Fluoridating Water Persuasive Essay

In the last century, fluoridation of cities’ water supplies has been a popular and well-debated issue. Portland, Oregon is one of the few large American cities that have refrained from fluoridating their water, and they are wise to do so. Fluoride certainly has its appeal, but the supposed risks are plenty to turn the majority of Portlanders away from it. The point of fluoridating water is to provide a cost-effective way for people who cannot afford dental care to have protection against cavities. That seems simple enough, and in theory it is beneficial. However, there are a few issues with the theory that make the benefits unrealistic.
Water that is ingested accounts for less than three percent of water used solely for household purposes, not including industrial or agricultural use. The average Portlander uses over 60 gallons per day, and for the estimated 600,000 people that makes 360 dollars per day in fluoride. Since over 97% of water will not be ingested, over 350 of those dollars will be wasted every day, and tens of thousands in just a few years. It is therefore extremely wasteful to add fluoride to the entire water supply, not to mention the cost of the fluoridation facility which would cost an initial five million dollars and almost 600,000 dollars per year.
Furthermore,
They compare adding fluoride to water and adding iodine to salt, saying that even though it is toxic in large amounts, it is essential and therefore beneficial. There are several things wrong with this claim, the first being that if one tried to consume enough salt to get iodine poisoning, he would first poison himself with an extreme excess of salt. Another issue is that iodine is an essential nutrient, and iodine deficiency can cause severe brain damage, but fluoride is not an essential nutrient, and it is entirely possible to have healthy teeth without ever touching