How bad is it to drink water with flourine or flouride?

If you think the fluoridated water is making you sick, you could either go to a doctor to test your fluorine levels, or try drinking bottled water only for a bit to see if it makes any difference.

Flouride isn’t bad for you unless you’re allergic to it. Some drinking water is treated with flouride to promote dental health; it is almost always harmless. However, tap water can contain a lot of other chemicals from pollution or the treatment process. If you think the water is making you sick, get some bottled water or buy a water filter and bring filtered water from home. There are all kinds of filters out there for various price ranges.

There has been a long going debate on the merits of fluoridated water. Fluoridation began when it was discovered that people who lived in areas with naturally high levels of fluoride in the water had fewer cavities. Ever since municipal water began to be fluoridated in the 1950’s there have been critics; many of the critics are of the lunatic fringe variety. Remember in the movie Dr. Strangelove, General Ripper’s tirade about fluoridation being an evil communist plot to pollute our “precious bodily fluids.” The biggest confirmed danger of fluoridation is fluorosis which can range from white spots on teeth to in extreme cases heavy pitting and brown stains. The amount of fluoride in tap water is strictly regulated to prevent this though. In areas where water naturally has high levels of fluoride it is removed rather than added to water. Among mainstream health professionals there is little concern over fluoridation. The objections mainly come from alternative medicine.