Episode 269: Fluoride fallacies and dentistry weirdness with Dr. Grant Ritchie, DDS

Episode 269: Fluoride fallacies and dentistry weirdness with Dr. Grant Ritchie, DDS

From Squaring the Strange by Ben Radford, Celestia Ward and Pascual Romero

December 20, 2025 · 1h 31m · Episode 269

About this episode

The episode discusses fluoride's role in dental care and addresses various health myths with guest Dr. Grant Ritchie.

This week we plumb current events to discuss microbe art, VAERS data and alleged covid vaccine deaths, the "sanpaku eyes" of a killer, AI kidnapping scams, and Tara Reid. Then our guest, Grant Ritchey (@SkepticalDDS) breaks down fluoride for us. How does it work, when did we start using it for dental care, and what makes it one of the most significant public health efforts of the modern era? What's the best way to dispell someone's fears about fluoride? He illuminates the holes in those studies RFK Jr. and others have pointed to as linking fluoride to lowering IQ in children, and we hit on some interesting parallels between fluoride, vaccines, and Chinese traditional medicine. And, a longstanding mystery: does anyone actually floss?

People in this episode

Hosts: Ben Radford, Celestia Ward, Pascual Romero

Guest: Dr. Grant Ritchie

Topics covered

  • fluoride
  • dentistry
  • public health
  • vaccines
  • microbe art
  • AI scams
  • health myths

Keywords

  • fluoride
  • dentistry
  • public health
  • vaccines
  • IQ studies
  • health myths
  • AI scams
  • microbe art

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: VAERS, Chinese traditional medicine

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