Robert ‘brain worm’ Kennedy thinks fluoride is bad for you. Is it?

Against all odds, and all sense, it happened. Donald J. Trump won the 2024 election, underlining, once again, how broken the United States of America truly is.

This nation is horrifically divided, and the consequences of that division are represented not only in Trump, but in the team he prepares to surround himself with. Last time, he elevated plenty of incompetent dolts (including his own family members) to vital government positions, but he was also graced with a spate of actually qualified figures. None of them remain, however, after a near-decade of Trumpian tantrums and chaos. The former president has made enemies of a huge number of his former cabinet members, and there’s not a chance they’ll be coming back for round two.

Which leaves him with nothing but bootlickers and soulless, despotic hangers-on, the very same people we’ve watched embarrass themselves for the world to see across the Trump era. He’s eyeing the likes of Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his second cabinet, and they could not be less eligible for their positions.

Kennedy went ahead and underscored this fact for himself, in early November, not long after he revealed that Trump reportedly “promised” the bear-eating, whale-beheading maniac “control of the public health agencies” across the United States. That terrifying thought could put Kennedy in charge of our healthcare, once Trump takes office, and he’s already laying down the first step in his plan. Kennedy revealed, in a Nov. 2 post to X, that he aims to “remove fluoride from public water” on day one of the Trump administration. He goes on to list supposed health detriments of the longtime tap water inclusion, raising eyebrows and plenty of questions among Americans.

If fluoride actually bad for you?

Kennedy claims that fluoride, a chemical present in both toothpaste and many water sources, is associated with “arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.” Labeling it a “dangerous neurotoxin,” he promised, in that early November tweet, to “Make America Healthy Again” by removing the chemical from stateside water sources, which its been present in since 1945.

This shouldn’t surprise you, given Kennedy’s history of unhinged and genuinely concerning behavior, but none of his assertions are overtly true. A few of them share territory with the truth, but so little that it hardly seems relevant.

Fluoride, as noted above, has been present in most of America’s drinking water since the mid-40s. Its a tightly regulated practice, and one that aims to keep Americans healthy. There are quite a few benefits to fluoride, which include dental health — its known for reducing cavities and strengthening teeth — and it has been linked to improved bone density. The latter requires more research to properly be proven, however.

The detriments of fluoride only really come into the picture when a person is exposed to excessive amounts of the chemical, which is exceedingly rare. Our fluoride content is closely monitored and carefully controlled, which all but guarantees that no one drinking tap water will suffer any consequences from fluoride intake. If someone were to suddenly be overexposed to the chemical, however, they may grapple with several side-effects.

The main side effects are directly linked to the benefits, and revolve around the teeth. Excessive fluoride intake can, but typically doesn’t, result in dental fluorosis, which can cause white spots on the teeth (a purely cosmetic issue), or skeletal fluorosis, which weakens bones but is almost exclusively seen in countries where naturally-occurring fluoride is over-consumed. There are concerns over fluoride’s effect on brain development and a risk of cancer, but there’s no real data to back up those claims. Once again, any data on the matter is pulled from those intaking excessive amounts of the chemical, and even then the link is tenuous.

So long as Americans are drinking their tap water like usual, and not popping fluoride pills on the side, the worst side effect anyone should see from the chemical is small white spots on their teeth, which are temporary. Its not some major concern, its not going to slow your child’s development or give them cancer, but if RFK Jr. and Trump remove it from our water, we will see consequences to that. Kids and adults across the country will develop more cavities, and suffer from weaker teeth, but at least Alex Jones can ease his mind about those poor gay frogs.