Fluoride is known to prevent tooth decay, however, the amount of fluoride one ingests has to be regulated. This subject has been polarizing for years as some believe that fluoride can be harmful to one's health.

Does Fluoride lower IQ?

Hart, a Republican, said he didn’t give much thought to his drinking water until a constituent sent him studies that linked very high levels of fluoridation to lower IQs in rural communities of China and India. (U.S. public health experts say those cases don’t correspond to fluoridation in the United States.)

Fluoride is in water naturally.

Small amounts of fluoride are found naturally in water, however in the 1940's, scientists made a remarkable discovery about cities and towns that had more naturally occurring fluoride in their water supply.

Helmut Seisenberger

The dental health of folks living in places where fluoride was at a certain level was much better than where the opposite was the case.

In the 1940s, scientists discovered that people who lived where drinking water supplies had naturally occurring fluoride levels of approximately 1 part fluoride per million parts water or greater (>1.0 ppm) had fewer dental caries (cavities) than people who lived where fluoride levels in drinking water were lower. Many more recent studies have supported this finding (1).

It was subsequently found that fluoride can prevent and even reverse tooth decay by inhibiting bacteria that produce acid in the mouth and by enhancing remineralization, the process through which tooth enamel is “rebuilt after it begins to decay. -cancer.gov

FamVeld

About 75% of the country adds fluoride to the water supply in order to bring it up to optimal levels of dental health contribution. Some states want to mandate fluoridation, some want to leave it up to local municipalities and public vote.

Cities and towns in Massachusetts who add fluoride to their water supply

Acton
Acushnet
Amherst
Andover
Arlington
Ashburnham
Athol
Attleboro
Bedford
Belmont
Beverly
Billerica
Boston
Brookline
Burlington
Cambridge
Canton
Chelsea
Cohasset
Concord
Danvers
Dartmouth
Dedham
Dracut
Duxbury
Essex
Everett
Fall River
Fitchburg
Framingham
Franklin
Freetown
Gardner
Gloucester
Groveland
Hamilton
Haverhill
Hingham
Holden
Holliston
Holyoke
Hudson
Hull
Ipswich
Lawrence
Lexington
Lincoln
Longmeadow
Lowell
Lynn
Lynnfield
Malden
Manchester by the sea
Mansfield
Marblehead
Marlboro
Medford
Melrose
Middleton
Millis
Milton
Nahant
Natick
Needham
New Bedford
Newburyport
Newton
North Andover
North Attleboro
North Reading
Northborough
Norwood
Oak Bluffs
Oxford
Peabody
Pembroke
Quincy
Reading
Revere
Rockport
Royalston
Rutland
Salem
Saugus
Scituate
Seekonk
Sharon
Shrewsbury
Somerset
Somerville
Southborough
Southbridge
Stoneham
Sturbridge
Sudbury
Swampscott
Taunton
Templeton
Topsfield
Tyngsboro
Wakefield
Walpole
Watertown
Wayland
Wellesley
Wenham
West Newbury
Westborough
Westford
Westminster
Weston
Westwood
Weymouth
Winchester
Winthrop
Woburn

Note: Some towns don't have community water supplies

LOOK: 35 Vintage Cereals That Perfectly Captured Pop Culture Moments

Movies and TV shows have always found ways to partner with cereal companies as part of their promotion strategy. While some may have come up with a giveaway in boxes, others went big by having their own cereal connected to the movie or TV show title. Here are vintage cereals that were used to promote some of pop culture's biggest moments (and some you probably forgot about).

Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll

Filed Under: Massachusetts