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Moms Against Fluoridation is collecting your fluoridation effects stories.

Were rigorous clinical trials investigating the safety for the entire population ever done? Did the Public Heath Service do clinical trials on the thyroid, cataracts, arthritis, fetal brains or gut health and stomach effects? The answer is deeply worrisome.

What government agency collects or monitors adverse effects from water fluoridation?

If you'd like to share your story, click here.


Moms Against Fluoridation is not responsible for the content or the accuracy of these stories and makes no health statements or claims regarding them.

All information on this page and this website is not intended to diagnose or treat any symptoms or disease. Disclaimer.


  • Ian P., scientist from the United Kingdom


  • C. A. Clinch, science writer from Waterloo, Ontario

    , thyroid All of my nieces and nephews have or white mottled teeth from over-exposure to fluoride. Because drinking water is the single largest source of fluoride for most individuals in North America, it is obvious that eliminating this fluoride source will save taxpayers money and reduce the incidence of fluorosis diseases.

  • LK, mom from Minnesota

    Before I knew fluoride was bad for people, I made the mistake of using Nursery Water to mix up my daughter's baby formula. When her permanent teeth started coming in I noticed that they had lighter white patches on them. The dentist said it was from fluoride. Now my daughter's teeth are permanently damaged and who knows what effect it had on her brain and the rest of her body. I have to live with this guilt for the rest of my life and also the uncertainty of what the future may hold for my 8 year old daughter.

  • A. Terpstra from Toronto, Canada

    I am one of the guinea pig kids of Grand Rapids fluoridation experiment 1945-55. The claims of fluoridation's safety and benefits are fraudulently made by denying harm to vulnerable children. Our cohort was the first in history to get by government order. We were dropped from the follow up studies because our tooth decay was worse! I have suffered from chronic fluoride poisoning effects most of my life. Two of my three children have because my high body burden of fluoride was downloaded to them during pregnancy. THAT is the legacy of this public policy. Fetal and childhood fluoride poisoning cannot be undone. It must be prevented from the start.

  • Paulette, housewife from Georgia


  • David, Care Giver from Washington DC

    diabetes In addition to being one of the top 5 carcinogens on our planet,fluoride is an iodine antagonist.This means it blocks the iodine receptors so iodine can't get absorbed.Combine this w/the reality that 80% of americans are iodine depleted and the result includes obesity: since 44 metabolic functions in the body are impeded/ also diabetes because the body can not metabolize fat w/o iodine, thus the body relies on carbohydrate metabolism which is much more stressful to the kidneys and insulin system than fat metabolizing is.

  • Kimberly M., mom and Home Manager from Tennessee

    eczema/skin problems My youngest daughter has had severe eczema ever since she was a baby. For years we tried every type of cream and steroid available to help alleviate her pain. Her skin was often infected and bathing and swimming were painful for her. I heard about the effects of fluoride in a documentary I watched and decided to remove it from her water and toothpaste. We bought distilled water for her to drink. After just 12 hours of drinking non fluoridated water she came to me and said, "Mom, my eczema is gone!" Her skin had never been so beautiful. Anytime she drinks tap water,... she reacts immediately to the fluoride. She can only drink distilled water or water that's been filtered through a reverse osmosis system. She's been free from eczema for over a year now! I hope that someday all our water will be fluoride free.

  • Chuck, dad and advertising professional from Massachusetts

    A few years ago, my young son had some strange white splotches on his front teeth. I asked his dentist what it was, and she told me it was probably a trauma of some sort. As I did more research, I noticed that we were living in an area that added fluoride to the water. I eventually found out, through years of research, that my son's fluoride intake, through various sources of processed foods and beverages, turned out to be much higher than the MCL put forth my the governing bodies, which resulted in a case of , which I had diagnosed by a different dentist who was more astute than his other dentist.

  • Mary, mom from Kansas

    Their teeth just are brownish like so many others around me, people are just accepting it it is sad and most do not know why...

  • N.L., IT professional from Massachusetts

    eczema/skin problems My son has/had severe eczema ...along with many other health issues. We could not get the eczema under control... In my research to find a natural alternative I stumbled onto a website that stated that fluoride increases the severity of eczema. The site was owned by a gentleman who suffered from eczema and had discovered this. Well we purchased filtration devices to filter fluoride out of our water and to our amazement our child's eczema just about disappeared. We were astounded by the difference. It had been the chemicals in the water all that were making his condition unbearable. ... but once we filtered out the fluoride his skin cleared up about 90% in about 2 days.

  • Jennifer H., teacher from California

    I do have some evidence of fluorosis on one of my front teeth. I was forced to take fluoride pills when I was younger, because the dentist we went to, (we were living in Europe at the time,) warned my parents that the water in Holland wasn't fluoridated, like it was in the U.S.A. Now that tooth has to be bonded every few years, to match the natural color of my other front teeth.?? Obviously, this is a cosmetic problem, however, what I can't be sure of is how it affected my brain. Studies have shown that fluoride can lower intelligence and that it is cumulative and toxic. Fluoride has also been used to "medicate" inmates and patients with mental illness to make them docile. Needless to say, we filter all of our water, even the shower water, to make sure it is fluoride-free. I hope people will do the research to see that this additive can be harmful to people's health.

  • Coolvyakti, Engineer from NC

    I have two kids, who have been medicated with fluoride via our drinking water supply for almost all their young lives. They don't yet show advanced dental effects, but I do notice some pitting on their teeth. However my bigger concern is what damage it has done to them internally? How is their IQ getting impacted? How are their other organs and body systems coping with this poison? I am also concerned about my health and my wife's health.

  • Ms. RS, mom from Florida

    As a mother of two, and someone who cares deeply about what I put in my body and my children?s bodies, it is extremely upsetting to know that there is an abundant amount of fluoride in drinking water. The worst part is that so many people do not know this, until it is too late. I fully support and its movement to stop and bring an end to community water fluoridation.

  • Stephanie, mom from Maine

    joints/skeletal/fibromyalgia, women's issues For seven years while I was either pregnant or nursing, I drank huge amounts of water. I thought my home filter took out the fluoride, and my town fluoridated the water an average of 1.5 ppm. I went into early menopause and developed joint pain--both for unknown reasons. I believe fluoride contributed to both. I've since started drinking fluoride-free bottled water and my joint pain has gone away.

  • Joy H., mom and RN-MSN from Washington

    My daughter Casey's teeth were damaged by fluoride, a condition referred to as fluorosis. The mottled brown spots not only damaged her teeth by leeching calcium from them but also affected her bone health. I have since done extensive research on the dangers of adding fluoride to drinking water and how it affects the teeth, bones, brain and neurodevelopment of infants and children. Fluoride is a chemical, and a medicine that is damaging the health of America's children---STOP adding this to our water. The original science behind adding fluoride to water is nothing but junk science---and there are hundreds of valid scientific studies showing that fluoride is harmful. Do the research!!!!!

  • Robert and Joan Ross, parents from New York

    , thyroid In 1973, while we were living in south Florida, my three-year-old daughter developed fluorosis... In 1974, we moved to White Plains, New York. Since that water was also fluoridated, we drank only bottled water. I became active in fighting water fluoridation when we moved to Albany. In 1992, I formed Citizens for Safe Water and our group successfully prevented the fluoridation of Albany's water supply.

  • Diane S., mom and artist/homemaker from Missouri

    I first learnt about fluoride toxicity when I asked our dentist why the surface of my son's teeth looked blotchy. He made light of it. I don't remember if he at that timed gave it a name but I soon learnt that it was what he would call mild fluorosis. As I said he made light of it and even disregarded the unsightly appearance making a comment that it somehow made his teeth stronger against cavities. Yet my son developed a cavity on one of his front two teeth, a most unlikely place for a cavity. After learning about the dangers of too much fluoride we bought a distiller to take it out of our drinking water and have since switched to a Reveres Osmosis water system, but no system gets it all out.

  • Janet P., retired teacher and grandmother from Florida

    This is a story of my 11 year old grandson who was born with neurofibromytosis 1, a genetic disease with the possibility of contracting numerous tumors as he matures. these could be fatal. All his deciduous teeth erupted with severe . They were crumbling and decaying despite regular, professional dental care and careful brushing. The family had to have most of this teeth capped at a cost of over $8,000. Because fluoride is known to cause birth defects (specifically, Down Syndrome) it suggests that his birth defect was caused by his mother ingesting fluoride. It is a rare genetic disease but there are no known cases in either family tree.

  • Richard W., violin maker from Arkansas

    I am not or have never been an ?anti-fluoride ? activist. I have a medical background and many years ago I was familiarized, mostly against my own interest or desire, with the body of literature pertaining to fluoridation. The topic had not entered my mind for 15 years, until I saw recently where my water is going to be treated in opposition to a voter mandate. I decided that I would look into it, as I felt that it was a policy that is not being supported by sound science. I felt that it was not being supported by the usual disciplines of medicine, microbiology, pharmacology, etc.

  • S. Fox, mom from New Zealand

    My first-born boy was breast-fed for about four weeks; my second was bottle-fed from birth. We live in Wellington which has a 1 ppm addition of fluoride to our water supply. When their second teeth came through their school dental nurse exclaimed that they must have eaten a whole lot of toothpaste as toddlers, which I never really thought about at the time not knowing what was. They never sucked on toothpaste ever.

  • B.A. from Hawaii


  • Gretchen, mom and Office Manager from Washington

    I have very personal reasons for hating fluoridation because I poisoned my son when he was an infant by giving him a daily prescribed dose of fluoride drops. I was being a good mom, protecting his teeth, or so I thought, because our water was not fluoridated. He had classic symptoms of fluoride poisoning for nearly three years, starting at about 3 weeks, but no one even considered it. Not our family doctor, not his pediatrician, and not our dentist. Idiots all! Instead they called it colic and gave him more medication, and tested him for things like congenital megacolon.

  • Dawn V., mom and nutritionist from Texas

    thyroid I have 5 children all of whom have diagnosed thyroid disease. My husband and I also have diagnosed thyroid disease. There is no family history for our thyroid disorder. We believe that the fluoride in the water has interfered with the necessary absorption of iodine leading to a ruined thyroid gland. Iodine is needed by the thyroid and other tissues in the body. Fluoride like iodine is a halide and they are very similar in properties. So similar that the fluoride can displace iodine in tissues (thyroid disease is only one result of this process). Fluoride is a poison to such tissues while iodine is needed for life.

  • Marcie P., mom and LVN nurse from California

    eczema/skin problems, thyroid I discovered the issues with fluoride when my daughter and I developed chronic eczema. The dermatologist said that our rashes were caused by something environmental. We wash our hands regularly, as I am a nurse and so I'm faithful about it, and demand that of my children. After much research I found out that they had just recently added fluoride to the water in my area. I quickly added filters to all of the showers, and the kitchen sink where most of us wash dishes and our hands. As soon as that was done, our eczema disappeared.

  • Laura M., mom from Texas

    "My daughter was breastfed for the first 2 years of her life. She never received infant formula with water. Her toothpaste does not contain fluoride and she has never received fluoride treatments of any kind. She is currently 3, almost 4, and is a big water drinker. She drinks filtered water throughout the day and has . It never occurred to me that despite the fact that she has not really been exposed to it in other forms, the fluoride in our water supply could still damage her teeth. I've only recently really been researching the damaging effects of fluoride and can only hope we can afford a fluoride filter soon." ? (Note: not all filters will take fluoride out of the water)