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Mike Lew's avatar

AWWA M4 says the history of artificial fluoridation started in Colorado Springs in 1908 when Dr McKay noticed excessive mottling of teeth. He also noticed particularly strong teeth. Other folks noticed similar things and off we went. The first municipal fluoridation was in Grand Rapids, MI in 1945.

Here's the thing. Some people are hypersensitive to fluoride and get tooth mottling or skeletal fluorosis at the recommended concentration.

When I grew up, my water company (Philadelphia Suburban Water Co) didn't fluoridate. My sister and I took supplement pills every day. Those work, too but fluoridation in water is cheaper and available to everyone.

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Katherine B Barz's avatar

Thanks Mike. Didn’t realize how the two communities I wrote about were on the front line fighting tooth decay.

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