Wales does not have fluoridated water - unlike most of the UK - it also has the worst dental health in Europe, particularly in children. I have regularly seen children have 'complete dental clearance' under the age of if five, under GA. Loss of primary dentition early frequently leads to malalignment in secondary dentition. This can mean years of orthodontics. I have not read the original research paper, I shall seek it out, other confounding factors may influence the findings here. However, I shall read it with interest.
I suppose as I said in the piece it's a case of pick your poison, but you should obviously have the choice to pick. Lose a few IQ points off your kid so they have better teeth, maybe you want to do that. As with everything, make truth available and allow people to have the opportunity at an informed opinion.
The problem is that the research isn't really there to provide the data that will truly allow us to make an informed decision. I have had a scan through a meta analysis of all the published research in this area and it really can't definitively confirm this IQ drop. For a start, many different IQ tests were used across the studies. Confounding factors such as parental education not taken into account. Ethical considerations would prevent gold standard research of a double blind, placebo controlled trial. Obviously, I haven't spent hours reviewing the data but just a quick read shows that there is little consensus beyond the safe daily levels established by various different governments. However, what is out there for the non academic reader varies from one extreme to the other! Incidentally, poor dental health also has a systemic impact, potentially causing severe infections in other parts of the body including the heart. Although this is more of an issue in children with congenital heart issues. The truth is out there, but it can be very difficult to determine
On a separate note, nice to see we now have at least two female subscribers!
Wales does not have fluoridated water - unlike most of the UK - it also has the worst dental health in Europe, particularly in children. I have regularly seen children have 'complete dental clearance' under the age of if five, under GA. Loss of primary dentition early frequently leads to malalignment in secondary dentition. This can mean years of orthodontics. I have not read the original research paper, I shall seek it out, other confounding factors may influence the findings here. However, I shall read it with interest.
I suppose as I said in the piece it's a case of pick your poison, but you should obviously have the choice to pick. Lose a few IQ points off your kid so they have better teeth, maybe you want to do that. As with everything, make truth available and allow people to have the opportunity at an informed opinion.
The problem is that the research isn't really there to provide the data that will truly allow us to make an informed decision. I have had a scan through a meta analysis of all the published research in this area and it really can't definitively confirm this IQ drop. For a start, many different IQ tests were used across the studies. Confounding factors such as parental education not taken into account. Ethical considerations would prevent gold standard research of a double blind, placebo controlled trial. Obviously, I haven't spent hours reviewing the data but just a quick read shows that there is little consensus beyond the safe daily levels established by various different governments. However, what is out there for the non academic reader varies from one extreme to the other! Incidentally, poor dental health also has a systemic impact, potentially causing severe infections in other parts of the body including the heart. Although this is more of an issue in children with congenital heart issues. The truth is out there, but it can be very difficult to determine