First let me be clear: I’m not a crazy conspiracy person (…on this) I just don’t rely on a municipal well. As far as I know adding fluoride to the private well at my houses is not a thing, good or bad. I did drink municipal water for two years when I lived on campus in college.

That said, is fluoride a benefit to adults or just children?

When I was a kid I got fluoride treatments at the dentist, but then aged out. I’ve never had a cavity in forty years, but I’d like to keep it that way. Should I still be doing it?

Also no, I’m not using the internet as a substitute for a dentist, just my next dental appointment is in four months. TIA

  • Waldowal@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    The scientific concensus is certainly ‘Yes’, but my own personal experience backs that up. I struggled with cavities well into my 30s, especially while at college where I mostly drank distilled water I bought in jugs at the grocery store (the local water supply had frequent issues I was trying to avoid). At some point, my dentist put me on a high-fluoride toothpaste, and the cavities basically stopped. The extra fluoride seems to have a definitive effect for me.

    • dan1101@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Too late now but I don’t think you’re supposed to drink distilled water. It lacks the minerals your teeth and body need.

      • Devi@kbin.social
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        6 months ago

        It’s worse than that, RODI water as it is just pure H2O it’s desperate to bond to anything it can so it grabs minerals from your body as it passes through.

        • The_v@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          You don’t drink it straight, you make coffee with it. That extra grabby power passing through coffee grounds makes a noticeable difference.

          • Pronell@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Are you telling me there’s a way for me to become more of a coffee snob?!

            Edit: Google says it’s not this way and makes for weak coffee.

            • The_v@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Unpublished Data from when I worked summers in a lab for grad students disagrees with Google.

              We tested distilled, RO, DI versus tap water. We were going to see about the double-distilled water but the supervising professor caught us. Apparently “That shit was too expensive for your shenanigans!”

          • Devi@kbin.social
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            6 months ago

            Yes, sticking stuff in it makes it work, you can even get mineralising powders that put the minerals back in so say you don’t trust or like your tap water you can filter everything out and put the stuff you do like in

        • Bizarroland@kbin.social
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          6 months ago

          It sounds like it would be good to drink a glass or so every week just to help prevent kidney stones right? Or am I Way off the Mark here. I feel like I’m way off the Mark here, but somebody please confirm if I am not off the mark okay?

          • Devi@kbin.social
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            6 months ago

            No, it pulls everything out of your system and causes deficiencies. It shouldn’t be drunk at all.

            • Bizarroland@kbin.social
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              6 months ago

              There’s a limit to what it can pull though, right? If you have excess minerals in your body, it seems it would help eliminate them, kind of like chelation, right?

              • Devi@kbin.social
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                6 months ago

                Kind of, but you don’t get to choose what it pulls, so unless you have an excess of every mineral then it’s going to make you deficient in something and then other things may not be affected at all.