Carman: Removing fluoride from our water would be a gift to the dental industrial complex 

For years, whenever I would visit a new dentist, I would get the same question as soon as I lay back in the chair and opened my mouth. Did you grow up in the Upper Midwest? Minnesota? Wisconsin?

One look at the stunning array of fillings in my teeth said it all.

As it happened, I grew up on well water in Wisconsin, in an area where glaciation had stripped groundwater of most of the natural fluoride and I had the tooth decay to prove it. My brothers and I were Exhibit A in the case for fluoridation in the years when the John Birch Society insisted that Dwight Eisenhower was a communist agent and the movement to add about four drops of fluoride per 20 Olympic swimming pools-worth of public water was a communist plot.

No respectable scientific research was cited for this assertion, but that didn’t stop them from spreading fear of fluoride. The campaign went viral before viral campaigns were a thing. See “Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” for details.

In my family, having our teeth drilled was a big part of childhood, and then in adulthood, when our compromised teeth began cracking, we progressed to root canals, high-dollar crowns and dental implants.

Dentists took one look at our teeth and immediately bought second homes.

Now, if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is right and legitimate peer-reviewed scientific studies demonstrate that fluoride is causing bone cancer, IQ loss, arthritis and who knows what else, of course it should be removed. 

Then everybody can enjoy a lifetime of painful and expensive dental work and feel smug about increasing our IQs, fighting communism and eradicating the deep state.

The dental industrial complex is only too eager to oblige. In fact, shares in Dentsply Sirona, Envista and other dental care companies are spiking on Wall Street with every new announcement that RFK Jr. will remove fluoride from public water supplies. 

It’s a potential gold mine. They are positively gleeful. 

It’s easy to see why.

A 2005 study in Colorado found that fluoridation saved around $150 million or $60 per person per year in dental care costs (and we’re talking pre-inflation dollars from 10 years ago). So, if fluoride is removed from water systems, we’re looking at major expenses for the states and the federal government, which cover some dental care through Medicaid, and for families dealing with more expensive and more frequent trips to the dentist.

Maybe that’s what they mean when the Republicans chanted, “Drill, baby, drill.”

For the millions of Americans who don’t have affordable dental insurance — including people on Medicare and high numbers of people in rural areas — the costs go well beyond the financial. 

Those who can’t afford a trip to the dentist suffer with untreated dental caries and infections. Affected children struggle to learn at school and adults miss work. Poor dental health also leads to complications ranging from heart disease to infertility, dementia and cancer.

So, clearly, if the federal government is going to ban the addition of fluoride to public water systems and Make America Decay Again, it seems only fair that it should cover the cost of dental care for everybody.

Um, but I must have missed that plank in Trump’s platform. I’m sure it was there. The Republicans are the party of the working man, after all. 

During his three campaigns for president, Trump said he will make sure America has the cleanest water on the planet. Woo-hoo! 

That means that eliminating fluoride, considered safe by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, will be just the beginning of this impassioned clean water movement. 

Next up, I expect to see Trump and RFK Jr. going after the stuff that’s universally considered toxic, carcinogenic, dangerous and, incidentally, tastes awful. 

The groundwater in rural areas across the country is some of the most polluted, and Trump owes rural voters big time for his election. 

Red-blooded Republican Iowa, for example, has a cancer rate that is second in the nation and, not coincidentally, its water has among the highest levels of nitrates anywhere. People in states such as Iowa with extensive industrial farming operations drink diluted animal waste, herbicides and pesticides from their taps as a way of life.

Meanwhile in Colorado, common contaminants in the water include nitrates, selenium, iron, manganese, radium, uranium, arsenic and sulfates. Our water also is polluted with lead, largely from old municipal pipes; forever chemicals known scientifically as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); and tons of microplastics.

Solid research (not like the stuff from the John Birch Society) has found PFAS are causing decreased fertility, high blood pressure in pregnant women, developmental delays in children, accelerated puberty, increased risk of cancers, reduced immune system responses, interference with hormone production, increased cholesterol levels and increased risk of obesity.

Microplastics have been found to clog our arteries, damage our DNA and are in even higher concentrations in bottled water. (Yeah, you pay extra for that.)

I’m eagerly anticipating RFK Jr. tackling this problem with the same steadfast dedication he brings to saving us from fluoridation. And if he can stare down the American Dental Association on fluoride, surely he can stand up to the nation’s chemical manufacturers who have been suing to allow PFAS to remain in our drinking water.

RFK Jr. has already made it clear money is no object since removing fluoride is guaranteed to cost billions in inevitable dental care. Removing PFAS is expected to cost something like $55 billion a year. Getting rid of lead, arsenic, microplastics, nitrates … 

Pretty soon you’re talking real money. 

But as the campaign ad says, “Trump is for you.” So, I’m sure he’ll do the right thing.

Diane Carman is a Denver communications consultant.

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