From tap water to toothpaste, fluoride is found everywhere. It is a mineral that is naturally present in some foods, and can be found in tap water due to its ability to prevent tooth decay through a process called remineralization. Adding fluoride into community water systems is regarded as one of the top 10 public health achievements in the 20th century. Nevertheless, fluoride has been a contentious topic for several decades due to research on its carcinogenic and neurotoxic properties, as well as its disruption of the circadian rhythm.
The Rise of Fluoride in the US
There is a popular story that describes two neighboring villages with similar in structures and lifestyles, but with a separate well for drinking water. One village had significantly higher rates of tooth decay compared to the other. Scientists investigating this discrepancy discovered that the village with lower rates of tooth decay had a natural source of fluoride—a rock sitting in the well—in their drinking water, while the other village did not. This observation led scientists to study the potential connection between fluoride and tooth decay.The story likely originated from he discovery in 1901 that residents of Colorado Springs, Colorado had brown teeth stains—a condition called enamel fluorosis—that were challenging to remove. Scientists found that this was caused by excessively high levels of fluoride in their spring water, far higher than those found in drinking water and toothpaste today.
