Fluoridation Fails Ireland

Ireland, where fluoridation is mandated country-wide, " 20% of eight-year-olds have
decay in their permanent teeth — this climbs to 50% for 12-year-olds and
75% for 15-year-olds."



“I see early childhood caries all the time — it’s increasing,” says
Carrigaline-based dentist Dr Anne Twomey. “I saw an 18-month-old, whose
front teeth had all rotted. He had to go to hospital for general
anaesthetic to remove them. I frequently see three and four-year-olds
with full-blown abscesses in their teeth because they’re decayed. There
was a six-year-old who’d put up with years of pain and abscesses. She
had to have 12 teeth taken out. At Christmas, her parents sent a card,
saying it was the first Christmas they weren’t running for antibiotics.”



 she says.High rates of
childhood tooth decay is “totally dietary” in origin, says Twomey. “It’s
because of frequent exposures to sugars. There are 56 different words
for sugar. How does a parent figure that out — will they recognise
maltose as sugar, for example? Parents also get caught out by foods
marketed as healthy, by dried fruit like raisins — I’d prefer to see
children eating grapes. Petits Filous has up to three teaspoons of sugar
per pot. Granola’s high in sugar — it’ll say ‘no added sugar’ but it’ll
have honey.”



Nothing to smile about: Children's dental health suffers due to under-resourced public systems | Irish Examiner