Thank you for your inquiry, Eddie, and congratulations to you and your wife on the new baby!

As for whether or not you can use your public water supply to dilute your child’s formula, that all depends on the amount of fluoride that your water treatment plant adds to the water it distributes.

We have read that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a recommendation against using undiluted water sources that contain fluoride concentrations at or above 0.7 mg/L (ppm) to make formula for infants 6 months of age or younger.

While fluoride does play a role in the development of healthy of a child, too much of a good thing can cause problems… like a condition known as ‘mild dental fluorosis’. Experts in the field describe dental fluorosis as visible changes to the enamel surface of the teeth.

Examples of dental fluorosis include:

• Very mild and mild forms of dental fluorosis — Teeth have scattered white flecks, occasional white spots, frosty edges, or fine, lacy chalk-like lines. These changes are barely noticeable and difficult to see except by a dental health care professional.
   
• Moderate and severe forms of dental fluorosis — Teeth have larger white spots and, in the rare, severe form, rough, pitted surfaces. ( source )

At this time the CDC states that symptoms of dental fluorosis develop only in the teeth of children 8 years old and younger and only before the teeth emerge through the gumline.

Why does dental fluorosis affect young children?

Scientists and health experts hypothesize that since a child drinks a lot more fluids (formula & water) when younger and smaller in size, the amount of fluoride they take in compared to their body mass puts their fluoride per pound level at a much higher concentration.

Think of this this way: If you add 1 gallon of blue dye to 10 gallons of water then the water will turn a dark blue color. This represents a small child consuming ‘normal’ amounts of fluoride. Now add that same 1 gallon of blue dye to 50 gallons of water and the water turns a much lighter shade of blue. This represents an adult or adolescent consuming ‘normal’ amounts of fluoride.

Ways to prevent dental fluorosis

Opponents of public water fluoridation immediately jump up and scream, “Stop adding fluoride to the water supply!” While that sounds like a quick fix, the battle of fluoridation of municipal water supplies has gone on for a long time so we highly doubt that it will end anytime soon — which means some public water supplies will continue to contain fluoride.

Therefore, the CDC suggests using low-fluoride water sources like bottled water when making formula bottles for infants. Check the labels on the bottled water, though, to make certain you use deionized, purified, demineralized, and/or distilled water.

For those not in favor of using bottled water, and we know a lot of folks out there who absolutely despise bottled water, by the way, we have found that a quality reverse osmosis water filter will do an excellent job of lowering fluoride levels in drinking water.

Certain undercounter and countertop water filters also do an excellent job of reducing fluoride levels in drinking water, but make sure the unit you select specifically states that it reduces fluoride levels. Not all undercounter and countertop water filters include a filter cartridge designed to reduce fluoride levels!

For a list of water filters specifically designed to target fluoride concentrations, we suggest you take a look at the Fluoride Filters page on FilterWater.Com

1. Bill wants to test the fluoride level in his water before it goes into his water filter. As awe have said time and time again, without a baseline scan of your water’s quality you will undoubtedly run the risk of selecting the incorrect tools for cleaning up your water.

2. Then, Bill wants to test the fluoride levels in the water after it leaves his water filter to make sure the filter did its job. Continual monitoring of one’s filtered water quality gives real-time performance data on one’s chosen water improvement device(s).

Enough of our words, though, and let’s here from Bill himself: “I am looking for a fluoride test–I am installing a filter to remove fluoride–and want to know what levelis presecn Please advise–the page on your website says to use the eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter but the product description says nothing about it being used for fluoride”

None of us here at Water Testing Blog have control over the content posted on the sites of merchants who sell the eXact Micro 7+ water testing meter… but we can assure you that the meter does have the ability to test for fluoride in drinking water.

As a direct result of your inquiry, Bill, we checked on the meter manufacturer’s web site for the current version of the eXact Micro 7+ water testing meter manual and on page 19 of the document you will find instructions on how to use their meter to test fluoride levels in drinking water.

As of 8/17/11, the date contained in the manual’s file name, the eXact Micro 7+ detects levels of fluoride in water as low as 0.1 ppm and as high as 1.1 ppm. As with any test procedure, use of proper dilution techniques would allow for the quantification of higher fluoride levels if needed.

Keep in mind, though, that the basic eXact Micro 7+ kit does not come with the necessary fluoride reagent strips. You will find those, along with many other optional reagentstrips for testing a bunch of other water quality parameters listed on the eXact Micro 7+ ReagentStrip page.