Scott Emerson, MD, ABIHM, FACMT

Timelesshealing

Questions. Has fluoridation of public water systems outlived its usefulness over the past 80 years to prevent tooth decay? Is there a safer more effective way to prevent tooth decay? Have the treatments for disease of tooth decay become less toxic over the past 50 years? How toxic is fluoride in public water systems today? What is the real cause of tooth decay in the first place, and how dangerous is it to our overall health? Below please read on to find evidence & fact based answers to these questions now being asked.

BUT FIRST, THE BOTTOM LINE. If We Stop Fluoridating Public Water Systems What Is the Way Forward?

1. Most Importantly, Stop eating so much sugar, especially High Fructose Corn Syrup.
2. Begin a Mediterranean plant forward diet avoiding processed foods & drinks as much as possible
3. Use of Xylitol ( a sugar alcohol)  non- fluoride toothpaste  daily. This has a more well documented positive effect on the oral microbiome than fluoride does.  It has been shown to decrease the growth of S. mutans, the acid producing bacteria that is the major cause of dental caries.  It has positive beneficial effects on the gut microbiome if swallowed as opposed to unknown effects of fluoride.  It increases the saliva production in the mouth helping to rinse the mouth of food debris and bacteria. But, remember. while non-toxic for humans, it is toxic for your pets.
4. Get your fluoride from natural food sources that occur in low safe doses, like beans, lettuce, maize, black tea, mustard, soy,  & mint. Low doses of fluoride may be beneficial.
5. If on well water, get it tested regularly.  If fluoride levels are above 1.5 mg per liter, get a whole house water filter to remove fluoride.
6. Floss every day, and get regular professional tooth cleanings at your dentist, and refuse fluoride treatments. Instead, ask for fluoride free nano-hydroxyapatite application to your teeth as a naturally occurring component of tooth enamel to strengthen your teeth.

History.

Fluoridation of public water systems began 80 years ago with  US Public Health policies in place since the early 1950s for the intended purpose of helping prevent tooth decay. Back then, the treatment for tooth decay (mercury amalgams) was more toxic than any known toxicity for fluoride, then or now. In the past, the toxic risk to benefit ratio of fluoride use to prevent tooth decay was much lower. Less toxic resins & ceramics are now used in dentistry.  

Meanwhile the table sugar (sucrose) consumption in the US over the last 100 years has increased more than 2 to 3 times.  And, the addition of a different sugar, high fructose corn syrup , or HFCS, by the big corporate food industry  was  begun  around 60 years ago.   The manufacture  of HFSC has been subsidized by the Federal government to financially help corn farmers who are overproducing corn.  The use of this HFCS is now the dominant sweetener added to most processed foods and drinks. 

Tooth Decay and Oral Hygiene. 

Tooth decay begins with a dysbiosis of the oral microbiome, specifically the overgrowth of acid producing bacteria like Strep. mutans  .  This results in the acid destruction to tooth enamel with colonization and biofilm formation within enamel defects.  This enamel destruction weakens the overall tooth structure eventually affecting the tooth root resulting in tooth loss.  This dysbiosis also results in chronic inflammation to the gum tissue resulting in periodontal disease and loss of supporting gum soft tissue.    To date, the evidence for negative impact on the oral microbiome from excess sugar (sucrose regular table sugar) intake  and creating tooth decay is overwhelming ( Pitts et al, 2017;  Moran et al 2023).  And, HFCS has been well documented to create a even greater  oral dysbiosis and increase in tooth destroying bacteria and tooth decay than  regular table sugar (Minmin S, 2014).

Fluoridation of Water.

There is a direct correlation of the increased consumption of sugar over  time and the use of water fluoridation to treat & prevent tooth decay.  Is this just coincidental or cause and response?   

Fluoride is a naturally occurring element that is almost always bound to metals  and even non- metals in the environment.  It’s natural occurrence in water ranges from zero in some groundwater, to up to 0.7 mg per liter (regulated ) in fluoridated public water systems , to very high > 10 mg per liter in some wells. Fluoride may have some health benefits at low doses like that found at 0.7 mg per liter in public water systems, but rapidly expresses it’s toxic effects at higher exposures.  Benefits  mainly involve dental health.  It is powerful in preventing tooth decay and caries by strengthening enamel and replacing minerals that have been lost due to corrosive acid producing bacteria like S. mutans .  It has generally positive effects on the oral microbiome while in the oral cavity.  But if swallowed ( fluoridated water, fluoride containing toothpaste, dentist office applications) has unknown effects on the larger gut microbiome and is rapidly absorbed, into the blood causing widespread effects on other organs like the liver, heart, kidney , brain and bones (Moran. G  et. al, 2023).  Most of the toxic effects on these other organs have been reported at levels above 1.5 mg per liter in water.  These toxic effects include fluorosis and defects of teeth and bones,  cognitive impairment and lower IQ scores, generalized body inflammation, chromosome abnormalities, and creation of an  intra cellular energy crisis causing  increased cell death in multiple organ systems ( Melike, E. , 2021; Avila-Rojas, SH. , 2022; Taylor KW.  et al,  2025).  Like lead, fluoride can tend to accumulate within the bones in the body with chronic exposure like consumption of fluoridated water. This is in sharp contrast though, to lead contamination in water which is much more harmful and has NO benefit at any level, and far greater documented toxic effects.

Curing Our Sugar Addiction IS The Flashing Red Light.

A nationwide public health initiative to reign in the added sugars in processed foods and drinks and ban HFCS is likely to be much more effective at improving overall dental health and prevention of other diseases nationwide, than the water fluoridation policies that have been in place for the past 70 years. This would have no possible downside of toxicity like fluoride does. Fluoride is only treating the symptoms, rather than the root cause of tooth decay.   This would have many other health benefits for the general population and reduction of health care expense  way beyond just improving dental health. HFCS has been well documented to increase the dominance of bad acidogenic bacteria that erode tooth enamel creating tooth decay.  HFCS has also been documented to increase periodontal inflammation and disease as well as the incidence of oral cancers (Minmin, S. et al 2014).  HFCS has been well documented to cause metabolic syndrome, fatty liver, increased risks of  obesity, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney failure, and a long list if other diseases rooted in chronic inflammation ( Purlmutter , 2022) .  Based on the evidence to date, it should be banned as a toxic substance immediately. Fluoridation of public water systems should probably continue as long as HFCS is not eliminated from foods and drinks consumed by the public.