B   O   T   T   L   E   D        F   L   O   U   R  I  D  E ...    
                 I mean fluoride ........
C   A    U    S   E    S        root canal problems .....

*****

Posted on Tue, Aug. 31, 2004


 
I M A G E S   A N D   R E L A T E D   C O N T E N T  


Poland Spring and Beech-Nut add fluoride to their water.


R E L A T E D    L I N K S  
•  Municipal Systems with Fluoridated Water  



Bottled water no tonic for warding off cavities

By Virginia A. Smith

Inquirer Staff Writer

Most people choose bottled spring water for its purity and taste.

But that clear plastic container with the cool, bubbly scenes on the
front can have a little-known downside inside: no fluoride, the
chemical credited with causing a dramatic drop in cavities in the
United States over the last half-century, especially among children.

Who knew?

As sales of nonfluoridated bottled water continue to climb, more
dentists are urging parents and patients to seek out the few brands
that have added fluoride. That goes for those who either don't have
fluoride in their tap water or who - like Shayna Brunswick, 15, of
West Philadelphia - simply prefer bottled.

Shayna, who hates the taste of Philadelphia water, recently learned
she needed five root canal operations.

Shayna needs all the cavity-fighting help she can get, given her
weakness for "all the gooey, chewy stuff that gets stuck in her
teeth," her mother, Robbin, said. And Shayna just wasn't getting it
from a bottle.

That's no surprise to experts. Bottled water can be good, "but people
have to realize they're not getting fluoride in it," said Rochelle
Lindemeyer, director of the University of Pennsylvania's pediatric
dental residency program.

Although still controversial a half-century after it began, the
fluoridation of municipal water systems is generally credited with a
dramatic drop in cavities in the United States, especially among young
children.

Though opponents argue that fluoridated water is unnecessary, possibly
harmful and constitutes a form of "mass medication," the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has declared it
one of the great public health successes of the 20th century.

More than half of all Americans get fluoride from the tap. That
includes about 41 percent of Pennsylvania's 12.2 million residents and
12 percent of New Jersey's 8.5 million residents, according to state
records. To fluoridate or not is a local decision, and one that
well-owners make for themselves.

The quality of bottled water has sometimes been criticized. Still, the
promise of a purer, better-tasting product has made it one of
America's favorite drinks, with sales approaching 6.4 billion gallons
and $8.3 billion - 22.6 gallons per capita - last year, according to
the Beverage Marketing Corp. of New York, an industry research and
consulting firm.

That's more than double what was consumed a decade earlier.

But of the hundreds of varieties available throughout the country,
only about 20 have added fluoride in recent years in response to
customer demand. A random check at a Chestnut Hill grocery store last
week bore that out: Only three of the dozen bottled water choices
boasted "added fluoride" or "fluoride to go" on the label.

Shopper MiaIsha Brown of Mount Airy said that even though her city
water was fluoridated, she preferred spring water's fresh taste. Her
dentist advised her to buy the fluoridated kind, but she only buys it
for her 5-month-old son.

"I haven't really thought about it for myself," she said, clutching a
bottle of regular spring water, "but that's what I give him."

While it is important for young children to get enough fluoride while
their teeth are forming, it is equally important for older children
and adults, said William Bailey, a CDC oral health expert.

Bailey emphasized that the elderly in particular need to be vigilant
about their fluoride intake. As people age, he said, gums often recede
and saliva levels drop, leading to less cavity protection.

No scientific studies definitively prove a link between bottled water
and cavities, Bailey and other experts said. Other factors influence
cavity rates: family dental history; socioeconomic status; the food
eaten; and dental habits, such as brushing with a fluoride toothpaste
and taking fluoride supplements.

John W. Stamm, dean of the University of North Carolina School of
Dentistry at Chapel Hill and spokesman for the American Dental
Association, said that although he recommended fluoridated bottled
water, he also believes even people who drink "only" bottled water get
fluoride from other sources.

All water contains fluoride in minute amounts, and it can also be
found in fruit juices, soft drinks, coffee, tea, and foods made with
or cooked in fluoridated water. Some fish and white grape juice
naturally contain high levels of fluoride.

"But it's good advice for a parent who is conscientious to seek out a
source of fluoridated bottled water," Stamm said.

Bottled water is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
but fluoride does not have to be listed on the label unless it is
added. Even then, not all the fluoridated brands say how much is
added.

That's a problem for David A. Bresler, a pediatric dentist with two
city and two Montgomery County offices. Unlike some of his peers, he
advises patients not to drink fluoridated bottled water because "we
just don't know the strength or the amount of fluoride in it.

"And that's not good," he said.

Dental experts recommend that parents consult their pediatrician and
dentist to figure out how much fluoride they and their children need.
They also caution that some home water-filter systems actually remove
fluoride from tap water.

Meanwhile, Brad Pirok, Shayna Brunswick's dentist, and his father,
Ronald G. Pirok, also a dentist, say their West Philadelphia practice
is seeing more and more young children from city and suburbs with a
lot of cavities - which they blame on a heavy bottled-water
consumption.

"Kids are assaulting their teeth by chewing gum, drinking soda, eating
sugar, but people have been doing that for 50 years," the elder Pirok
said. "The only thing that's really changed... is, you talk to the
parents and, almost universally, they wanted the kid to be healthy so
they gave them bottled water."

While most experts say the issue needs further study, Steve Raupe,
president of Eureka Water Co. in Oklahoma City, made up his mind five
years ago. That was when he began offering fluoridated water to his
home and office customers.

"The amount of fluoride we add to the water is really minuscule," he
said, "but I give my customers a choice."

Is there a new fluoride enhanced spam? I have been enjoying the vitamin enriched
vienna sausages!

T

LOL!

Steve

Great!

Peter