On PM's Q's last week Gordon Brown was beseeching allowing funds so Britain's water supply could be fluorodated more

He said it would cut down denistry problems, teeth problems, etc. saving folks lots of time and money, etc.

I would have thought that the U.K. water supply had been flouridated long ago as was much of America's - decades now and a plunging of cavities to prove it

I know in U.S. there have been complaints in some areas about the safety of fluoridating and some fring groups thinking it were some kind of commie plot,etc.

I doubt it that is the case in U.K. So why has flouridiation lagged so much seemingly in this advanced country. Don't the French run most of the water systems and i think in France they do fluoridate and have for long

And lest i cold pass up the opp to make fun of Britain's legendary toothcare problem (note - 'tooth') i'd say no nation perhaps would benefit from fluoridiation so much

What's the deal with flouridation in U.K.?

Pal, I live in the 'burbs of a town that doesn't fluoridate ? flourodate? ... doesn't add fluoride to water. It is a royal pita b/c I have to get fluoride supplements to kids. No big deal.. just take them with vitamins - except they are 3x/week ! Why can't they make something in smaller doses so we could just take them daily instead of it being a production ?!?!

Surfmom, be interesting to know why your town doesn't add fluoride to its water...

Don't you have toothpaste with flouride in? That's what we do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation

Some countries have it, some had it and don't have it anymore, and others never had it.

As CW said: Any toothpaste I know of has flouride in it.

CW

Obviously many Brits don't brush then or why would Gordon Brown say fluoriding water would be such a big health step for mouthcare

Of course in Britian they use a toothbrush and not a teethbrush

As has been explained to you ad nauseaum (and you always forget after a binge on the paint),; the reason for Britains dental care not being so good is because it is the bit of the health service that follows the American way - ie you pay.

We have a built in dislike for paying at point of use for health care so we tend not to go to the dentists a lot.

I think people are just a bit iffy about anything being added to the water supply.

So none of the water supply in U.K. - even London is fluoridated?

Seems incredible

Wonder if this is true of other European nations?

Germans don't want to get poisoned.

I lived in London for six months after college and came home with 6 cavities. I brushed twice daily, too. I know I ate a lot of Cadbury, but c'mon... that's a lot of cavities to obtain in a mere 6 months.

Gordon Brown is the best argument for clinging on to an Empire you could possibly dream up. In fact he's the only argument for having one, since the only benefit we ever got from it was being able to ship people like him off to uninhabitable bits of Africa.

If we still had the Empire, he'd be a missionary in Limpopoland, and happy as a pig in doodoo telling the natives how to organise their lives. And we'd be shut of this endlessly interfering (or rather trying to interfere) young bore.

As it is, it's just down to mind over matter. He doesn't matter, and we don't mind.

He's rapidly turning into the most pointless PM of the past century. Like John Major, but without the juicy party scandals.

Apparently 10% of the population 'benefits' from fluoride in the water. Mostly in the Midlands and bits of Yorkshire (which may explain a few things.)

Here's a handy map:
http://www.dwi.gov.uk/consumer/conce...uoridemaps.pdf

My kids (now adults) grew up in the UK without flouride in the water - or supplements come to that. Good brushing with a flouride toothpaste and a healthy diet without too many sweets helped them both to reach adulthood without a single filling. Mass medication - no thank you!