drinking ND
Ozarka Fluoridated 0.67
Ozarka Distilled ND
Ozarka Natural Spring ND
Perrier 0.13
Poland Spring Distilled Water ND
Poland Spring Sparkling Water ND
Poland Spring Natural Spring water 0.0 -0.27
Poland Spring Fluoridated Water 0.90
San Pellegrino 0.62
Zephyrhills Drinking ND
Zephyrhills Distilled ND
Zephyrhills Natural Spring < 0.10 - 0.11
Zephyrhills Drinking 0.72

Units in P.P.M (Parts Per Million)
ND = None Detected

It is taken from this site, http://www.fluoridefreeny.com/
and, more importantly, without any reference. It's rather difficult to find safety reports on bottle water, plus the cost of bottle water vs tap is less than ideal.
It's too bad there is not an easy, relatively inexpensive system like brita.
There are countertop multi-stage reverse-osmosis units, such as Purepro's astroboy or et-pur3 but those run $500+
edit: the single stages run under $50, need to do some more research on their quality

who cares.

Not worth worrying about IMO. I just use a Brita pitcher. Refuse to pay for bottled water, and I don't like using all that plastic. I recycle it, but it's better to conserve than recycle.

[quote name='perdition(troy']who cares.[/QUOTE]

People with young children should. Especially boys.

I remember reading Selenium actually does the job and isn't harmful like Fluoride.

I would suggest if people want to get Fluoride out of their tap water, why not buy a distillation unit? Yeah they're expensive, like $500 and up but I imagine it's worth it. Keep in mind Distilled Water is even CLEANER then Reverse Osmosis.
The only unfortunate thing is I've heard of NO filter that can clear out Pharmaceuticals in the water. Frankly I think that's almost as bad as Fluoride. I try to avoid taking anything Pharmaceutical related as much as possible because I don't want that crap in my body and it's still slipping by.

wasn't there a scene in the beginning of the movie Conspiracy Theory where Mel's character (Jerry?) tells his passenger that the stuff they put it water to help your teeth is actually used to control you by the government or something?