> The evidence of paleolithic teeth/skulls and also those on traditional
> neolithic diets as shown by Weston A. Price indicates that diet is
> everything, and additives are irrelevant.
> 
> William

I agree William, for people who have been on a traditional diet from
conception on. That advice doesn't apply to me, however, as I only went
Paleo a few years ago and had some dental problems before I went Paleo. As I
explained, fluoride treatment worked wonders for me, but you are free to try
to avoid fluoride as much as you like. I'm not trying to convince you of
anything. I only provided the links for those who haven't already decided
that fluoride is bad and might be interested in some different perspectives.
I only posted the excerpts because the links didn't seem to be working
properly and someone asked for the articles.

> > Debate about fluoride in water goes on
> > December 17, 2006
> > By Geoff Oldfather, News Columnist
> > tcpalm.com
> >
> > ...
> > The study established a baseline for people who grew up drinking the
> > water there as I did.
> >
> > Some of the questions were about 1) trips to the dentist, 2) cavities
> > and 3) broken bones.
> >
> > My answers were 1) never went, 2) never had any and 3) even though my
> > finger got crushed in the barn gate one day the bone didn't even
> crack.
> 

Robert Kesterson:
> I grew up drinking well water, without flouride.  

Based on your later comments, I think you meant without *added* fluoride
here. You left out a key point from the article:

"I was involved in a study and survey in the early 1980s of people who grew
up in the San Pedro River valley in southeastern Arizona where naturally
occurring fluoride levels approached 5 parts per million. We are only
talking about bringing it up to between .7 and 1.2 parts per million here."
--Geoff Oldfather

So Oldfather also grew up drinking water that did not have fluoride added to
it--but it contained very high naturally occurring levels of fluoride. Many
wells and water supplies contain fluoride without any being added to it. San
Pedro's natural fluoride levels were higher than any water that has been
supplemented with fluoride (since supplementation is not used to raise
fluoride levels above 1.2 ppm, AFAIK).

> I went to the dentist
> whenever my parents said I had to for cleaning or whatever, but never
> had
> any cavities.  

Nor did Oldfather. His point was that the water he drank contained very high
levels of naturally-occurring fluoride and he hasn't appeared to suffer any
obvious negative consequences from that (for example, his teeth haven't
crumbled, which some have claimed that fluoride will cause)--on the
contrary, his dental health has been quite good. So the key question in your
case would be, what was the naturally-occurring level of fluoride in your
well water? Another key question for an anyone who views supplemental
fluoride as bad to ask themselves is, is all fluoride bad, or only the kinds
used in supplementing water, toothpaste, rinses, etc., or only certain kinds
of supplemental fluoride?

> My point is that one person's experience (his or mine) may be
> interesting,
> but it doesn't necessarily mean anything to anyone but him.

That's true, and that was basically my point as well. Up to the point that I
posted those links we were getting mainly experiences and perspectives from
one side of the issue. I thought that sharing alternative experiences and
perspectives would be no less valid. Anyone who is undecided on the fluoride
issue should also check out the clinical studies pointed to by both sides,
of course.