this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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Summary

Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water after Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation prohibiting local decisions on fluoridation.

Cox cited cost and personal choice, likening fluoride to government “medication.”

The ban faces opposition from dentists and health experts, who argue fluoride prevents cavities and benefits low-income communities.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans receive fluoridated water. Some cities have already removed fluoride, and a recent court order requires the EPA to regulate high levels that may affect children’s intellectual development.

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[–] [email protected] 92 points 1 week ago (6 children)

This would 100% be easily enough to make me move away.

That's a massive negative impact on my child's health. Anyone with more than 1 braincell who lives in Utah right now and wants to raise kids should be considering leaving to live somewhere with fluoride, unless you want your kid to be at risk of a bunch of health issues.

2025: we are bringing fucking Rickets back baby!

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

just get a toothpaste with fluoride. That's how it is in Europe

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 week ago (9 children)

I don't think you understand how bad low-income people have it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This, this is what people completely whiff on...

People forget not everyone can afford toothpaste...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Some people are unable to comprehend poverty. "just buy toothpaste" is low-key the equivalent of "just get a loan from your family and start your own business" or "Just get your accountant to write it off" or "just buy a second house" or "just let the lawyers clean it up". If you have the financial means, certain problems just don't affect you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I only use home brand toothpaste which is like 50cent here in Europe. Everyone can afford that or they have other bigger issues than their fluoride intake

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

You'd be surprised how much the intersection of "I luve in a literal cardboard box and can't afford toothpaste" and "no longer getting fluoride in my water super fucks me over" is.

There's huge chunks of the population who, yes, can't a0fford to brush their teeth, they Jaber neither toothbrush nor toothpaste.

But they do drink free tap water, and that as a source of fluoride in any sane city is a powerful cheap way to help with their bone health, teeth health, etc.

Cities that turn off fluoride in the water are, 4-5 years later, going to have some seriously excercerbated problems in their homeless communities which is going to impact everyone.

It's very dumb short term thinking that only someone very stupid would do...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Thanks! This is very good point!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Anything to make plebs suffer /s

America's leadership is dog shit. Only reason to get into politics anymore is to bilk the system and join the grift, fuck everyone you have to squash along the way, and especially once you reach the top

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Technically there is very little evidence of the benefits of flouridated water, aside from reducing tooth decay, but there are absolutely zero risks too.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Helping prevent tooth decay is the whole point of fluoridated water isn't it? I also believe dental health has been linked to other health issues like increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It doesn't prevent tooth decay, you still have to take good care of your teeth with it, but it reduces tooth decay. Reduces. Important distinction.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So you're saying it's helpful, but while being a dick.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

I'm saying if this becomes more of a partisan political issue then I will refuse to argue with the dipshits.

There are much more important issues at hand.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't know if this is sarcastic or not. We're in the type of world where would be sarcastic statements could be serious.

This feels like someone saying, "there's little evidence of vaccines having benefits, aside from preventing disease and death, but there's absolutely little risk too"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Vaccines actually prevent sickness and death in the vast majority. Like 95% reduction in cases.

Flouridated water has been shown by World Oral Health Report 2003 to reduce the rate at which dental caries (tooth decay) require intervention by 15% and UK NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination found 14.6%, however other studies have explored the idea that this rate of decline could be correlated with flouridated water and was not caused by it.

Again I think we should keep flouridating water but its not the end of the world if we don't.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Not the flu vaccine. It's nowhere near 95% effective. But that's not the point. You still take it especially if you are vulnerable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Technically there is very little evidence of the benefits of flouridated water, aside from reducing tooth decay

Reducing tooth decay is such a massive benefit to the population that at first I thought you were making as sarcastic joke here. I think you underestimate what a big deal that actually is.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

What an original reply I'm so glad you're not repeating the same things everybody else is saying.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Just take the iodine out of salt while we're at it. Don't need no smart thunkers in the Amazon warehouse.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

That's another reason to move away.

There are so many others.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This would 100% be easily enough to make me move away.

A bit of an overreaction there. Fluoride may provide some benefit for those who don't even brush their teeth, but as long as you can manage at least that much self-care then it doesn't actually do much of anything if at all.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

They've already lost the Sundance film festival, what's the difference if they lose all their people?

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Just wait until they hear what's in toothpaste!

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago

Toothpaste? I just use Vitamin A mixed with ivermectin.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 week ago

Utah dentists:

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Water? You mean like in the toilet?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

FLOURIDE! It's what toilets crave!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 week ago

prohibiting local decisions

cited... personal choice

bruh

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Looks like conservatives are going to start feeling actual, physical pain due to their poor decisions.

Have fun with rotted teeth.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

As a Brit, I can't wait to move up a place in the public sphere about our teeth!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Amusingly enough, our dental health is actually better than Americans already 👍

It's a funny thing about living in a country where healthcare doesn't bankrupt you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Americans have been busy convincing the world that anyone British who doesn't wear a suit (or isn't married to someone who does) has awful teeth. It's been a staple of movies and TV since the beginning. They're jealous of the NHS

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Natural groundwater already has some fluoride in it; it's the potability processing that takes it away. So of course a lot of places put it back in.

I see the push to remove it in my country, too. People claim is kills children's brains - but the amount of fluoride to do any damage is so insanely high. You would die of literal water poisoning several times over before you ingested enough fluoride.

Literally anything hurts you if you have too much, that's what 'too much' fucking means. Deciding something is bad because it has an unreachable 'too much' is like refusing to eat bananas because of Chernobyl.

The water here is extremely hard and has a lot of lime. Limescale is inevitable. Yet I don't see people complaining about drinking rocks? Who benefits from blaming fluoride? Where is this fear coming from?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Who benefits from blaming fluoride?

Dentists?

Where is this fear coming from?

Idiotic conspiracy theorists.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The fact that this is normal in the US is incomprehensible to my European brain. I don't think the fluoride is harmful, I don't think there's anything nefarious about it all, I just think it's weird to add things to the water supply?

Water coming from the tap should just be ... water? If you want fluoride in it for better dental health, just add it yourself? Or use fluoride toothpaste?

I feel like if you start doing that, you kinda open the door to mass dosing of other "potentially beneficial" agents. And things we think are safe today, may turn out to be unsafe a few decades from now (see lead, plastics and a number of pharmaceutical compounds that turned out to be unsafe later after decades of use).

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_by_country

Plenty of countries have fluoride in their water. Ultimately, if you brush your teeth, it is a useless policy but if you dont brush your teeth, it helps a little and with 0 negative side effects.

It is a policy that "my individual rights" crowd loves to shit on. Whether individual rights are more important than a minor effect to the health of a few individuals is debatable.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

it helps a little and with 0 negative side effects.

Here in the Netherlands we stopped in 1976 because there was an increase in migraines, stomach- and bowel issues and depression ever since fluoride was added to the drinking water supply (+5%).

Toothpaste still has it, but it's cautioned against to use fluoride-enriched toothpaste for children due to studies suggesting a negative effect on brain development. But even with fluoride-enriched toothpaste the amount is being reduced because there appear to be more damaging effects that are lessened in lower dosages, and the health benefits are seemingly not impacted.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

… 21 of 23 recent epidemiological studies report an association between high fluoride exposure and reduced intelligence. The discrepancy between experimental and epidemiological evidence may be reconciled with deficiencies inherent in most of these epidemiological studies on a putative association between fluoride and intelligence, especially with respect to adequate consideration of potential confounding factors, e.g., socioeconomic status, residence, breast feeding, low birth weight, maternal intelligence, and exposure to other neurotoxic chemicals.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-020-02725-2

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (8 children)

it is already accepted that tap water will have chemicals added (at a minimum chlorine) to make it safe to drink, fluoride generally has benefits in small amounts, the amount that the water company addes IMO should be published somewhere accessible so people won't get too much, but removing contaminants from water is far from a new idea in America.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

This isn't really a right-wing wackadoo thing (or at least not exclusively).

Portland, OR hasn't put fluoride in their drinking water for a VERY long time, with many people citing the fact that they don't want the pristine Bull Run water source tainted.

If you use fluoridated (or even nanosilver particle) toothpaste and/or mouth wash, there isn't really any logical reason to also have it in your drinking water, right?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Why put fluoride in water when you can sell it over the counter with a 1300x mark-up?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Not the most retarded state yet! That's gotta be Florida or Texas.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Hope they like paying dentist bills.

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