Fluoride Supplies a Natural, Deficient Mineral

I read Dr. Rudin's comments on fluoride with interest. In contrast, I feel that there is a significant difference between putting fluoride in the water and adding medications.

Fluoride is a mineral that is naturally occurring in water. Its role in prevention of tooth decay was discovered when the differential rate of caries between communities was found to correlate with the presence of naturally occurring fluoride in the drinking water. The water in Sacramento is deficient in fluoride; it lacks enough for optimal human health.

This effect is most felt by low income children. The number of children who miss school due to dental pain, or who suffer humiliation due to obvious decay, is well documented. It is not the child of a financially comfortable, educated parent who suffers this.

For the most part, we are aware that the water is deficient and most of us can afford both fluoride and restorative dental work. The burden of this misguided reluctance to "medicate" people involuntarily falls on those least able to respond to it.

-Pat Samuelson, MD