Dental decay rampant in Calgary

[Dentoman]

This article does a pretty good job of explaining the benefits of fluoride

http://www.bfsweb.org/facts/dental_b.../howfworks.htm

[GGG]

Originally Posted by harmony

why the hell does this even matter? there's fluoride in toothpaste. there is no need for it in water. issue seems to be poor dental hygiene.

Are you saying that Edmonton on average is more hygienic then Calgary.

Because if so that is a disgusting accusation.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by harmony

why the hell does this even matter? there's fluoride in toothpaste. there is no need for it in water. issue seems to be poor dental hygiene.

Nope

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by speede5

It's not scientific, but I tend to look at the Flouride arguement by who's making money. It always seems to be the bottled water, water filter salesmen, etc spouting off how bad flouride is.

The fact dentists, who make money fixing cavities, are willing to support it also gives me comfort.

I also believe that people who are against flouride take in way more of it than they think, and it's not really the cause of their health issues.

But what do I know, I'm just a mechanic. lol

I know a pharmacist that believes it's put in the water to keep people dumb so that don't rose up against the government. A pharmacist. Yikes

[Hack&Lube]

Forget the Fluoride controversy, Canadians should be grateful they have cheap access to Novamin which has great efficacy in combatting tooth-decay and re-mineralization of tooth enamel. I discovered this and my teeth feel amazing.

https://doughbear.com/2014/08/05/nov...a-gamechanger/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3422065/

In the US, Glaxosmithkline owns the patent so regular Americans cannot get this in over the counter tooth paste and must pay hundreds of dollars for expensive Dental treatments to get access. I feel incredibly grateful to just pick this up off the shelf from Wal-Mart.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by harmony

why the hell does this even matter? there's fluoride in toothpaste. there is no need for it in water. issue seems to be poor dental hygiene.

You're right. On the other hand, it's a demonstrated fact that many parents don't, and that fluoride improves dental outcomes for kids. I think its very likely that the difference in outcomes is larger for poorer kids, who are less likely to get fluoride treatments at a dentist.

A comparable example is spina bifida. Consuming folic acid when pregnant significantly reduces the risk of neural tube defect conditions like spina bifida. Its in every maternal vitamin, and women are constantly reminded to take it if they even think they might be pregnant. It's not very expensive. But some don't, and then their kids end up with debilitating conditions.

As a matter of public health, folic acid was added into all flour sold in Canada in 1997. After that time, incidence of spina bifida decreased by over 50%, saving huge health care dollars and reducing suffering.

http://www.ffinetwork.org/about/stay...Background.pdf

Tooth decay is probably not as serious an issue on a small scale, but it eventually leads to losing your teeth, which has serious health and quality of life impacts. If we can do something as a society that would have a net negative cost (due to other health care savings), has no harmful effects, and disproportionately benefits poor children, I think we should do it.

I think the fact that the dentists are in favour (when its directly against their economic interest) is very telling.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by GGG

Are you saying that Edmonton on average is more hygienic then Calgary.

Because if so that is a disgusting accusation.

Timely news article

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/...165/story.html

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Forget the Fluoride controversy, Canadians should be grateful they have cheap access to Novamin which has great efficacy in combatting tooth-decay and re-mineralization of tooth enamel. I discovered this and my teeth feel amazing.

https://doughbear.com/2014/08/05/nov...a-gamechanger/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3422065/

In the US, Glaxosmithkline owns the patent so regular Americans cannot get this in over the counter tooth paste and must pay hundreds of dollars for expensive Dental treatments to get access. I feel incredibly grateful to just pick this up off the shelf from Wal-Mart.

Is it in a specific toothpaste or do we have to buy it separately?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

Is it in a specific toothpaste or do we have to buy it separately?

http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/repair-p.../6000087158316

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

You're right. On the other hand, it's a demonstrated fact that many parents don't, and that fluoride improves dental outcomes for kids. I think its very likely that the difference in outcomes is larger for poorer kids, who are less likely to get fluoride treatments at a dentist.

A comparable example is spina bifida. Consuming folic acid when pregnant significantly reduces the risk of neural tube defect conditions like spina bifida. Its in every maternal vitamin, and women are constantly reminded to take it if they even think they might be pregnant. It's not very expensive. But some don't, and then their kids end up with debilitating conditions.

As a matter of public health, folic acid was added into all flour sold in Canada in 1997. After that time, incidence of spina bifida decreased by over 50%, saving huge health care dollars and reducing suffering.

http://www.ffinetwork.org/about/stay...Background.pdf

Tooth decay is probably not as serious an issue on a small scale, but it eventually leads to losing your teeth, which has serious health and quality of life impacts. If we can do something as a society that would have a net negative cost (due to other health care savings), has no harmful effects, and disproportionately benefits poor children, I think we should do it.

I think the fact that the dentists are in favour (when its directly against their economic interest) is very telling.

Interesting although Acgold will not be pleased that the government is forcing him to ingest acid.

My grandfather was a dentist and oral surgeon in Montreal and could tell by looking into someones mouth if they were from Montreal which had fluoride or Laval which did not.

[Jacks]

I heard this on the radio this morning, they said that cavities in Calgary had "spiked". Then they went on to say that Edmonton has gone up by 2.2% and Calgary has gone up by 3.9%.

Since Edmonton adds flouride that means a difference of 1.7%. Seems to me that 1.7% has to be in the margin of error no?

[sketchyt]

Interesting and hilarious how this Herald/Sun non-story comes out about a week after it was reported a week ago that dentist pricing in Alberta is among the highest in Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...t-56-1.3436831

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Interesting although Acgold will not be pleased that the government is forcing him to ingest acid.

My grandfather was a dentist and oral surgeon in Montreal and could tell by looking into someones mouth if they were from Montreal which had fluoride or Laval which did not.

Didn't Calgary remove fluoride once before? When I moved here 20 years ago, the dentist could tell I didn't grow up in Calgary because my teeth were too good.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by sketchyt

Interesting and hilarious how this Herald/Sun non-story comes out about a week after it was reported a week ago that dentist pricing in Alberta is among the highest in Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...t-56-1.3436831

In other news teachers, engineers, and fast food employees all earn more in AB than the rest of Canada.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Jacks

I heard this on the radio this morning, they said that cavities in Calgary had "spiked". Then they went on to say that Edmonton has gone up by 2.2% and Calgary has gone up by 3.9%.

Since Edmonton adds flouride that means a difference of 1.7%. Seems to me that 1.7% has to be in the margin of error no?

Well, you can't quite compare the two that way.

"Spiked" should be quantified though. What does 2.2% and 3.9% actually mean in numbers of cases for each city. Might mean that only 1000 cavities reported in Edmonton last year and this year 1022, and Calgary could be 10000 cavities last year and this year 10390. So Calgary would have a lot more cases than Edmonton, but just using percent increases doesn't give the impression of a spike. That way you could say that Calgary had a 177x more cases of tooth decay than Edmonton.

Numbers are fun.

[Jacks]

I believe they were talking about the % increase for each city since Calgary stopped adding fluoride. The whole point of the study was to make an apples to apples comparison.

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by habernac

Didn't Calgary remove fluoride once before? When I moved here 20 years ago, the dentist could tell I didn't grow up in Calgary because my teeth were too good.

Likely prior to them putting fluoride in the water

[getbak]

Originally Posted by habernac

Didn't Calgary remove fluoride once before? When I moved here 20 years ago, the dentist could tell I didn't grow up in Calgary because my teeth were too good.

They didn't remove it, they just never had it. It failed numerous plebiscites until finally winning in 1989.

[Thor]

Sweet I'll look to see if its available in Iceland!

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by Jacks

I heard this on the radio this morning, they said that cavities in Calgary had "spiked". Then they went on to say that Edmonton has gone up by 2.2% and Calgary has gone up by 3.9%.

Since Edmonton adds flouride that means a difference of 1.7%. Seems to me that 1.7% has to be in the margin of error no?

The radio read the study wrong. The numbers are based on tooth surfaces per mouth, not percentages. So Edmonton has 2.1 surfaces restored per kid and Calgary has 3.8 surfaces restored per kid - each tooth having 5 surfaces. So the difference is very significant.