Sean Plunket interviewed Dr Robin Whyman 13 February 2025
Most people don’t realise, but 50% of fluoride ingested is stored in the bones and soft tissue. Accumulation of fluoride can cause a disease called skeletal fluorosis. The first symptoms of skeletal fluorosis are identical to osteoarthritis.
“Long-term accumulative exposures to fluoride even at low levels carries a risk of sub-clinical or stage-1 musculo-skeletal fluorosis presenting as joint pain or arthritis. Notably, arthritis is a leading cause of disability with 647,000 now affected in this country and annual costs exceeding $3 billion.” Dr Mike Godfrey, Journal New Zealand Medical Association.
It is completely unknown how many people in New Zealand are suffering from skeletal fluorosis, rather than arthritis, because doctors are not aware this could happen here so testing is never done.
What we do know is that the U.S. Government’s Institute of Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride.(1997), have estimated “The development of skeletal fluorosis and its severity is directly related to the level and duration of exposure. Most epidemiological research has indicated that an intake of at least 10 mg/day for 10 or more years is needed to produce clinical signs of the milder forms of the condition”.
In 2013, the Hamilton City Council held a Tribunal Hearing on Fluoridation. One of the expert speakers promoting fluoridation was former chief oral health advisor, and now Medical Director for Health New Zealand, Dr Robin Whyman.
Dr Whyman explained to the councillors “You then swallow the fluoride and it comes down into the blood supply. Some of it is actually moves across to bone, we don’t disagree with that at all, and some of it will go to soft tissue.” But rather than stopping there and discussing what this means for bone health, and the health of our entire bodies, Dr Whyman, a dentist, moved on to talk about dental health. (see Transcript).
Because fluoride accumulates, less exposure over longer periods can achieve the same result as high exposure over a shorter period. The intake established by the Institute of Medicine, 10 mg a day for 10 years, may be roughly the same as 5mg a day for 20 years or 2.5 mg a day for 40 years and so on. The Institute of Medicine say “Stage 1 skeletal fluorosis is characterized by occasional stiffness or pain in joints and some osteosclerosis of the pelvis and vertebra.”
Could your bone or joint pain be caused by fluoride accumulating in your bones? Try avoiding all forms of fluoride. See Sources of Fluoride and New Zealand study on Fluoride and Tea.
“If I was an arthritic individual, I would be eliminating every source of fluoride exposure I could think of”. Phyllis Mullinex, PhD.
Watch short video below.
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