WEBVTT

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[Music]

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[United States Public Health Service]

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[Introduces...]

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[Benjamin Spock M.D.]

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[For Children Because We Care]

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[Dr. Spock:] We show our love for our children

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in different ways.

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We give them good things to eat.

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We protect them from the cold or the heat.

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We teach them how to get along with each other.

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We comfort them when they're hurt.

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When they're sick, we do our best to get them well again.

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Even more important in the long run

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are the things we do to keep them healthy.

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That's why I feel unhappy about Jim here.

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Look in his mouth.

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Can you see the missing and decayed teeth?

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And he is just 14 years old.

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This bothers me because two-thirds of this decay

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could and really should have been prevented.

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Think of it.

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In many of our communities, we let our children

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have 65 percent more cavities, fillings, extractions,

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and toothaches than they need to suffer.

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[Our children have 65% more dental disease than they need suffer]

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Sixty-five percent.

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If parents knew they were letting their children

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have toothaches, cavities, and extractions,

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it would shock them.

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But it's true.

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Most decay can be prevented.

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Tooth decay is the most prevalent

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of all diseases in the United States.

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It begins just a few years after the appearance

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of the baby teeth and continues right through adulthood.

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The toll in lost teeth is high.

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It can spoil appearances, too.

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It can lead to abscesses and other diseases.

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Here's Fred, 16 years old and a fine, healthy boy.

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But look at his teeth.

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He's already lost several and has ten more with cavities.

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Here's the mouth of the average 40-year-old.

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Half his teeth are gone.

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So we can anticipate, without much pleasure,

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that on the average, our youngsters will have lost

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half their teeth when they reach 40.

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You might think this is unusual,

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but 22 million Americans have no teeth at all.

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More than a million of them are under 34.

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One child in ten has some form

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of malocclusion or crooked teeth.

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Bad cases like this one

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are a real social and psychological handicap.

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Treatment means braces and dental bills.

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So that's the picture.

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Decay, pain, infection, facial disfigurement;

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22 million people without teeth.

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But, in about a thousand communities,

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almost everyone has attractive teeth,

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and there are many fewer cavities, less malocclusion, fewer dentures.

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Why?

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The right amount of fluoride is present

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in their water supplies.

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It's always been there, naturally.

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Here they are.

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A thousand towns where nature has provided

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the right amount of fluoride.

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Here's Patricia, who lives in one

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of those communities.

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She's 16 and has been drinking

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fluoridated water since she was a baby.

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She has all her teeth and just three cavities.

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Compare that with the mouth of a 16-year-old

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from a non-fluoride town:

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several teeth gone and as many as ten with cavities.

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This is Mr. Conway.

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He lives in a fluoride town.

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He's 40 years old and started drinking

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naturally fluoridated water when he was a baby.

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He's lost only three teeth and has seven fillings.

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Incidentally, all these facts about teeth

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are based on research findings.

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They're not guesses, but actual averages

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obtained by examining thousands of people

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in fluoride and non-fluoride towns.

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As you look at our map again, you should think

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of the adverse claims you have heard about fluoridation.

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That it's dangerous; causes heart disease,

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cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.

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If the unfavorable things you hear about fluoridation

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were true, no one in his right mind would live in these places.

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They'd be ghost towns.

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Think about all these towns,

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the millions of people in them.

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the thousands of physicians serving them.

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Of course, practically all drinking water

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contains some fluoride.

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So all our lives, most of us have been drinking

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water with a little fluoride in it.

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We also get a little fluoride in the food we eat.

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There's really no such thing as a fluoride-free diet.

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Chicken has 1.4 parts per million of fluoride.

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Spinach, 1 part per million.

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Corn, 1 part per million.

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Butter, 1.5.

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Milk, about 0.1.

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Bread, 1.0.

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In fact, a diet lacking in fluoride

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would be an inadequate diet.

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Whether the fluoride is added in by nature,

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or by engineers in precise amounts under controlled conditions,

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the fluoride is always the same.

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It's released in the water and absorbed by the blood.

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Some is stored in the teeth and bones,

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and the rest is excreted from the body.

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You'll find controlled fluoridation

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in more than 2,600 communities.

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Some are little places, just a few hundred people.

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Others are cities like San Francisco, Denver, Baltimore,

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Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Miami.

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You'll find controlled fluoridation in Washington,

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where Congress appropriated funds

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for adding fluoride to the city's water.

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So the President's family drinks fluoridated water.

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In fact, one out of every three people

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in the United States who use a public water supply

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drinks water with a controlled fluoride content.

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All the major scientific and professional groups

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concerned with health have long supported fluoridation.

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Opponents of fluoridation have asserted that all sorts of things

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would happen when communities decided to fluoridate.

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But in not a single instance have their predictions materialized.

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Some opponents have claimed fluoridation is unconstitutional.

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This is really like saying that vaccination

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or the chlorination of the water supply are unconstitutional.

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Actually, the courts say that fluoridation is constitutional.

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Let's take a look at what controlled fluoridation

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actually has done.

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Here's Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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In 1945, the fluoride content of the water was adjusted

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to the recommended 1 part fluoride per million parts of water.

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The people of Grand Rapids pay only

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$0.07 per person a year for fluoridation.

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All Grand Rapids children benefitted.

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The youngsters, as you can see, have less

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than half as many bad baby teeth.

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The 13-year-olds have fewer bad teeth, four compared to ten.

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The older children also have much less tooth decay,

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especially if they started drinking the water

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in their first month or so.

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Evanston, Illinois, found controlled fluoridation

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as effective as Grand Rapids.

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[Evanston 64% less]

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Before fluoridation, only about one percent of the

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12-year-olds in Evanston had perfect teeth like these.

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After 11 years of fluoridation, 13 times

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as many 12-year-olds had perfect teeth.

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None missing, decayed, or filled.

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Eleven years of fluoridation in Evanston cost $88,000,

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but Evanston parents saved almost one-quarter of a

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million dollars in the cost of dental care,

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and improved the health of their children.

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The experience of a town like Aurora, Illinois

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with natural fluoridation shows how fluoridation lasts a lifetime.

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In Aurora, seven times as many adults

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have all their teeth than do adults in a non-fluoride city nearby.

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You may have heard that fluoridation causes unsightly teeth.

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In Grand Rapids, a half of one percent of the 12- to 16-year-olds

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have what dentists call mild fluorosis, like Marion.

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But the general effect is good here.

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Here's a better view.

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As you can see, locating fluorosis

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is a job for a specialist.

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There it is, those opaque white spots.

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Opponents say fluoridation makes teeth ugly,

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but I wouldn't call those teeth ugly.

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Some people object that fluoridation takes

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away their individual freedom and rights.

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But if that's true, then chlorine and other water treatment chemicals

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take away these rights.

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Have older people any reason to be concerned

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about fluoridation?

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Certainly not.

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In the specific case of heart difficulties,

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Dr. Paul Dudley White, the noted heart specialist, says,

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"Elderly people with tired hearts need have no fear of fluoridated water.

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It is safe for all."

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We can say the same of any malady of an older person.

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Fluoride has no adverse effect on any of the internal organs.

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Not on kidneys, liver, stomach, heart, or any other.

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All people of all ages, sick or well,

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can drink fluoridated water without question, doubt, or hesitation.

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I think older people should consider fluoridation

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a wonderful gift to the young ones they love.

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That's why many older people work so hard

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to bring about fluoridation programs.

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It means better health for their grandchildren

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and doesn't harm a living soul.

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Some people point out that a certain

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amount of fluoride is wasted.

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There's some waste, of course.

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All the water is not drunk.

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In that respect, it's no different from

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other water treatment chemicals.

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But since $1.00 invested for fluoridation eventually saves

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$56.00 in dental care, I'd scarcely call it wasteful.

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Other people urge that children take fluoride tablets

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instead of fluoridating the water supply.

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Well, as a pediatrician I simply can't recommend a tablet

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a child must take every day for eight or ten years.

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Tooth-brushing, of course, is still important for oral hygiene,

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but toothpaste can never be a substitute for fluoridation.

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But I'm getting away from the really important things.

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Here they are, just three key points to remember about fluoridation.

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It has never been known to harm anyone, old or young, ill or well.

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It prevents two out of every three cavities.

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And it costs about a dime a year a person.

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We're not really talking about a theory.

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We're not primarily concerned with

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the process called fluoridation.

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We're interested in flesh and blood

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children, healthy, happy children.

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Here's Linda and Carol and Lynn.

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And the twins, Jan and Jean.

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Here in Cleveland,

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we protect their teeth with fluoridated water.

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We started back in 1956.

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All I can say is, I hope you fluoridate.

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I know you'll be glad you did.

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[For children...]

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[Music]

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[...because we care]

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[Fluoridation...The beginning]

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[U.S.A. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,

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Public Health Service, Division of Dental Health]