Living in the United States, we often take for granted the luxuries we have of living in a developed country with access to an abundant food supply, safe housing, and clean water. But is our water really clean? If you drink city water, as most people do, it goes through a purification process that includes the addition of fluoride, among other things. It is a common belief that the ingestion of fluoride reduces tooth decay. In fact, many pediatricians prescribe fluoride supplements if infants are not fed formula that is mixed with fluoridated water. Some have even recommended the use of Nursery Water, which has fluoride added to it and can be found in stores near the baby formula. Where exactly does the fluoride in our water supply come from?
Ever wonder just how effective your medications are? You trust your doctor, but do researchers and pharmaceutical companies play with statistics and research results to mislead? Remember, they are a for profit industry. This doesn’t make them evil, but could it affect what they decide to tell you about their medication? A good mathematician (or marketer) can make statistics say anything, so it is important for patients and doctors to have a standard way of analyzing results with less “fudge factor.” The Number Needed to Treat (NNT) is a great way of looking at the ACTUAL benefit or harm of a medication.
Last weekend I spent 16 hours in postgraduate study of functional neurology with The Carrick Institute. In our opinion, this institute is the world leader in bringing clinical, functional neurology to professionals. We, in turn, can bring this cutting edge information to our patients and better serve mankind. The presenter last weekend happened to be one of the neurologists who assisted Dr Carrick in his work with hockey superstar Sidney Crosby.
