Fluoride in the Environment

In January of 1974 a senior at Mount Holyoke College noticed a strange taste in her mouth. For some reason, eating was not providing the pleasurable tastes she expected. Instead she got a taste something like what's experienced by someone who has just had his or her mouth washed out with soap. That college student did not know it, but she had tasted an ionic form of fluorine. She had tasted fluoride.

What is fluoride?

Fluospar (calcium fluoride) was the natural source from which most fluoride was obtained prior to World War II. Then, due to a shortage of fluorspar, those industries in need of fluoride looked for help from the phosphate industry. Natural phosphate has a small fraction, about 3 to 4%, that is made up of fluoride. During the extraction of pure phosphate from the natural phosphate, fluorosilicic acid forms. Fluoride is chemically derived from fluorosilicic acid.

How Am I Exposed to Fluoride?

Beginning in 1945, some of those silicofluorides were used to initiate a program focused on water for caries control. For many decades the government saw no reason to question the addition of silicoflurorides to tap water.

In a 1983 memo, a member of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water wrote this: "In regard to the use of fluorosilicic acid as a source of fluoride for fluoridation, this Agency regards such use as an ideal environmental solution to a long-standing problem. By recovering by-product fluorosilicic acid from fertilizer manufacturing, water and air pollution are minimized, and water utilities have a low-cost source of fluoride available to them." 1 Soon after the release of that memo, silicofluorides entered the tap water in hundreds of cities across the United States. Dentists rejoiced, pleased that so many young teeth would be strengthened by exposure to silicofluorides.

During the late 1940s, and throughout the 1950s, public health officials operated under this important and incorrect assumption. They assumed that drinking water containing silicofluorides would be the major source of fluoride for most U.S. residents. American inventiveness would soon reveal the error in that assumption.

Americans developed the following products, all of which contained some form of fluoride:

• Toothpaste
• Mouth rinse
• Dietary supplements
• Professionally applied or prescribed gel, foam, or varnish (for use on teeth)
• Fluoride tablets for patients who undergo radiation treatments which can cause dryness in the mouth, leading to an increase in the amount of tooth decay.

Manufacturers of the beverages sold in stores use tap water to make those beverages. The customers who drink those beverages ingest a fair amount of added fluoride. When the availability of such beverages is combined with the amount of fluoridated tap water in canned food, one can appreciate the high level of fluoride in the present-day diet. If you still have doubts that we're taking in a tremendous amount of fluoride, consider the following shocking fact.

What Are the Symptoms of Exposure to Fluoride?

Several symptoms can suggest that the body has been exposed to fluorides. More serious symptoms can arise when a patient experiences prolonged or untreated exposure to fluorides. Medical professionals recommend an exposure that does not rise above the level of 0.7 ppm. Yet, medical professionals need the input of patients in order to avoid administration of higher levels.

• A strange taste in your mouth; remember our young college student from the introduction.
• An excess amount of salivation can indicate overexposure to fluoride.
• Fluorosis is a condition which impedes the function of the ameloblasts in the mouth. It hinders the development of the enamel matrix. Children are most susceptible to fluorosis.

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