There is something else that is NO kind of prevention, but it is touted as just that, with huge dollars thrown at it in every state: WATER FLUORIDATION.

We keep hearing that there is a dental health crisis across this country. We must do something, tooth decay rates are climbing the experts say. But why is nobody speaking about the gigantic elephant in the room - just about all of Australia now has artificially fluoridated water supplies, and yet tooth decay is climbing. In other words FLUORIDATION is failing.

We should have known it was a failure anyway for a long time, because the stats show that Brisbane, never fluoridated through the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s (till end of last year) has experienced exactly the same decline in tooth decay rates over those decades as the other cities that introduced fluoride. The decay rate just steadily declined, as in the fluoridated cities, and fluoridation altered the declining rate not one iota. Ditto for all of those countries across Europe that consider fluoridation a human rights violation: Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway and others - their tooth decay rates are doing just fine thank you very much, without any fluoride in the water.

None of this might matter too much if the fluoride chemicals were benign and nobody suffered side-effects. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is a large trade off for the imagine dental health benefit. Two to three percent of people get nasty sensitivity reactions (almost like an allergy) to fluoride in their water. They have to employ very expensive fluoride avoidance measures. And then came the bombshell, the USA National Research Council report on fluoride in water (2006). It spent three years reviewing all of the scientific evidence and produced a 500 page report. Daily amounts of fluoride that you can get from daily use of fluoridated water causes ( for some, even for many people) thyroid gland impairment, brittle bones, nervous system effects for infants and children, certainly tooth discolouration and brittleness, and a range of toxic effects in anyone with kidney disease that prevents them from excreting the chemical properly.

Time to join Europe and quit the practice, since it is failing in its allotted task anyway.

I’m not arguing for or against including dentistry in Medicare. I am simply pointing out that it is shutting the door after the horse is well and truly in the neighbour’s paddock and suggesting that before the next generation of foals bolt, we consider addressing the cause.

Acidic foods also cause decay. I was told by my dentist not to have a acidic food or drink (such as citrus juice or fruit) for at least an hour after brushing my teeth as it wears away enamel (which in turn can lead to tooth decay) and was for some reason more likely to do so immediately after brushing.

I personally think it’s about time that dental health is finally up there with mainstream health. A person’s dental health can affect the health of the rest of their body. Inflammation and infection in your mouth equals inflammation and infection throughout your blood system. The lack of public dentists means that if you have a low income and no health insurance you most likely cannot afford to go to the dentist unless it is one of the handful of public dentists at major public hospitals.
In dental health this country definitely has a two tiered system.