Callum Jones
Two cities that decided to stop adding fluoride to their water have seen a shocking results on teeth some 14 years after they decided to embark on the experiment.
Tooth decay is certainly a problem, there's no doubt about that, with dentist Warren Loeppky stating how such a problem has increased in children.
"It’s always sad seeing a young child in pain,” he told Science News. "Dental decay is very preventable. It breaks your heart to see these young kids that aren’t able to eat."
Many studies have found fluoride to be both safe and efficient in preventing tooth decay, but adding such to water has long been contested in the US and even across the globe.
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Its harshest critics have spoken about fluoride causing tooth staining, while disproven concerns that fluoridated water could cause bone cancer remains a thing.
In 2011, the Calgary City Council in Canada decided to remove fluoride from the city’s water supply - and subsequent studies done by Lindsay McLaren, a self-described fluoridation researcher, has provided some surprising results.
A sizeable 2,649 second-graders was quizzed roughly seven years after fluoridation ended in Calgary, with the team of researchers finding 65 percent had tooth decay.
Edmonton, for example, had a much lower 55 percent.
"Compared to Edmonton kids, Calgary kids were now considerably worse as far as dental health goes,” McLaren said.
The same was done by local officials in Juneau, a city in Alaska, some years prior, and the results were just as alarming.
Expert Jennifer Meyer and many of her colleagues found the average number of surgeries to treat tooth decay rose in children under six years old after the measure had been implemented.
"When politicians decide to withhold a safe and effective public health intervention like fluoridation, they are imposing a hidden health care tax on everyone in their state or community," Meyer said.
Despite these alarming stats, calls for fluoride to be removed from water continue to be said amid a 2024 review finding 'moderate confidence' water with more than 1.5 mg of fluoride per litre can lead to a lower IQ in children.
Juneau remains without fluoridated water to this day, though Calgary brought it back in four years ago in 2021 after a political vote.
Meyer concluded: "More people voted to reinstate fluoride than voted for the mayor. So that’s a success. But in America, we are entering a dark time."
In March, Utah became the first US state to ban fluoridation, with many local governments across the country continuing to debate the issue.