Write a 100-word response with 1 reference
Ronald
I had no idea that fluoride was added to the local water source. I believe it’s a practice that benefits the community since fluoride supports dental health. I currently live in the Savannah Georgia area, after checking the local Water department’s website I learned that they do add fluoride to the water supply. The website specifically states that fluoride is added to promote dental health. While fluoride promotes both dental and bone health, too much can fluoride can have multiple adverse side effects. One negative effect excess fluoride can have on us is dental fluorosis. Dental fluorosis causes mottling of tooth enamel, this presents itself as a white or brown staining on the teeth and can become very unsightly. Another negative effect of excessive fluoride is skeletal fluorosis. Skeletal fluorosis is a way more serious condition than dental, even when mild it can result in bone deformation as well as intense pain. In more extreme cases it can cause crippling and muscle weakness. These two conditions are highlighted because for this reason careful consideration should be taken when fluoride is being added to a population’s water source. The amount of fluoride detected in Savannahs water supply was 0.95 ppm since its last testing according to Savannahs water resources webpage. Although fluoride is manually added to the population’s water source it must be taken into account that erosion of natural deposits account for some of the fluoride present in the water. Although the date Savannah began adding fluoride to its water source eludes me; the addition of fluoride to public drinking water has been in practice since 1948, Grand Rapid Michigan was the first community to do this. If a sufficient amount of fluoride wasn’t present in the water supply you could make up for it by consuming milk, tea, fish and on the artificial side fluoride is added to gum.