[like_any_other]

> If you're not prepared to listen to an expert

Who do you think conducted those peer-reviewed systematic reviews? I'm sorry if I don't take the word of some random guy's dentist over multiple meta analyses in major medical journals.

And I don't need an expert to tell me people should have the right to make their own medical decisions.

And finally, I live in a country where public health experts have decided against water fluoridation. This is represents the vast majority of countries. What now? Should I pick some other experts to listen to?

[robbiep]

Who do you think conducted those peer-reviewed systematic reviews? I'm sorry if I don't take the word of some random guy's dentist over multiple meta analyses in major medical journals.

I don’t understand what you mean here. Are you just wholly rejecting the concept of expert knowledge, trials, meta analyses, basically the foundations of science, just because in order to participate in it you have to have tainted yourself by rigorously studying it?

[like_any_other]

> Are you just wholly rejecting the concept of expert knowledge

I am embracing expert knowledge in trusting meta-analyses and the decisions of EU health experts.

[wokwokwok]

You are not an expert in this field, and cherry-picking random articles in random journals does not make you an expert.

> Should I pick some other experts to listen to?

I think it's reasonably clear that you haven't spoken to an expert in this field.

> I'm sorry if I don't take the word of some random guy's dentist over multiple meta analyses in major medical journals.

Are you certain you're competent to review and understand the literature on the topic? It takes a lot of time and effort; that's what dentists do as a job. That's why they have to go to school. That's why random people on the internet do not do dentistry.

If you don't trust my dentist, then talk to your dentist.

This is literally my point: I'm not telling you how it is; I'm telling you, talk to someone who knows what they're talking about; and, don't believe that you are an expert because you put some trivial amount of effort into investigating it yourself.

You can't be an expert at everything. No one can.

As some point, you have to trust other people.

[kelnos]

I'm also not convinced that a dentist is credibly an expert here. Sure, I would absolutely expect my dentist to understand what benefits fluoridated water might provide to my teeth. I would not, for example, expect my dentist to be an expert in whether or not fluoridated water could cause damage to other parts of my body.

My previous dentist pushed these $80 (not covered by insurance) fluoride treatments on every cleaning visit. There's no research that shows much of anything about their effectiveness (good or bad). Yet they push them anyway, because it (their words) might help and probably won't harm. That doesn't give me a good feeling about their competence to have an expert opinion on this sort of thing.

I would, however, trust the opinion of someone who is doing medical/dental research, and holds a doctorate in a relevant field.