Comments on: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce instantiates Marx’s theory of ideology

By: nyscof

nyscof — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:32:49 +0000

Dental journals HAVE professed that fluoridation is their ticket to political viability. But it’s been a win win situation for dentists because as fluoridation rates when up so did their income. Evidence now shows that ingesting fluoride does not reduce tooth decay but does discolor teeth – which has actually created a large population of Americans looking for cosmetic dentistry to cover dental fluorosis – white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth.

Dentists, no experts in toxicology, have no idea of all the ill health effects they have caused by instigating water fluoridation for their own political gain. See http://www.FluorideAction.Net/health

More fluoride = more money for dentists?

Despite 60+ years of water fluoridation, Americans are spending more than ever on dental care. “between 1998 and 2008 the increase in the cost of dental services exceeded that of medical care and far exceeded the overall rate of inflation,” according to Slate Magazine. Americans paid 44.2 percent of dental bills themselves compared to 10.3 percent of physician costs, Slate reports.

Dentists pat themselves on the back claiming they are the only profession endorsing something that would put them out of business. But apparently the more fluoride people get, the more money dentists make.

Dentists’ Nominal Net Income for 2000 was $533,000 up from $141,000 in 1982, according to the American Dental Association Survey published in the March 2005 Journal of the American Dental Association. During the same time period, the number of Americans living in fluoridated communities went from 116 million to 172 million.

Dentists make so much money treating wealthier Americans that they neglect people who need them the most. American children have actually died from untreated tooth decay as 80% of dentists refuse Medicaid patients and 130 million Americans lack dental insurance.

By: bz

bz — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:25:47 +0000

And fluoridation was a Communist Plot, according to the John Birch Society. Brain dead right wing politics: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

By: Joe S.

Joe S. — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:51:49 +0000

Every word in Mark’s post is true, but I believe it is still incomplete. The Chamber of Commerce (and the NRA, for that matter) have evolved from interest groups–replete with ideologies, of course–to auxiliaries of the Republican Party.

Unfortunately, my hypothesis is difficult to falsify. One would test it by seeing where the interests of the Republican Party diverges from pro-business ideology. Looking at the issues list on their website, that’s hard to find. Maybe immigration?

By: paul

paul — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:44:42 +0000

Capitalists in the US, it seems to me, have always clung to marxist interpretations of their role in society. Anything that smacks of cooperation with the working class or even recognition that capitalists, by virtue of being actual human beings living on this planet, have many interests in common with the rest of humanity, is pretty much anathema.

By: darek

darek — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:24:56 +0000

“As an economist, Karl Marx mostly managed to decrease the value of a large number of pieces of paper.”

He did a bit more than that I’m afraid, whether you like to admit or not.

By: Michael O'Hare

Michael O'Hare — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:14:14 +0000

The ADA’s selfless advocacy of fluoridation, which pretty much wrecked the economics of dentistry because filling cavities was the bread and butter of a typical practice, is underadmired and underappreciated as an example of professionals acting like professionals rather than entrepreneurs. More remarkable, when it looked as though gingivitis and gum disease might restore the viability of the business, they did it again by telling people to floss.

Be nice to your dentist; his tribe was nice to you, and their good deeds were not unpunished.