Is fluoride in water a good thing or a danger?
Dear Cecil: In 2002 you said, “Long a target of fringe groups, fluoridation is widely considered one of the great public-health achievements of the last century.” My wife has shown me a lot of Internet back-and-forth suggesting a host of problems that can be blamed on fluoridation. Some say fluoride is industrial waste and that the mining industry duped us into thinking it’s healthy so we’d want it in our water. So is fluoride deadly or healthy, or do we just not know? — James B., Columbia, Maryland Oh, we’ve got a pretty fair idea. Fact is, like a lot of things (Tylenol and water come to mind), fluoride can be either good or bad for you depending on how much you get. In small amounts the stuff is definitely salubrious. Though a few holdouts still argue, most research I’ve seen credits fluoridation with the sharp drop in tooth decay seen throughout the developed world over the past 40 years. In the U.S., 67 percent of those drinking public water get fluoride in it and tooth decay has f
