Egotistical muck raking opinion politicians need to keep out of science-based public health decisions. Fuck off Winnie
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
9 points (100.0% liked)
Aotearoa / New Zealand
1710 readers
1 users here now
Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general
- For politics , please use !politics@lemmy.nz
- Shitposts, circlejerks, memes, and non-NZ topics belong in !offtopic@lemmy.nz
- If you need help using Lemmy.nz, go to !support@lemmy.nz
- NZ regional and special interest communities
Rules:
FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom
Banner image by Bernard Spragg
Got an idea for next month's banner?
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 20 comments
sorted by:
hot
top
controversial
new
old
Mmmm forced medication
Whilst it looks like "forced medication" on the surface. It doesn't take much critical thinking to see why it is not forced. Nor is it medication, it is an additive to prevent needing medication in the future.
You are not forced to drink the tap water, there are various ways to avoid it if you really want to. But the advantages to dental health are crazy, every person I know who grew up on a farm that didn't have "town water" has bad teeth, they are expensive to maintain. Most people I know who grew up with fluoride in their water, have good teeth that just keep working.
I grew up on a farm with rainwater, but my mum made us have a fluoride tablet every morning so my teeth did ok :)
I think we were a bit of an aberration back then so god only knows what its like nowadays. The generation before my parents (my Great-Aunts) by the time they were in their late 30s their teeth were so bad all 3 sisters basically had them all pulled and had false teeth for the next 50 years.
I'm guessing the missing word here is "mum"
Hey I also had fluoride tablets when I was young, before we moved into town!
by the time they were in their late 30s their teeth were so bad all 3 sisters basically had them all pulled and had false teeth for the next 50 years.
It's worth remembering that in past generations dentists would just pull out all your teeth and give you false ones instead of trying to solve the issues. I don't know if it was cost or technology but it's only recent generations where dentists have worked hard to save teeth.
Why do you swallow fluoride tablets when the benefit is from contact with teeth?
From what I can find, you're supposed to suck or chew them. I can't remember what we did as kids but chewing them seems reasonable since I was probably 4-6 at the time.
They weren't little gummy bears or anything though, I remember them being tiny, maybe 3mm across, white and round. The kind of pill that you'd expect to break into powder when bitten. And I think we only had half a tablet.
But even if swallowed whole it seems it can get into your teeth via things like fluoride making it's way into your saliva production, but it's less effective because of the low concentration.
It helps for it to be in contact with teeth but ingestion helps but mostly in tooth formation. Its effects are akin to vitamin D and vitamin K which you don't have to rub all over your bones but I would not be surprised if it would not be helpful to if that was at all possible.
Fluoridation is far from the only additive we put in things that lead to better health outcomes in the general population. Iodised salt and folic acid in bread are two that come to mind, but there are others.
this stuff, anti-vax, I feel like im living in the middle ages. expecting witch laws soon.
Sure but what about the people that can't tolerate it? Do they just have to live a shit life? I have mast cell activation syndrome and it's triggered by folic acid and fluoride, amongst other things like fragrances and chilli.
That being said, using non fluoridated toothpaste and reverse osmosis water all my life, still no cavities
Should we really base public policy on the 0.01% of the public that can't tolerate something or another?
Governments make decisions all the time that make some people's lives better and others worse. It's always a balance.
Sure but what about the people that can’t tolerate it? Do they just have to live a shit life?
You answered this in your comment. You do the thing that you are already doing.
still no cavities
This is not true for most of the population, so it's not really relevant here.
Im from a big family and there is sorta a gulf because of some babies that did not make it. My eldest brother had many cavities and he was great with his diet and oral care. Im at the other end of the spectrum as the youngest male and had an aweful diet. Hooked on pop and love sweets and I did not brush my teeth regularly and had few and they were all so slight I had them done without novacain. This actually plays out for both the oldest two and youngest three with the middle ones being in between. Seemed to make a difference.