Mike Kirby: Not the fluoride 'debate' again

Just when you think we’ve gotten beyond an issue, it rears its ugly head once again.

Such is the case with fluoridation.

Mansfield has been injecting its water supply with fluoride, quietly and effectively, for nearly 30 years, yet there is an effort going on now to remove the substance. The anti-fluoridation advocate leading the push insists there are new studies raising questions about fluoride.

Google “fluoride” and you’re bound to find plenty of them. One of them is a study which showed that in one fluoridated community boys had a lower IQ than in a nearby town that did not add the substance to its water supply.

Objective scientists were quick to point out that no other factors were considered as the cause for lower IQ scores and quickly dismissed the study. But in this era of the internet and conspiracy theories, fluoride again appears to be the target of outlandish schemes.

That’s been the case with fluoride since it was first introduced to America just after World War II. Activists on the far right of American politics routinely asserted that fluoridation was part of a far-reaching plot to impose a socialist or communist regime.

These opponents believed it was “another aspect of President Truman’s drive to socialize medicine.” They also opposed other public health programs, notably mass vaccination (sound familiar?). A lot of it stemmed from the opponents’ distrust of government.

Others asserted the existence of “a Communist plot to deplete the brainpower and sap the strength of a generation of American children.”

Dr. Charles Bett, a prominent opponent, charged that fluoridation was “better than using the atom bomb because the atom bomb has to be made, has to be transported to the place it is to be set off while poisonous fluorine has been placed right beside the water supplies by the Americans themselves ready to be dumped into the water mains whenever a Communist desires!”

This conspiracy theory was lampooned by Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1964 film “Dr. Strangelove.” One character, Gen. Jack D. Ripper, played by Sterling Hayden, calls fluoridation “the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face.” Here’s a bit of dialogue between Ripper and his assistant, Capt. Lionel Mandrake:

Ripper: Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk ... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children’s ice cream.

Mandrake: [very nervous] Lord, Jack.

Ripper: You know when fluoridation first began?

Mandrake: I... no, no. I don’t, Jack.

Ripper: Nineteen hundred and forty-six. 1946, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It’s incredibly obvious, isn’t it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That’s the way your hard-core Commie works.

We all have (or should have) concerns about government overreach and integrity so I understand when people may not trust the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which calls fluoridation one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

But when a fluoride issue arises, pro or con, the staunchest defenders are invariably the people who take care of your teeth. (Full disclosure: My wife is a dental hygienist.)

Most dentists and hygienists will tell you patients from fluoridated communities have teeth that are much stronger and less susceptible to decay.

There’s no financial incentive for the professionals’ support. If anything, there would be more revenue for them if public water supplies were not fluoridated.

But they are highly professional caregivers whose top priority is the care of their patients.

It seems to me you should trust them before something you Google on the Internet.