The West Virginia University Rural Health Research Center reports that urban U.S. children, with more exposure to fluoridated water and dental care, have just as many cavities as less fluoride-exposed rural children.

“For children’s dental health measures, it was found that fluoridation rates were not significantly related to the measures of either caries or overall condition of the teeth for urban or rural areas,” the researchers write.

Since the 1940′s, fluoride has been added to the water supply as a claimed method of  preventing tooth decay. It was once believed (and still believed by some), that the primary benefits for teeth resulted from fluoride ingestion during the tooth-forming years. However, it is now thought by scientists, dentists, and researchers, that fluoride’s primary benefit comes from topical treatment, and not from ingestion. Fluoride has also been shown to be ineffective at preventing tooth decay in the pits & fissures of teeth, which is where most decay occurs.

Research conducted by the Cochrane Oral Health Group shows how the ingestion of fluoride is ineffective at reducing tooth decay in primary teeth. Not only does the research show that fluoride supplements are ineffective, but health risks from fluoride supplementation aren’t even studied enough for the supplements to be pushed in the first place. It was found that fluoride supplements, which are heavily endorsed by the CDC, provide no more benefit than topical treatments, which is safer due to minimal fluoride ingestion.

Adding to the downfall of fluoride use in our water supplies, the ineffective tooth-protecting nature of fluoride is accompanied by some serious health-related downfalls. In 1977, it was shown that water fluoridation caused about 10,000 cancer deaths in epidemiological studies by Dr. Dean Burk, former head of the Cytochemistry Section at the National Cancer Institute and Yiamouyiannis. Another research paper documents how fluoride ingestion causes tumor growth rates to increase by 25% at only 1 ppm (part per million), while also producing melanotic tumors and increasing carcinogenesis of other chemicals.

Does this offend you?  Sound ludicrous?  Can’t handle the evidence? Feel free to continue scrolling.  Or you can continue the research yourself and come to your own, informed decision.