Sometimes, I have a bit of Ostrich Syndrome. Especially when it comes to my teeth and general health. A problem isn’t real until I know about it. It’s irrational. It’s counterproductive. But it’s there.
The last time I went to the dentist, I was living in Estacado. For those of you who haven’t been following me that long, that was from 2006-08, wherebouts. When I was in Estacado, I got them cleaned every three months like clockwork. I never established care in Cascadia, nor in Arapaho until now. I brush and floss almost every day, but sometimes more diligently than others. My teeth have been vaguely hurting over the past year or so. I finally got around to making the appointment.
For the first time in my life, I got an attaboy from the dentist. Not because of a lack of cavities (I have one) or other problems (I’ve got those, too), but because my entire dental history was declared splendid.
Excuse me? I’ve never been good at taking care of my teeth. I’ve always had the problems that come with not taking care of my teeth. I drive 3-5 soft drinks a day. What?!
I have come to the conclusion that Arapahoans must, as a people, have very lousy teeth. If mine look good, theirs must be pretty bad.
Perhaps not incoincidentally, I have discovered that portions of Arapaho, including where I live, do not add fluoride to water. This has been the subject of debates around the state lately. Two towns have been contemplating fluoride policy and both opted for the status quo: the town doing it elected to keep doing it, the town that hasn’t been doing it as opted to encourage people to eat less sugar. Perhaps not incoincidentally, both towns have been battling pertussis outbreaks.
It turned out that I went to the dentist at exactly the right time. They were showing the Olympics on the TV on the ceiling while they were cleaning my teeth. I don’t care much about the Olympics, but it was basketball, which I am less indifferent to than most sports. We were playing Argentina neck-and-neck when I started watching. We beat their arses by the end.
Update: I forgot to mention that I have a slight chip on one of my front teeth. So slight that no one has ever commented on it before. Both the hygienist and dentist made note of it and asked me about it (whether it was causing any problems, etc.). At least I knew they were looking close! Also, with regard to the area’s fluoride situation, they got me on prescription-strength toothpaste, which is apparently something of a norm among the dental community (and something I had never even heard of), to compensate.
I just had a trip to the dentist. Two cavities filled. Oh, joy.
So here’s the thing… I grew up on a farm. We had great water; cool, clear, tasty. Practically a beverage. But no fluoride. And I’ve got a mouthful of fillings to show for it.
And my daughter, who turns 23 in August, was raised in cities/towns where the water was always fluoridated. To this day, not a single cavity.
So… there’s that.
I think fluoride is one of my anti-libertarian views. I mean, I understand all of the objections. It sounds insidious from a liberty perspective. Yet… there it is.
I’m actually modestly conflicted on lithium.
I mean, I react to the idea with repulsion. It’s fascist!
Yet… I wonder…
No, it’s wrong!
Yet…
How do you feel about daylight savings time? I think Marginal Revolution remarked, long ago, that DST and opposition to existing DST both seemed instinctively interventionist to one of their bloggers. It was a startlingly clear demonstration of intrinsic conservatism, really.
I hate Daylight Savings Time with a passion. Link. Link.
That being said, it’s not fascist or repulsive. It’s just wrong.
My very first job out of school was building computer monitoring systems for refineries, systems that have to run and gather data 24/7/365. An utterly ridiculous proportion of our effort was spent on the wholly artificial problem of displaying data that crossed a DST/non-DST boundary. It’s not that it’s a hard problem, it’s that it’s 117 small problems, all of which had to be solved separately.
As I said in Link 1, when our state was talking about doing away with DST, I was not as excited as I might have been because it would only be our state and it would have lead to confusion. Especially since I live within a short drive (my mountain west standards) of a state line and the nearest city of over 100k is across said line.
I’m OK with fluoride too. I think the key is to understand that there’s nothing natural about tap water, it’s an industrial product. Deciding to put fluoride in isn’t much different to deciding to take giardia out.
Oooh, I’m going to use that line.
Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor essential for healthy teeth. No adult has ever walked out of their doctor’s office with a prescription for the fluoride drug because it is deadly poison and the body has no known use for it. It is never included in any multi-vitamin formulation. Drinking it to prevent tooth decay is as foolish as drinking sunscreen to prevent sunburn. Every fluoride toothpaste tube carries the warning “if swallowed, call a poison control center immediately.”
_
Read the best scientific information on fluoridation in Dr. Paul Connett’s book “The Case Against Fluoride,” published last year. It contains over 1200 peer reviewed studies and sound scientific reasoning showing the ineffectiveness and dangers to health including cancer, thyroid & pineal gland damage, broken hips from brittle bones, lowered IQ, kidney disease, and other serious health problems.
YES! You’ve reeled in a Blinded Trials-quality troll!
I’m so proud of you I could cry.
Only 5% of the world uses fluoridation because many large studies show fluoridation is totally ineffective in improving tooth decay and is dangerous to health (See fluoridealert.org). The World Health Organization studied 16 countries and showed fluoride is of no value for teeth. Europe has rejected it and is 98% fluoride free. India, Japan, China and most countries now reject it. Interestingly, despite the fact that the vast majority of western Europe does not fluoridate its water, Europe’s tooth decay rates are as low – if not lower – than the tooth decay rates in the heavily fluoridated United States.
Ryan, I am thinking that maybe I should do a post on whether the players on the New Mexico State football team are getting enough fluoride, since those seem to be the ones that attract the random attention.
I didn’t grow up with fluoride, and my teeth have always been kind of a mess. Everyone I know who grew up with it has wonderful teeth.
It’s like the quintessential argument for the beneficence of the state.
FWIW, I grew up in a city that had fluoridated water, and I still ended up with a mouthful of fillings. My kids mostly grew up on well water, but they’ve had sealants from a fairly early age, and no cavities for them (ages 22 and 20). So, there’s that too. 🙂
I didn’t go the dentist for about 20 years. Complete scaredy cat.I’d brush the suckers but i didn’t go until the wife nagged at me and somehow my mouth said yes. Well i go regularly now, i’ve had my wisdom teeth out, a root canal, some fillings and a crown. It still scares me a bit but almost none of has been bad. The fear has been the worst part. My root canal was almost completely painless. It was nothing. The fillings, meh, no big deal. Amazing.
For my work i had to meet with a guy who was an anti-floride protester. He was possessed, and not in a good way. Probably a nice guy as long as you didn’t talk about fluoride.
I’ve never had a root canal. My wisdom teeth removal was unusually painful, but obviously I won’t need that again. Fillings and cleanings don’t bother me. None of that is what I am afraid of. I’m afraid of a doctor saying “Will, all your teeth are going to fall out.”
I’ve had two root canals. They are the worst thing I’ve ever had done to me (which is probably at least a reasonable sign that nothing terrible has ever really happened to me, but still). Because of that, I will skip flossing maybe once a month at the most. *shudder*
Not having had one, what was so bad about root canals?
(It’s probably noteworthy that I don’t actually know anyone personally that has had them, and that I was raised in fluoride country.)
The pain is one thing, and it’s pretty horrific, which requires just a crap ton of novocaine (or whatever), which basically leaves your face numb for a whole day. But the worst thing is the length. They take FOREVER – like, hours. And you just kind of sit there while someone pokes around, pulling out all your nerves and filling the holes with jelly. Then you have to go back so they can do the crown. It’s just a harrowing process.
And it costs an awful lot of money too, even with insurance.
The dentist I visited today was the first one with a TV on the ceiling. It’s a pretty ingenious idea, really. Dentists ought to work on ways to have you occupied during long events. Music through noise-cancelling headphones, if not video.
I went to the dentist I did because they rescued my dog when she ran away (or, went out looking for me). Absent that, if I am choosing between dentists, I’d choose the one with mechanisms of distraction.
Ryan-
How long ago did you have your canals done? I’ve had a couple down, both in the past couple of years, and they weren’t nearly as harrowing.
Ryan,
sounds like you got a bad doc.
Root canals are pretty bad. I’ve seen worse injuries/problems (tooth abcesses spring to mind — combined with improperly warmed Emergency Room leading to moderate shock from combined cold/bloodloss/infection).
They won’t take my wisdom teeth because they say they are too small. The word cute was used at two different dental offices.
Power to ya, Mary. It was a more painful experience than advertised, for me. It wasn’t like that time they missed on the Novocaine when drilling for a cavity, which was short and excruciating. Mostly my mouth just hurt for longer afterwards than they said it would hurt.
Well you are only driving the soft drinks and not drinking them so that might explain the dentist’s remarks 🙂
I think fluoride in the water is one of the best public health policies that has ever been implemented and I don’t quite understand how it can become a scared cow of first principles and complaining. Though I also know plenty of health-nut and conspiracy minded hippie-lefties in SF who dislike fluoridation as well. But largely because they think it causes cancer and other health problems. These people are also anti-vaccine idiots.
I do believe that too much flouride can be problematic, but the levels present in public drinking systems are not even close to being “too much”. I think folks have a tendency to think, “Lots of X can be harmful, therefore ANY amount of X is harmful!” It’s the same people who never ever let their kids have a cookie because if the kid had 100 cookies a day, they’ll get fat and heave health problems.
What? Every thing in moderation? That’s just silly 😉
Flouride hasn’t saved my teeth, nor my husbands.
I’ma put a plug here for something that has:
Phillips toothbrushes! So, you ask, why should you use a toothbrush from a CD drive manufacturer? Because it does the job well, and without the requirement of manual dexterity that manual toothbrushes have. it leaves your teeth polishy clean, and it actually feels good to use!