.8 PPM fluoride in the water system? It’s strange how they use PPM to make it sound minuscule when PPM really means milligrams per liter. So if I drank two liters of water I would get almost 2mg of fluoride. One of the many conspiracy theories regarding chemicals in the water revolve around hexafluorosilicic acid, not sodium fluoride or calcium fluoride. In solution, it does not matter what the source was; a fluoride ion from calcium fluoride is indistinguishable from a fluoride ion and from hexafluorosilicic acid. Fluoride is toxic in high enough doses like in Vitamin C, red food coloring, aspirin and others. The point is, fluoride like many other substances which we all use, begins with certain dosages and toxins outside of those dosages. The key dough that everything in large doses is bad for you. For example I know that the LD50 for calcium fluoride is 4250 mg/kg, so you’d have to be literally inhaling calcium fluoride for you to have a 50/50 chance of dying.
I read the Choi meta study is an analysis of various studies that have been done on the effects of high fluoride exposure and it was interesting. Almost all of the papers reviewed in the study were published in China and deal with the many health issues caused by very high fluoride contamination in rural water supplies. Concentrations levels many times those in American tap water. Now where the use of fluoride is good is around 50% of the fluoride we ingest is stored in hard tissue bones and teeth where it calcifies these structures almost all and of the excess are flushed out. This along with exposure in the mouth, serves as fluorides beneficial mechanism.
The genuine point am making is where fluoride is used in a early age. For most of a fetus’ development, it uses the systems of the mother to filter intake and output via the placenta. High volumes of fluoride in the early stage of life can cause health problems later on their lives. It would not be recommended that young children use toothpaste with high fluoride concentration as it can lead to dental fluorosis which in most cases is exhibited as a discoloration of the teeth, especially if the child is swallows toothpaste. More severe cases of overexposure to NaF are typically the result of children eating large quantities of fluoride-enriched toothpaste or being given supplements by uninformed parents.
Fluoride in the water may not be avoidable as it can be in the tap water of your state. You use this water for cooking, washing and bathing if you do not drink tap water.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi.html