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from the something-to-sink-your-teeth-into dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Exposing teeth to excessive fluoride alters calcium signaling, mitochondrial function, and gene expression in the cells forming tooth enamel -- a novel explanation for how dental fluorosis, a condition caused by overexposure to fluoride during childhood, arises. The study, led by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry, is published in Science Signaling.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that helps to prevent cavities by promoting mineralization and making tooth enamel more resistant to acid. It is added to drinking water around the world -- the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends a level of 0.7 parts per million -- and all toothpastes backed by the American Dental Association's Seal of Acceptance contain fluoride. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) named water fluoridation one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century for its role in reducing tooth decay.
While low levels of fluoride help strengthen and protect tooth enamel, too much fluoride can cause dental fluorosis -- a discoloration of teeth, usually with opaque white marks, lines, or mottled enamel and poor mineralization. Dental fluorosis occurs when children between birth and around nine years of age are exposed to high levels fluoride during this critical window when their teeth are forming, and can actually increase their risk of tooth decay. A survey by the CDC found that roughly 25 percent of the U.S. population examined (ages 6 to 49) show some degree of dental fluorosis.
"The benefits of fluoride for oral health considerably outweigh the risks. But given how common dental fluorosis is and how poorly understood the cellular mechanisms responsible for this disease are, it is important to study this problem," said Rodrigo Lacruz, PhD, associate professor of basic science and craniofacial biology at NYU College of Dentistry and the study's senior author.
Francisco J. Aulestia, Johnny Groeling, Guilherme H. S. Bomfim, Veronica Costiniti, Vinu Manikandan, Ariya Chaloemtoem, Axel R. Concepcion, Yi Li, Larry E. Wagner, Youssef Idaghdour, David I. Yule, Rodrigo S. Lacruz. Fluoride exposure alters Ca2 signaling and mitochondrial function in enamel cells. Science Signaling, 2020; 13 (619): eaay0086 DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.aay0086
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Saturday February 22 2020, @01:48AM (1 child)
Yeah, I doubt it's part of a standard water test. Lazy me. I've done some waterwell / hydrogeology work, but rarely had testing done. But I know people. I'll ask them someday.
Normally septic systems and wells are kept apart now. Generally septic systems involve the surface layer of soil (unconsolidated overburden), and water wells get water from under "bedrock", which can vary greatly in depth. "Shallow wells" and old hand-dug ones just went down to bedrock or less, and there was often some water there. In days of yore, before so many humans, human and animal waste, industrial waste, etc., the shallow wells were okay. Unless animals fell in and died.
Even for modern "deep" wells, not that long ago there weren't good rules for placement, depth, well grouting / sealing. And all of that could be moot depending on the geology. You could have a drain field 300' away from a well, but rock strata could allow rapid flow from the drain field into the aquifer. Bioactivity might have resolved itself, but chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, could still be intact. And who knows what the various combinations of the drugs will do to people. And that dovetails into the endless opinions and arguments about various trace chemicals and their impact on humans, and who's more susceptible, bla bla bla.
A cousin of mine has a son who was very ill, getting worse and worse. All kinds of medical tests, theories, treatments, etc. She's a little bit into holistic stuff, maybe worries too much about this and that. For whatever reason she got hair tests done and they found uranium! It was in their water well! Proper chelation and other blood filtering and he's doing well now. He may be in for trouble in the future.
Somewhere I was just reading about waterwell testing, how it's not being done enough, and not covering enough potentially harmful chemicals. So at some point it's probably good to get a wide-range test done.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Booga1 on Saturday February 22 2020, @10:39AM
Around here, water well testing laws were recently changed. Supposedly all the tests required, environmental reviews, and all that have raised the cost of just the testing to over $20,000. Even after all that money, you could discover you can't drill a well. People who bought land in rural areas complained it made their plots of lands worthless since that would mean they don't even know if they can use the land any more.
Unfortunately, it looks like these tests are now truly necessary because of what we've found out about the local air force bases. They have been using perfluorinated fire retardants [militarytimes.com] that have polluted water sources around them. Some water with these chemicals are miles away from the bases because they've been doing fire fighting drills there for so long and some drills were done in remote areas.