Fluoridation and Toxicity Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Fluoridation and Toxicity Issues - Assignment Example Fluoridation might actually result in the darkening of the teeth or dental fluorosis and may even affect the gums (The Debate over Adding Fluoride in Our Water, 2013). This will result in something like what American researchers called the Colorado Brown Stain, which was a result of excessive use of fluoride and which affected some children from 1909 to 1915. Moreover, the darkening of the teeth was not related to tooth decay (The Story of Fluoridation, 2011). In a study by Parnell et al. (2009), there have been 88 studies that revealed that fluorosis may be derived from drinking of water treated with fluoride. Fluoride consumption in drinking water may also be associated with problems concerning the health of the skeletal system. The most common is bone fracture (Limeback, 2000). The most common of these bone fracture types is hip fracture (Diesendorf et al., 1997). Moreover, data from 29 studies prove that long-term consumption of drinking water with fluoride can result in bone fracture (Parnell et al., 2009). Indeed, even though these studies are mostly from the United States, it does not change the fact that the potential harmful effects of fluoride can happen to any group of people in the world as long as they are exposed to relatively large amounts of the chemical in water. The third and perhaps most difficult concern, which I hope Dr. Nokes will bring up and clarify, is that an excess of fluoride in the human body is simply â€Å"detrimental to long-term dental and overall health† (The Debate over Adding Fluoride in Our Water, 2013). This is indeed very alarming because people are actually not familiar with the standard amount of fluoride that a human body must take in as well as the maximum levels of the chemical that the body can handle. Although the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States points out 4 mg/L as the standard maximum tolerable aount of fluoride that Americans can take in, the data may be