11/02/2025
**The facts: city drinking water optimal fluoride levels are 0.7 mg fluoride per liter of water. When you brush your teeth with standard 0.24% fluoride toothpaste you will ingest around 0.1-0.4mg Fluoride (more for kids), and will be much more for prescription 1.1% Fluoride toothpastes. Data shows fluoride amounts less than 2mg/L to be beneficial or have no effect on gut health, and detrimental to gut health if more than 10mg/L in drinking water. Fluoride is a great topical agent that helps to remineralize and strengthen teeth, and also is an antibacterial. It has no benefit on the oral cavity if ingested. Fluoride is associated with lower IQ if higher than 1.5mg/L as occurs in many countries natural drinking water, but there is no data to support this is the case at 0.7mg/L. NHANES data from 2015-2016 showed that 70% of children showed fluorosis (negative dental enamel effects) from fluoridated water.
My personal thoughts:
- i’m still gonna use fluoride for me and my kids, but I will be more mindful on the amount I am using, and will make sure to use only a pea sized amount, and even less for my kids, and make sure they spit out the excess (but not rinse it off). But I have well water. If on city fluoridated water, I may consider an alternative source of drinking water for children under 8 years old whom still have developing teeth. I have attached some articles below for you to make your own decision with. Also keep in mind that city water has beem fluoridated since 1945, and the amount decreased from 1.2mg/L to 0.7mg/L in 2015. We have a LONG track record and data on the benefits.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651321005510
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/research/assessments/noncancer/completed/fluoride
https://abc30.com/post/fda-restricts-use-kids-fluoride-supplements-citing-emerging-health-risks-latest-action-robert-kennedy-jr/18099050/?ex_cid=TA_KFSN_FB&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/83/7/e1853/8068784d
AbstractContext. Fluoride can prevent dental caries by inhibiting demineralization and promoting remineralization of teeth while affecting the physiology o
