After reading Mayor Rinderle’s column on fluoridation, I am convinced that our city council has done its research. They have done their job and have unanimously voted to continue Durango’s municipal fluoridation program. They are to be commended for their effort!
I can vividly remember treating 3-year-olds with rampant dental decay from Pagosa Springs. The pain and suffering that they had to endure, and the realization that the experience would be with them for life, seemed unnecessary because fluoridation would have prevented it. Pagosa Springs fluoridated its water and the situation disappeared.
They have now voted fluoridation out. Big mistake! This scenario will soon return and the people who were responsible for eliminating fluoridation will have to come to grips with the fact that they are responsible for the new tragic and unnecessary pain and suffering.
A tooth is formed from a tooth bud. In the bud there are two layers of cells. One forms the dentin and the root. The outer layer forms the enamel. When the tooth erupts in the mouth the outer layer is exfoliated and no more enamel is formed. If fluoride is present in the water during the formation of the enamel it is homogeneously present throughout the tooth enamel. This creates a lifetime of resistance to dental decay. By about age ten, all of this enamel is formed.
Yes, this program is all for the children. I do recommend fluoride toothpaste but this must be applied each day and gives limited short-term resistance to decay.
Because of the miniscule amount of fluoride (0.7 part per million) it must be applied to millions of gallons of water. You cannot get the dose correct by treating small amounts of water and it is impossible to do for individual usage.
Vote against 1A so the city can continue fluoridation.
F. Dean Brown, DDS
Durango
Editor’s note: F. Dean Brown is past president of the Colorado Dental Association.
