It all started off as advertisements in the interval of movies in the theater, yes! Of course you remember too. The Bailwan, who uses charcoal and salt to clean his teeth and gets a toothache and then changes over to Colgate. It was then we all began to switch to the foam producing, mint smelling, easy to use toothpastes.
image courtesy Freedigitalphotoes.net emptyglassTime has gone one full roller coaster from then on and today we have so many different types of toothpaste with numerous flavors, colors, tastes and even the texture. In fact the same charcoal and salt are advised today. Well that is an old story, let us stick to the context of slow poisoning.
How Are We Getting Poisoned?
It is not a secret that almost every other toothpaste in India contains fluorine. Fluorine in fact had been advocated to be the best naturally occurring mineral that has antibacterial activity against bacteria present in your mouth.
However there are a number of side effects of this fluorine which normally goes unseen. Fluorine not only acts in controlling tooth decay and protects your teeth, it also causes irreparable damage to many parts of your body.
Common Health Problems Caused By Fluorine
Many health issues have been reported to have been a result of fluorine in the body. The general health issues caused by fluorine are
1. Thyroid Disease
2. Arthritis
3. Dementia
4. Bone Cancer
5. Enzyme Inactivation (inactivates around 62 enzymes and inhibits the action of more than 100)
6. Disrupts Immune System
7. Damage sperm production and increase infertility and so on
In fact I have listed 7 very broad health issues which seemed easy to relate to, the list is quite large. Although most of these claims have been tried to look minimal, the continuous use of fluoride containing toothpastes is harmful.
Increases Metal Absorption and Alzheimer?s
Fluorine makes the muscles in the body to absorb lead and aluminium in amounts higher than what they would otherwise have absorbed. The aluminium is quite easily transported to your brain. It has been time and again proven that patients positive for Alzheimer’s disease have more aluminium in their brain.
Increased Fluorosis in Youth
Image courtesy freedigitalphotoes.net patrisyu
Dental Fluorosis or the discoloration of teeth is a common problem in young people nowadays, though it is seen as mostly a cosmetic problem, if one looks carefully you will understand that the discoloration is mainly due to damage caused to the enamel layer of your teeth.
The teeth is the most visible calcium containing bone like structure of your body. The skeletal make up, muscles and brain and so on are not visible and hence the amount of damage in them remains unseen till a health problem occurs.
Reduced IQ in children
In want of showing as a well educated or informed person most parents get every new product that comes to market for their young children, especially infants. A study has shown that infants who have come in contact with fluorine have developed lesser IQ with time.
How Does Fluorine Get Into Your System
This is very simple to understand, once you brush your teeth the fluorine deposits on them. So through the day while you drink water or eat food it enters your system, there by poisoning you continuously till if finishes off.
Alternatives
Try using non fluorinated pastes and tooth powders. Organically produced pastes that contain natural bacterial inhibitors such as neem and so on can be used however one should understand that even tooth paste to remain unaffected by bacterial growth over the shelving time would have some or the other dangerous chemicals.
So it is always better to go to our neem sticks, Pungam sticks, charcoal powder and salt.