Re: Another fluoride deception

From: Peter Meiers (Tren_Dean_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/16/04 

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 23:58:15 +0200

Hello Sabra,
 
> I've often wondered how you would comment upon the public water in my
> region. I admit fully to my ignorance on the topic that you have
> dedicated so much energy. Please take a look at the URL I'm pasting
> here and add comments if you have time. This URL may not be exactly up
> to date but it's historically accurate for this sort of discussion, I
> think. There's plenty more where this info came from (WWW).
>
> http://www.ndcsouthwest.med.navy.mil/publichealth/dental%20caries%20and%2
> 0fluoride.htm

To me this article appears like one of the many propaganda pieces I have
seen on this topic. Many unreflected statements and half-truths.

The first phrase already is unreflected: "Dental caries became a major
public health problem when people began eating a refined diet." -

Maybe it became a problem "when people began eating a refined diet", but
a problem for the individuals. They had to spend money for their
dentists. So what? It became a "public health problem" only because of
certain economic consequences, i.e. because of loss of working power,
absence from working place, and, more so, because the dental problems
meant a loss of manpower for the army (as the laws required fully
functioning teeth in certain positions to handle certain weapons). The
interest of the government in the caries problem rose especially after
the experiences of World War 1. _This_ interest culminated in the
organization of a dental research unit in the Public Health Service and
in several epidemiological studies on caries even before Trendley Dean
took over (e.g. by Amanda Stoughton and Blanche E. Sterling).

It may be true that damage caused by "this problem" (faulty nutrition?)
can often be prevented. But, as a result of fluoride? One could perhaps
think so if fluoride were the only factor that changed over the years.
But when you read the original literature you´ll find, that in the early
years there was not only faulty nutrition but also a lack of basic
dental hygiene. This is what Frederick Sumner McKay (not "John McKay"),
better known as the mottled enamel researcher, addressed in 1909,
according to a history book by the Colorado State Dental Association.
Colorado dentists undertook educational efforts and offered free
treatment for indigent children. But even after 7 years, still 80% of
the children needed dental care. Remember, this 80% means children in
need of dental care, exclusive of those with already filled and missing
teeth (after treatment) who would be included in the calculation of a
DMF Index (Decayed, Missing, Filled teeth), and would give a much higher
number. This high number applies to Colorado Springs, a city with a high
incidence of mottled teeth and which was claimed to have a remarkably
low caries incidence. Due to fluoride? Never ever. THis first claim was
an outright lie, and there were still more lies.

Like the results of the fluoridation trials of the 1940´s and 50´s. Did
you know that Newburgh, one of the first fluoridated cities, hired
dental hygienists for their public schools, while the control city,
Kingston, had just one supervisor to become active only for statistical
examinations (for the comparison) from time to time? This is what a
letter in the Trendley Dean papers at the National Library of Medicine
reveals, among other things. What did the dental hygienists do in
Newburgh schools what no dental hygienist did in Kingston´s?

Now for the DMF Index: What do you think about a comparison of the
number of decayed, missing or filled teeth among 100 "children" aged
12-14 years between a fluoridated and a non-fluoridated city? A reliable
index of the dental health? Well, there´s a difference in the number of
permanent teeth erupted in boys or girls of the same age. You will also
admit that boys aged 12 years will probably have less teeth than boys
aged 14 years? And even less than girls aged 14 years? If you examine
100 boys aged 12 you will find a wide variance in the number of
permanent teeth erupted. If you count missing teeth, do you know why
these teeth are missing? All because of caries? How many because of
orthodontic reasons? Filled teeth are filled because of former caries?
McKay himself wrote in a letter to Dean that teeth are often filled as a
preventive measure (nowadays called sealants) with no caries being
present before. It is obvious, then, that there are many ways to compose
your "groups of children", to be compared, in any way to get the desired
results. Take more boys aged 12 to 13 in a group of 100 "children" to
show a lower DMF, compared to a group composed of more girls aged 13 to
14. The latter will display a higher caries incidence (because there are
more and older teeth in that group). Now you describe the first group as
the "fluoride group" and the latter as the "non-fluoride" and- voilà,
you "prove" a fluoride effect. That´s exactly what Dean did, what Klein
and Knutson did in some of their studies, and what is done today in a
"scientific" dental study on fluoride.

I can tell you some more tricks, later.

Best,
Peter 

-- 
-History of fluorine, fluoride and fluoridation-:
--- http://PMeiers.bei.t-online.de/index.htm ---
-------------------------------------------------

Relevant Pages

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