About 30 years ago my firebrand, highly opinionated cousin, who still self-publishes his mountain rag, was on one of his many crusades, this one to eliminate fluoride from our God-given natural, pure H2O. This child of the John Birch era was convinced that not only was fluoridation slowly killing and maiming us….for he had a lot of examples and illustrations... it was also a wicked conspiracy. His tirades were, & still are, most entertaining, but I knew on this issue he was dead-wrong. Since the anti-fluoridation issue has reared its ugly head recently, in the wake of a recent uptick of extreme conservatism, I wanted ascertain my “pro-fluoride” position. I asked a personal living expert, my father, only 95, an illustrious graduate of the Baylor Dental Class of ’49, a.k.a, the Forty-Niners. He still has all his marbles, but his sight and hearing are about 50%. When he speaks he orates.
‘Yes, I know all about fluoridation! I know because Baylor did studies during my time. And, besides all the many requirements, everyone had to participate in those studies collecting data. There was no doubt that fluoride hardened tooth enamel and made teeth less susceptible to caries. Fluoride only came to Shreveport in the 50’s. Anyone, with a few lucky exceptions, born “pre-fluoride” was a dental catastrophe & my early practice reflected that. By middle age most people wore dentures or partials. The lucky ones had mouths full of metallic bridges and crowns. No one thought anything of a gilded front tooth or an apparent silver clasp on a cuspid. But once fluoridation took effect, kids just did not have the same ole rotten teeth. They hardly ever lost their molars, & they never lost visible teeth. Those born after fluoridation have never known the routine pain and disappointment of drill-’em-fill-’em-or-pull-’em. Or worse, a snaggle-toothed smile.” Fluoridation was the next best civic improvement after Social Security.’
As a child I grew up with kids who had bad teeth and a lot of tooth aches. My close relatives had lost most of their teeth and wore prostheses. As “war babies” my husband and I are categorized as “pre-fluoride” by the four dentists in my family. But, if seeing is believing, or if you ever doubt what humans looked like before fluoridated water, just take in a Sunday night silent movie on TMC. Be ready for a shock. At the very least your classic movie idols may need major orthodontia, but the lesser cast members frequently have gaps in their smile. I always heard that poor old Clark Gable wore plates & that Vivian Leigh couldn’t stand his denture breath. If so, he probably wasn’t the only star sporting a “fake,” pristine, Hollywood smile. These days I’m sure glad when anyone can be fitted with good dentures. Although, I don’t know about you, but I believe it would be ashamed to regress & become “post-fluoride.”
