My mom had decent teeth growing up but said as she got older they all start d falling apart--she's got several crowns. I never had cavities as a kid but have had several (and some teeth that had pieces break off) as an adult. Which sucks because I do go to the dentist regularly! In fact, I have an appointment tomorrow, so this is all very timely.

I know for formula-fed infants, the recommendation is to use bottled water because of the risk of flourosis, so no, I think bottled water is not flouridated.

(I'm also pretty sure that the risk of flourosis was found to be overstated and actually tap water is considered fine now, but I haven't mixed a bottle of formula in over three years.)

These people think that we were administered the "swish" as a way of poisoning us.

You have to get special filters to filter out fluoride - not just Brita or similar, but something installed in your pipes, I think.

I have actually investigated filtering out fluoride because fluoride is an endocrine disruptor and can contribute to thyroid problems, but I'm also an adult with pretty good teeth, so I could probably afford to be without it, unlike, say, a child. Though part of me does wonder if the heavy use of fluoride, and in particular my childhood tendency to swallow toothpaste because it tasted like candy, contributed to my current thyroid troubles. Probably not.

My SIL just told me a couple days ago that she is seriously considering becoming a dentist. Her dentist has talked her into it. She is a nail tech and her dentist has been a client for a decade or so. She convinced her that she has the fine motor skills and temperament to be a dentist. She also said she would hire her if she did it.

I'd be a whole lot better about going if she does become a dentist. I have a cousin in NY that is, but I've never seen him that way. Mom has.

Brita and other pitcher filters don't filter out fluoride. Reverse osmosis removes most of it. Distillation removes it completely, but it also removes all the good minerals like magnesium and calcium. (I fell down the "fluoride is killing us" conspiracy rabbit hole a few years ago.)

Most water systems in New Jersey (the last I knew) didn't fluoridate the water. Neither does Hawaii, although since it's volcanic, the water may naturally contain fluoride. Utah was really slow to start doing it, but I think they do now. Most other states in the US started it in the late 50s or early 60s.

For me, that's interesting, because I lived my first four years in NJ (no fluoride), and then moved to a farm with well water in TN, so I got fluoridated water only at school. I didn't live somewhere where I got fluoridated water all the time until I went to college. Yet I have great teeth, and also some streaks of fluoridosis in my teeth. (Fluoridosis shows up as white streaks, or if it's really heavy, brown. That part of the tooth is more porous and thus more likely to pit and break, and get cavities.) Supposedly fluoridosis occurs in teeth before they erupt.

And, that's about all I know about fluoride.

Whether flouride is added or removed from tap water in the US depends on how much is in it to begin with - the goal is to bring flouride levels in line with a concentration known to be safe and theraputic. Most of the scare studies about how flouride is going to kill us all is based on data from parts of rural China where the amount of naturally occurring flouride in the water (including well water) is dangerously high (many times more than anywhere in the US).

She is a nail tech and her dentist has been a client for a decade or so. She convinced her that she has the fine motor skills and temperament to be a dentist. She also said she would hire her if she did it.

That's very cool.

Most water systems in New Jersey (the last I knew) didn't fluoridate the water.

I just checked, and about 14% of NJ residents get fluoridated water. That 14% must be concentrated in the NY suburbs, since that's where my dental hygienist said that she could see the difference between the people who grew up with fluoride and the ones who didn't. (Oh, and, huh. I just looked up the water company that serves the town where I grew up, and their webpage says they don't add fluoride to the water. So, I guess I must just genetically have really good teeth, then.)

I think our well water had flouride, or some other mineral that was good for teeth.