On the plus side, I smell a great opportunity for a longitudinal population study. 🤔

  • Ooops@feddit.org
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    5 days ago

    Actually lots of areas in Europe tested fluoride in water locally at some point. But they never found convincing evidence of this being preferably to getting fluoride the “classic way” (personalized in small doses already included in toothpaste).

    Are USians not brushing their teeth? Or have they changed the toothpaste formulas to exclude fluoride, too, now?

    • orclev@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Fluoride in toothpaste does help as well but it only does so much, and yes some toothpaste brands also don’t include fluoride. To get the most out of fluoridated toothpaste you need to pair it with a better diet. Most Americans eat a diet that’s incredibly heavy in sugars and carbs as compared to Europe. That’s part of the reason why many European countries found little benefit to adding fluoride to their drinking water, their rates of tooth decay were already significantly less than in the US due mostly to dietary differences.

    • Hawke@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      It is possible to get fluoride-free toothpaste but it’s a bit of a niche/specialty item.

        • Hawke@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          Seems like it would be the opposite. It’s not like the government is buying the toothpaste, and sane people are going to be needing proper toothpaste to compensate for the lack of fluoride in their water.

          • orclev@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            Key word there is sane.As we saw with the last election there is a sizable chunk of the US population that that label doesn’t apply to.

              • orclev@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                Well no, many of them will have only decided they have a problem with fluoride now that Dear Leaders proxy in the FDA has decided it’s a problem. And if you think for one minute the pharmaceutical companies won’t all rush out new fluoride free versions of their existing toothpaste brands to try to get a chunk of those morons money you haven’t been paying attention to corporate America for the last century.