Fluoride is a monatomic ion with a negative charge on it known as an anion. It is found in water, different foods, the earth’s crust, and even in toothpaste.
Importance of fluoride
Fluoride is considered one of the most important anions. Earlier, a dentist named McKay observed that the people living near the Colorado river do not have dental issues like tooth loss and tooth decay. He found out that the water of Colorado has high amounts of fluoride in it. And thus, the people are getting their water supplies from Colorado springs. In this way, he got to know that fluoride plays a very important role in strengthening and protecting the teeth. This is the reason every toothpaste now has sufficient amounts of fluoride in it.
Adverse effects of high intake of fluoride:
However, some studies have also shown that taking fluoride in excess quantities has a severe impact on human health. Some of the adverse impacts of fluoride have been seen by specialists but watertechguide is recommended to read more about water solutions. Following is the list of problems generated due to the excessive intake of fluoride.
Thyroid gland
Higher intake of fluoride can trigger the parathyroid glands, which affects the activity of the thyroid gland. Moreover, the bones begin to lose their calcium due to a higher concentration of calcium in the blood.
Neurological disorders
According to the studies of 2017, it has been said that there are chances for a pregnant woman who takes high amounts of fluoride to give birth to babies that have poor cognitive functions. Furthermore, the babies also go through trouble in the development of their cognitive functions ahead. Excess of fluoride also has an adverse impact on the IQ level of a person.
Teeth and bone fracture
When the blood has a higher concentration of calcium, then the bones begin to lose calcium and eventually become weak. Hence, the bones can be fractured and broken easily on a slight fall down. Similarly, if we talk about teeth, fluoride indeed prevents tooth loss and tooth decay, yet excess fluoride can cause fluorosis of teeth and makes them brittle.
Additional health concerning problems
Excessive Fluoride intake can cause other health issues, i.e., reproductive problems, skin allergies, and it also leads to cardiovascular disorders.
Removal of fluoride from water
To overcome and cope up with the issues arising from excessive intake of fluoride, strategies, and plans have been put forward to remove the excess amounts of fluoride from water. In this way, a person can take optimum amounts of fluoride from water and can live well. Now, the question is, how can we remove fluoride from water?
For the removal of fluoride, A number of methods have been introduced. In this article, you will get to know how we can remove fluoride from water.
Methods used for the removal of fluoride from water
All the above-mentioned health problems are caused due to the intake of higher amounts of fluoride. People are struggling and striving hard to figure out the ways of how to remove fluoride from water so a person can obtain nonfluorinated in a true sense to secure his health.
Following are the suggested ways that indicate how a person can get rid of excess amounts of fluoride from water.
Distillation
Distillation is the most trusted process to get rid of fluoride from water. In this process, water taken in a container is heated; when the water starts to boil and begins to convert into steam, the water vapors are then collected into the other container leaving the fluoride ions behind. The water vapors are condensed back to a liquid state, and hence pure water is obtained. The entire process takes place in the distiller.
Now the question is, can we do the distillation process at home to get pure water? The answer to the question is, for sure, we can do this at home too. But for that purpose, a person should have a distiller at home; otherwise, he has to go through a home DIY which is a very complex and lengthy process.
Reverse osmosis
Water can also be purified from fluoride ions by using the method of best reverse osmosis system for hydroponics. In reverse osmosis, the water is forced to pass through a permeable membrane from one container to the other container. The water is now free from fluorides, bacteria, and pesticides. This is also known as the RO system. It is also installed in our homes below the sink to purify the water from the toxins.
One can also make an RO system at home, but this will be heavy on your budget to purchase things and then fix them together as compared to buying a RO system from the market. The only drawback to this system is that it also eliminates some of the important elements like calcium, iron, and so on that are required by our body.
Activated Alumina (Porous Alumina)
The porous solid form of aluminum oxide is known as Activated alumina. It is the easiest way to get rid of fluoride from water. It easily absorbs fluoride ions and other contaminants from water leaving the purest form out there. It is the safest and best type of filtration left to the professionals behind for the purification of water. A person can easily carry out this was of filtration at home without any kind of complications.
Bone Char Carbon:
One of the oldest methods used today for the removal of fluoride from water is Bone Char Carbon. It is available to us in the form of filter cartridges. It enables a person to remove approximately 90 percent of the mineral content from the water. Hence, it is considered the most useful and efficient method for the removal of fluoride from water. It should be taken into consideration that carrying out the bone char carbon process for the removal of fluoride is not possible at home. Bone char carbon is obtained by heating up the bones of animals at an extremely high temperature which can not be achieved at home.
Which methods do not remove fluoride from water?
Many people believe that boiling water can remove fluoride from water, but there is no truth in it. Boiling the water only kills the bacteria. Boiling water does not remove fluoride; instead, when the water boils, the vapors escape out from the water leaving the higher concentration of water minerals behind. Hence, boiling water is not a safe way to get rid of harmful minerals.
Now, if we talk about the filters that are attached to the sinks of our homes aren’t able to remove the harmful water minerals. Their functioning is only limited to the removal of impurities and improving the taste of drinking water. Some people prefer to switch to bottled water. Yet, these plastic water bottles are not a good way to prefer as these bottles prove a hazard to the environment, so it is not a good way to adopt.
Why is it important to remove fluoride from your drinking water?
Though studies and researches have proved that fluoride is beneficial for teeth, yet its excess ingestion can cause serious health issues to a person. So, it is important to get rid of fluoride. If you have made up your mind to reduce the consumption of fluoride, then you should consider the above-mentioned ways, i.e., distillation, reverse osmosis, activated alumina, and bone char carbon. These are the best-proven ways to eliminate fluoride from the water and make you safe from fluoride-related health problems.