NYS Can Save Millions Creating Healthier Toothier New Yorkers

Submitted by Sally Stride on December 17, 2008 - 5:08pm.

New York State's Governor Patterson is proposing extensive tax increases to offset revenue shortfalls. But I have a better idea. Stop fluoridation.

This win-win decision would save multi-millions of dollars and benefit every New Yorker – except maybe legislators beholden to special interest groups.

Science shows ending fluoridation saves teeth, money, preserves health and will reduce the carbon footprint, to boot, but it would irk organized dentistry. That’s the rub.

After 60 years of water fluoridation (adding cavity-preventing fluoride chemicals into water supplies) and over 50 years of fluoridated toothpaste, tooth decay is epidemic in the United States because 80% of dentists refuse to treat Medicaid patients and over 108 million Americans lack dental insurance (1). Children have died from untreated tooth decay. (2)

Diverting attention from their greed and heartlessness, dentists focus too-willing legislators on fluoridation, as if that would solve the problem. (3)

Far from fluoridation putting dentists out of business, as was once predicted, today’s dentists work fewer hours and days doing less critical work but make more money than many physicians. (4)

Seventy-two percent of NYS is fluoridated even though statistics show it’s failing to thwart cavities. (5) New York City, alone, spends approximately $14 million or more yearly on fluoridation chemicals, equipment and manpower.(6) Yet, NYC residents have among the highest cavity rates in the nation. (7)

Unfortunately, organized dentistry’s PAC money and political might speaks louder than science.(8)

One might argue that stopping fluoridation will cause higher dental costs. But studies show that, when fluoridation ends, cavities actually go down. (9) And the most highly fluoridated states have the highest rates of tooth loss. (10) Cavity crises are occurring in most fluoridated cities and states (See: http://www.FluorideNews.Blogspot.com )

Modern science shows that fluoride ingestion confers no benefits as early fluoridationists thought. Besides, today fluoride is in virtually all foods and beverages, (11) almost all toothpastes, some medicines, many dental products and is now a known component of air pollution.

No one disputes that too much fluoride is a bad thing. And there’s loads of evidence showing that Americans are over-fluoridated. For example, the Centers for Disease control reports that 48% of 12 - 15 year-olds have dental fluorosis – white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted enamel – from too much fluoride ingestion when their teeth were forming. (12) We can’t see what fluoride is doing to their bones. (13)

For this reason, both the CDC and the American Dental Association advise that infant formula NOT be mixed with fluoridated water.

The National Kidney Foundation also advises kidney patients to avoid fluoridated water as malfunctioning kidneys can allow a toxic build up of fluoride in bones causing them to weaken and break. (14)

New York State is not spending the money to get this information out. Fluoridation is outdated, unnecessary and harmful. It must be stopped.

Contact your local and state legislators and tell them wasteful, ineffective fluoridation must stop

On the National level, tell Congress you want fluoridation stopped and to hold hearings about why federal officials continue to promote fluoridation in the face of growing evidence of harm and ineffectiveness here: http://congress.FluorideAction.Net

END

References:

1) http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/pressreleases/pr_oral_52000.htm

2) “For Want of a Dentist,” by Mary Otto, The Washington Post, February 27, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702116.html

3) How California Deceptively Passed a Statewide Fluoridation Mandate http://www.edhtelegraph.com/detail/89290.html

Louisiana Mandates Fluoridation Despite Evidence of Harm http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Louisiana-May-Mandate-Fluoridation-Despite-Evidence-of-Harm-20853-1/

4)”New Drill - Tale of Two Docs: Why Dentists Are Earning More,” by Mark Maremont, The Wall Street Journal, Monday, January 10, 2005
http://www.flapsblog.net/2005/01/new-drill-tale-of-two-docs-why.html

5) NYS Department of Health statistics show that fluoridation fails to reduce tooth decay. See chart: http://tinyurl.com/NYSchart

6) Fluoridation Does Not Save Money or Teeth
http://fluoridedangers.blogspot.com/2005/11/fluoridation-does-not-save-money-or.html

7) Evidence that Fluoridation Has Failed New York
http://www.freewebs.com/fluoridation/fluoridationfailsnewyork.htm

8) “Open Wide for $25K” NY Daily News, by Elizabeth Benjamin, July 12, 2008
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2008/07/open-wide-for-25k.html
“In Rift Among Dentist Groups, a Tale of Political Clout.”
By Sam Roberts, New York Times, June 23, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/nyregion/23dentist.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

9) When Fluoridation Ends So Do Cavities
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/relatedconditions/a/flushot.htm

10) More Fluorde = Less Teeth
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1002581/posts

11) USDA Fluoride Database 2005 http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=6312

12) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/figures/s403a1t23.gif

13) http://groups.google.com/group/Fluoridation-News-Releases/browse_thread/thread/20b328821b24dcc4/9882f8d2ce4caad5?lnk=gst&q=fluorosis+fractures#9882f8d2ce4caad5

14) National Kidney Foundation, “Fluoride Intake in Chronic Kidney Disease,” April 15, 2008
http://www.kidney.org/atoz/pdf/Fluoride_Intake_in_CKD.pdf

States Can Save Millions Creating Healthier Toothier Americans

Posted by: SallyStride

New York State's Governor Patterson is proposing extensive tax increases to offset revenue shortfalls. But I have a better idea. Stop fluoridation.


This win-win decision for all states would save multi-millions of dollars and benefit every American – except maybe legislators beholden to special interest groups.


Science shows ending fluoridation saves teeth, money, preserves health and will reduce the carbon footprint, to boot, but it would irk organized dentistry. That’s the rub.


After 60 years of water fluoridation and over 50 years of fluoridated toothpaste, tooth decay is epidemic in the United States because 80% of dentists refuse to treat Medicaid patients and over 108 million Americans lack dental insurance (1). Children have died from untreated tooth decay. (2)


Diverting attention from their greed and heartlessness, dentists focus too-willing legislators on fluoridation (adding unnecessary fluoride chemicals into water supplies in a failed effort to prevent tooth decay), as if that would solve the problem. (3)


Far from fluoridation putting dentists out of business, as was once predicted, today’s dentists work fewer hours and days doing less critical work but make more money than many physicians. (4)


Seventy-two percent of NYS is fluoridated even though statistics show it’s failing to thwart cavities. (5) New York City, alone, spends approximately $14 million or more yearly on fluoridation chemicals, equipment and manpower.(6) Yet, NYC residents have among the highest cavity rates in the nation. (7)


Unfortunately, organized dentistry’s PAC money and political might speaks louder than science.(8)


One might argue that stopping fluoridation will cause higher dental costs. But studies show that, when fluoridation ends, cavities actually go down. (9) And the most highly fluoridated states have the highest rates of tooth loss. (10) Cavity crises are occurring in most fluoridated cities and states (See: http://www.FluorideNews.Blogspot.com )


Modern science shows that fluoride ingestion confers no benefits as early fluoridationists believed. Besides, today fluoride is in virtually all foods and beverages, (11) almost all toothpastes, some medicines, many dental products and is now a known component of air pollution.


No one disputes that too much fluoride is a bad thing. And there’s loads of evidence showing that Americans are over-fluoridated. For example, the Centers for Disease control reports that 48% of 12 - 15 year olds have dental fluorosis – white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted enamel – from too much fluoride ingestion when their teeth were forming. (12) We can’t see what fluoride is doing to their bones. (13)


For this reason, both the CDC and the American Dental Association advise that infant formula NOT be mixed with fluoridated water.


The National Kidney Foundation also advises kidney patients to avoid fluoridated water as malfunctioning kidneys can allow a toxic build up of fluoride in bones causing them to weaken and break. (14)


New York State can’t afford the money to get this information out. Fluoridation is outdated, unnecessary and harmful. It must be stopped.


The remedy: Dentists have unfairly influenced our legislators to pass laws that benefit themselves (15) while neglecting those that need them the most. In return, Dentists must be required to treat a certain percentage of patients for free, on a sliding scale basis or accept Medicaid payments.


Tell your local and state legislators you want fluoridation stopped.


Tell Congress you want fluoridation stopped and Congressional hearings held about why federal officials continue to promote fluoridation in the face of growing evidence of harm and ineffectiveness: http://congress.FluorideAction.Net

Why an NHS dentist is as rare as hen's teeth

By Cassandra Jardine
Last Updated: 1:46PM GMT 12 Dec 2008

My children hardly ever go to the dentist any more. This is not because they have good teeth – as half of their genes come from me, they may be destined to a life time of shoring up and pulling out yellowing stumps. Of course I take them if they ever complain of any pain, but they aren't getting regular check-ups for the simple reason that our dentist has stopped working on the NHS.

Millions of people are in the same position. The latest figures show that 1.2 million fewer people were seen by an NHS dentist last year because they are all going private. In fact, I was quite surprised to see that just over half of the population had managed to make an appointment with an NHS dentist at all because, around my area of south London, they are as rare as hen's teeth.

I feel cheated by the health service's failure to look after the nation's teeth. The Government doesn't has a responsibility to give us all sparkling California-style gnashers, but it should at least provide a service which will prevent decay, pain and further complications. There is a strong link between gum disease and heart disease – yet three out of four adults suffer from gum disease because we aren't going often enough to dentists and dental hygienists – mostly because we can't afford to. A specialist periodontal examination at my local once NHS, now private practice cost "from £150" – an open-ended proposition that leaves me faint with financial anxiety.

Even on the NHS, free dentistry long ceased to feel like the payback for our National Insurance stamps. Long before our dentist went private, he was charging over-18s for 80 per cent of their treatment, with the Government only picking up a tiny slice of the bill. Treatment for children was theoretically free but, if I upgraded from a mercury amalgam filling to a white one – desirable on both cosmetic and health grounds – it was time to get the cheque book out.

I have a solution, of sorts. Near us an eminent dental academic, keeps his hand in by practicing informally at weekends. He charges, but modestly. The reason he can do so is that he has dispensed with a lot of the flummery that inflates dentists' costs. He operates two chairs simultaneously and dispenses with the services of a dental nurse who would be, in my experience, sitting around doing nothing all day except for pressing a button on the computer and, occasionally, stirring up some filling mixture.

Unsung Hero Helps Create Smiles

CARTERVILLE--When people lose their job, they often lose their insurance.

Some never had coverage to begin with and are forced to ignore their medical needs, including a visit to the dentist.

That's where the Create a Smile Dental Foundation steps in.

Carla Fletcher has a lot to smile about these days. About a month ago, she was fitted with a new set of teeth.

"People say I look about 10 to 15 years younger than I used to. And I smile more," said Carla.

The Create a Smile Dental Foundation helped make it happen. The group pays for dental work for people who have no insurance.

Over the last five years, the foundation has provided dental assistance to nearly 40 people in southern Illinois.

"I've had dental problems, my wife has had dental problems. So many people have dental problems, they don't have insurance. We figured it would be a good thing to help people because we enjoy helping people," said founder John Flora.

He says they're able to pay for the dental work thanks in part to this thrift store in downtown Carterville.

Dentists also help by doing some procedures at a reduced price.

"But it still costs lots of money to get that dental work done."

Carla says before she got her new teeth, she spent almost 15 years with broken teeth and exposed roots.

She can smile again without feeling self conscience.

"It's just a wonderful feeling you know. I think a lot of prayer must have went into it. I went in to get my teeth pulled one day and the new ones the next. They were just healing like they should."

Applications can be picked up at the thrift store on Division Street in Carterville.

by Kevin Hunsperger
khunsperger@wsiltv.com

Options for people with diabetes

(CL) — It’s estimated that almost 2.5 million Latinos in the U.S. will be affected by diabetes by 2020. Of those, 44 percent will be over the age of 65. Just within the Hispanic community, the effects of diabetes are vividly present. While Medicare can cover medical services, the coordination and monitoring of those services is particularly critical to managing complicated medical conditions.
It’s widely known that diabetes is a debilitating disease requiring careful and consistent medical attention. What may not be as clear, however, are the solutions to manage the multiple needs of the disease that can range from juggling multiple physicians and treatment plans to coping with the demands of a hectic pace in a fast-food society.

“Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death listed on U.S. death certificates,” said Dr. Ana Fuentevilla, Evercare medical director. Furthermore, diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure and new cases of blindness, as well as a strong influencer in the cases of high blood pressure, dental disease, heart disease, strokes and amputations.
To ensure the proper management of diabetes, it’s important to follow the specific treatments prescribed by the primary health care provider and specialists because failure to adhere to them could severely jeopardize one’s health. To facilitate the management of what may turn into a multitude of treatments, doctor’s appointments