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IF YOU LOOK AT ANY<\/b> tube of toothpaste with the American Dental Association\u2019s Seal of Acceptance, you\u2019ll see fluoride listed as the active ingredient. Trace amounts of fluoride are also added to the drinking water in many communities to further promote strong and healthy teeth. But what is fluoride and how does it work?<\/p>\nA Brief History of Fluoride in Drinking Water<\/h3>\n
First, let\u2019s take a look back at the fascinating history of this mineral. It all starts in Colorado Springs<\/a> at the turn of the 20th century. Dentists in the town encountered numerous cases of \u201cColorado brown stain\u201d \u2014 tooth discoloration that, bizarrely, was connected to a lower rate of cavities<\/strong>. Today, we call that fluorosis. Eventually, they traced it back to the water supply and discovered naturally occurring fluoride to be the cause.<\/p>\n Dentists were curious to see whether it was possible to keep the cavity prevention without any of the staining by lowering the level of fluoride, and they were right! When fluoride was first added to the public water supply in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it reduced the rate of childhood dental caries by a whopping 60 percent<\/strong>, with no adverse effects except for occasional cases of mild fluorosis.<\/p>\n Today, more than half of the U.S. population lives in communities with fluoridated water, and the CDC<\/a> considers community water fluoridation \u201c1 of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century,\u201d benefiting young and old, rich and poor alike. It\u2019s similar to drinking milk with vitamin D, baking with enriched flour, or even using iodized salt.<\/strong><\/p>\nFluoride and Teeth<\/h3>\n