this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced it will begin the process of pulling prescription fluoride drops and tablets for children off the market. The supplements are usually given to kids at high risk for cavities.

The federal government and some state legislatures are increasingly drawing attention to what they claim are the risks associated with fluoride, a mineral that’s been used for decades in community water systems, toothpastes and mouth rinses to prevent tooth decay.

Dentists fiercely contest the notion that the harms of fluoride outweigh the benefits.

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[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 200 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (36 children)

This is even more nuts than removing fluoride from municipal water systems. At least with that, parents who believe the science that their kids' teeth will be better off with targeted fluoride treatment can buy the drops and tablets, and those who are afraid for some reason can choose to just not use it.

This is just trying to ban access to fluoride entirely, despite research showing its benefits and the distinct lack of significant harm. Madness.

What next, are they going to criminalize sending fluoride drops/pills through the mail, like mifepristone?

Calgary, AB Canada removed fluoride and a decade later added it back after seeing the effects of its absence.

[–] minnow@lemmy.world 66 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

This is just trying to ban access to fluoride entirely

Well yeah. These are extremists, absolutists, radicals. Their dogma must be simple and without exceptions. If they admit even one scenario where fluoride has more benefits than deficits, their whole ideology and worldview crumbles. Nuance is an existential threat.

[–] Eximius@lemmy.world 7 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Narcissism as a fascist dictatorship of a whole country.

[–] SuperNovaStar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 8 hours ago

The mechanisms of narcissism and of cults are remarkably similar.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 25 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

They just banned it in Florida, with Meatball DeSatan calling it "forced medication," and that if parents want their kids to have fluoride, they can give it to them. Now they want to ban those products, too.

So now we're just going to reconfigure our entire society to indulge the fantasies of conspiracy theory weirdos?

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 hours ago

So now we're just going to reconfigure our entire society to indulge the fantasies of conspiracy theory weirdos?

Until Americans get off their couch and do something, yes.

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[–] chaosCruiser@futurology.today 17 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

You could make a great movie about the fluoride prohibition of the 2020s.

[Opening shot: A dark, rain-slicked cityscape. Neon signs flicker. A child’s toothbrush lies abandoned in a puddle.]

Narrator (gravelly voice): In a world where fluoride is forbidden…

[Cut to a sleek black SUV speeding through a checkpoint. Inside, a woman in a lab coat loads a capsule into a hidden compartment behind a false toothpaste tube.]

Narrator: …one syndicate dares to keep the smiles alive.

[Cue dramatic music. A warehouse door slams open. Inside: crates of fluoride tablets, glowing faintly blue. Armed guards in dental scrubs patrol the perimeter.]

Agent Plaque (sternly): “They’re dosing kids in back-alley clinics. We need to shut them down—permanently.”

[Montage: high-speed chases through suburban cul-de-sacs, a drone crashing into a jungle gym, a slow-motion shot of a fluoride pill flying through the air and landing in a glass of water.]

The Molar (smirking): “You can take the fluoride out of the pharmacies… but you can’t take the sparkle out of the people.”

[Cue epic music drop. Explosions. A toothbrush sword fight. A child grinning with unnaturally white teeth.]

Narrator: This summer… the fight for dental freedom begins.

FLUORIDE WARS: THE SPARKLE SYNDICATE

Coming soon to a theater near you. Brush responsibly.

[–] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 15 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

You could make a great movie about the fluoride prohibition

We already have one: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

collapsed inline media

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[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 99 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

RFK Jr. strikes again. I'll never understand why people like him can't grasp the idea that the difference between medicine and poison is often dosage.

The amount of fluoride in these tablets is nowhere near unsafe levels. It's not even close.

[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 72 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

He literally doesn't believe in germ theory.

And I don't mean 'literally' as in 'figuratively'. He genuinely doesn't believe in the most basic element of modern health and medicine.

You can't expect him to then grasp something as nuanced as dosage.

[–] alaphic@lemmy.world 46 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Dude took his grandkids swimming in a sewage infested waterway... I mean, you expect someone like that to have even the loosest grasp of anything resembling nuance?

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 32 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I really hope an amoeba finishes what the worm started.

[–] alaphic@lemmy.world 16 points 12 hours ago

That poor worm clearly starved to death

[–] PillBugTheGreat@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago

Water isn't warm enough for them yet

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 8 points 8 hours ago

Because understanding that would mean his heroin addiction was his own fault, not the heroin's fault.

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 28 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

So - this started as a John Bircher thing right?

I’ve just been befuddled at the purpose and the point of this conspiracy theory. I guess Alex Jones’s dad is a dentist (and a Bircher) but I doubt that dentists conspire for us to have bad teeth.

Just generic “I don’t like the gubmit”? Was it a Jewish person who suggested that we improve dental health on a population level? What’s the initial bit of skin or hair that this stupid booger coalesced around?

I guess these weirdos have always been around. We just didn’t put them in charge of health.

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 19 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Let's go all out and replace them with meth. Instead of protecting teeth, we'll eliminate them. Who needs a dentist when you have no teeth? Think of the savings!

Lisa needs braces.

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[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 18 points 3 hours ago

So much for parents doing research and deciding if it's right for them. Yet another bad faith argument.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 17 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Next up: vitamin c tablets. We won't stop until scurvy is in full come back!

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 13 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

They try to make Americans weak, sick, and dead on all fronts. As of the US government was under control of a hostile country.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago

If Trump is a Russian sabatour he's doing a fantastic job.

[–] weariedfae@sh.itjust.works 12 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

This reminds me of Swish. Did anyone else have Swish growing up?

It was this program and I think they did it because like the entire community was on well water. Once a month they came in and had us rinse our mouths with this really high fluoride mouthwash. We had to swish it for like 2 whole minutes or something that seemed like a long time as a child.

It was probably the only thing that saved my teeth growing up (neglectful parents).

[–] thesohoriots@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

We had this fluoride foam the dentist put on twice annually. Fruit-flavored foam, suctioned it back off, no rinse, and you couldn’t eat or drink for 30 minutes. Got that for a good number of years. I also recall that due to the combination of that, your city’s fluoridated water, and toothpaste, you could get these faint white spots in the middle of your teeth.

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[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 7 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

if you visit any of the reviews of FLOURIDE-free toothpaste, you can tell at least some of them have reported cavaties.

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 6 points 3 hours ago

tst gonna need to have a sacred daily fluoridation ritual for its devout followers.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 3 hours ago

great. next it will be banned in toothpaste and mouth rinses.

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