Researchers have linked fluoride in pregnant women’s urine to lower measures of their children’s intelligence. A study published last September in Environmental Health Perspectives concluded that “higher levels of maternal urinary fluoride during pregnancy ... were associated with lower scores on tests of cognitive function in the offspring at 4 and 6 to 12 years old.”

Paul Connett, PhD, executive director of the New York-based Fluoride Action Network, says fluoridating municipal water violates people’s right to informed consent to medication. “It started at a time when asbestos lined our pipes, lead was added to gasoline, PCB filled our transformers and DDT was deemed ‘safe and effective,’” he writes.

Dr. Lewis Gross, owner of Tribeca Center for Holistic Dentistry, says that while fluoride has lowered rates of dental decay in children, it doesn’t benefit adults, and it accumulates in the bones and the pineal gland. Toothpaste, meanwhile, contains potentially harmful preservatives and foaming agents. “It would be cheaper and safer to give every child a fluoride rinse and let them spit,” he says.

To prevent tooth decay and bad breath, Gross recommends eating lots of fruits and vegetables and no processed food, drinking alkaline water, and using an alkaline rinse like Alka-White immediately after consuming acidic foods.

Tribeca Center for Holistic Dentistry offers complimentary pH testing, samples of Alka-white and nutritional counseling. For more information, visit Holistic-Dentists.com.