SOME years ago the authorities claimed that Southampton children had tooth decay, but on October 29, 2009, the Daily Echo headline reported that Southampton children had now been shown to have good teeth.

It’s an old trick of the authorities to say that any area they want to fluoridate has “the worst children’s teeth”.

Over the few years they’ve said that about Scotland, Sheffield, Doncaster, Southampton, Portsmouth, Manchester, London and Calderdale in Yorkshire.

Either the bottom places in the dental health league table are a major tie, or the authorities are being economical with the truth!

If Governments really cared about teeth they would ensure there are enough NHS dentists.

There is also a shortage of NHS periodontists (gum specialists).

More adult teeth are lost because of gum disease than from tooth decay, yet some areas don’t even have one NHS gum specialist. In some places there’s over a year’s wait for periodontic treatment.

Gum disease can’t be stopped by fluoridation because a main solution is proper tooth hygiene, which people often need to be carefully shown as it is not always easy. As we know, tooth decay can be mainly prevented by reducing sugar intake and by a healthy diet with adequate calcium, magnesium and vitamin D. This benefits general health too, and so is much better than adding a toxic chemical.

A WILLS, Ruislip.