Fluoride drama, water heroes, meme of the month
A big hello to 4,325 water enthusiasts and accidental subscribers!
Welcome to "At Water's Edge" – where I turn H2O into H2WHOA and occasionally spill some personal tea ??
Before we get into it, answer this in the comments:
Your views on fluoride in water?
THE FLUORIDE DRAMA…
Many in my personal network know me as ‘the water guy,’ which means I get sucked?into a whole bunch of water related conversations I have very little (or no!) expertise with. Examples include recommending the best shower head, which bottled water brand is most dangerous, if I believe the world is going to run out of clean water, and a whole host of others. One of the most recent is the fluoride debate, where I was sent one of those panicky Facebook posts about it "lowering kids' IQs."
Some folks are convinced the government is poisoning us.
Meanwhile, my dentist acts like fluoride is liquid gold.
Can't we just get straight answers on anything anymore?
So I spent way too many late nights reading actual studies instead of sleeping.
Here's the deal:
Fluoride's a mineral that naturally shows up in some water sources. Back in the '40s, it was discovered people in certain towns had way fewer cavities. That's it. No conspiracy, just fewer dentist bills.
They started adding tiny amounts to other water systems, and now about 63% of us drink it. Does it work? Honestly, yeah. It’s been shown to cut cavities by about 25%.
The drama lately is a 2025 study that linked fluoride to lower IQ in kids.
I always try to go to primary sources when I see clickbait headlines in an attempt to get as close to the truth as possible. In this case, they were looking at places in China and India with fluoride levels SEVEN TIMES higher than what we have in the U.S. Even the researchers admit our levels (0.7 mg/L) show zero evidence of causing problems.
Now there’s a pretty good counter-argument to be made (IMO) that toothpaste now can take care of fluoride without needing it in our water supplies… so why put it in water instead of just toothpaste?
Pretty simple: not everyone can afford, or is willing to do, regular dental care.
Calgary actually just brought fluoride back after stopping it years ago because cavity rates shot up. Voters demanded it back - 62% said yes.
I'm not telling you what to believe, but I will say that after reading through all this I'm still not filtering my tap water. The fear seems way overblown compared to the actual evidence. And honestly, I hate going to the dentist way more than I'm worried about fluoride.
What I'm Up To
Besides surviving the Midwestern U.S.’s notoriously wild temperature swings this time of year (10F -> 60F = -12C -> 15C in ~12 hours), I’m enjoying finally being able to get outside and start prepping for spring gardening, fishing, and travel plans (looking at you, Web Summit Brazil).
Our leadership team just spent a week at our Princeton, NJ HQ and it was great to see so many Transcenders in person for the first time this year. For those of you who work fully remote - and may also be fellow introverts - I strongly encourage getting together with at least a few colleagues a time or two each year.
It’s incredible what can be accomplished in such a short amount of time and then you can retreat to your home office to recharge your batteries ??. I also found time to do a quick dive on my first published book sales for 2024 - 4,277 copies sold through Amazon alone, including two in Japan! Check out the screenshot below if you’re interested :)
Did You Know?
Have any other fun fluoride facts?
Drop a comment or send me a DM!
Help Me Find Water Heroes This Summer
Travis Loop is working on something huge. Be sure to check his site Hydro2o!
MEME OF THE WEEK
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and send me a note.
That's a wrap for this month's At Water's Edge!
B2B Writer for the Water Industry
2 天前Great article - Thanks for this, Adam. Where I live in Jax Beach, Florida our water naturally contains about 0.8 mg/L fluoride. I was worried that all the negative press about declining IQs would lead to people demanding we remove it, which would be costly and unnecessary. So far, there hasn't seemed to be much interest in the topic locally.
President at WaterPIO
3 天前Thanks for this; it’s been my life the last few months. A few factors not in here are 1) the impacts of Judge Chen’s decision that gave credence - while stating there wasn’t any proof yet - to 0.7 being an “unreasonable risk” to children; 2) RFK Jr. elevation to HHS Sec after stating he’d push for the end of fluoridation on Trump’s first day; 3) the push to outlaw fluoridation in the entire state of Florida; and 4) the “informed consent” argument that enables opponents to completely ignore the scientific arguments.
Government Affairs Analyst | Eastern Municipal Water District, California
3 天前Looks like your late-night deep dive paid off! Cool insights and fun facts. Always appreciate the knowledge drop!
Innovation and Ventures at Xylem
3 天前A great post as always! Like you, I'll happily have fluoride in my water to avoid the dentist. I've had some European friends comment how they don't add fluoride in the water there; my response was that Europe has a better healthcare system broadly and more people go to the doctor/dentist with regularity because of socialized healthcare.
To Know Water Is To Love Water
3 天前Adam you know my own story about fluoridation of municipal drinking water…