596 Comments

Meeting idiots where they are never ends well.

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> In order to make her point, Wen cites a few studies she says suggest that drinking fluoridated water while pregnant “might interfere with brain development.”

In fairness to Wen, it's not her fault that her mother was really thirsty will carrying her.

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I think the 'fasting' in the JAMA Network Open article refers to how the urine samples were collected. Some were collected first thing in the morning before the women ate or drank anything. This is thought to be more a reliable way to measure fluoride in urine, as it might be for calcium or salt. Similar to a fasting blood test.

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Dr. Leana Wen is a conspiracy hack. Every column I ever read of hers in WaPo was full of disinformation, questionable source reliance, and smug, know it all, insufferability. One is better served to do or think exactly the opposite of whatever she promoted. I never understood why she got the medical "expert" column in the first place. WaPo is leaning so far right now is the answer, I suppose. When my subscription runs out, it is definitely not being renewed.

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// Most participants (192 participants) reported fasting in the third trimester for at least 8 hours.

//

Well, *technically*, I fast at least 8 hours every day. Because I'm asleep and not eating. I mean, that's why you call it breakfast -- because you're breaking your fast of the night. Or at least that's what I've always been told.

On a more serious note, I've got a mouth full of fillings and crowns in part because I grew up on well water. I *probably* had fluoridated water in school, but I'm just guessing. (The other part of it is I was lazy about dental care, something I naturally regret *now*, but it's a bit late.)

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Why is no one investigating the hot “fluoridated water turns goldfish gay” angle? Huh? !?

CONSPIRACY!

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As an Oregonian, I personally blame Robert F Kennedy for the teeth that I had to get extracted several years ago.

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I grew up on a farm drinking well water. I had a fuck of a lot of cavities growing up.

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Meanwhile, no study has confirmed the efficacy of the dozens of unregulated supplements and vitamins these lunatics toss down their stupid gullets every day.

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Why study them? What, I should listen to a bunch of UNELECTED BUREAUCRATS instead of the reliable veracity of Alex Jones and YouTube influencers?

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Not even to mention the lack of dental insurance for most Americans. The healthier we can keep our teeth on our own with simple water flouridation , the better we are with no coverage for care.

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Ta, Robyn. Maybe we should invest in iron lung futures.

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i'm giving 1-5 odds on leana wen being the surgeon general appointee

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I am not a biomedical scientist, but let me just point out that if you screen for 20 different things, there's an excellent chance that at you'll get at least one result that could only occur by chance 5 percent of the time.

Medical studies are often grossly underpowered, i.e., their sample sizes are really small. This is usually inevitable, but it's good to keep in mind. It takes a lot of work to establish cause-and-effect.

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A lot of people don't realize that problems with your teeth can cause fatal infections and other heath problems in other parts of the body, like the heart.

P.S. I AM NOT A DOCTOR.

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I would not complain about removing fluoride - if we replaced it with anti psychotic meds. Just a thought.

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I read somewhere that El Paso, Texas has naturally occurring lithium in the water. The article noted a lower level of mental health issues and suggested the lithium may be contributing to that finding. Maybe we should add the lithium along with the fluoride.

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Throw in a little G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate (We call it "Pax" around the office), and I'm in.

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I prefer eating tasty Tesla batteries.

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For the entire administration and anyone identifying as a Republican.

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Or any of us who have to suffer their bullshit.

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You would think the Pugs would double the dose if it made folks dumber than they are to begin with.

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So we need well equipped and managed public utilities with well staffed labs to assure a safe fluoridation level in our water. Or we can destroy the administrative state. What are we to do? sheeple.

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Wait. What were the choices again?

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