Two cities stopped adding fluoride to water. Science reveals what happened

Warren Loeppky has been a pediatric dentist successful nan Canadian metropolis of Calgary for 20 years. Over nan past decade, he says, bony decay successful children he’s seen has go much common, much fierce and much severe. Many of his young patients person truthful overmuch harm that he has to activity pinch them nether wide anesthesia.

“It’s ever sad seeing a young kid successful pain,” Loeppky says. “Dental decay is very preventable. It breaks your bosom to spot these young kids that aren’t capable to eat.”

Loeppky notes that galore factors tin lend to bony decay successful children, including their fare and genetics. Still, he believes portion of nan problem is linked to a determination made successful nan halls of section government: In 2011, Calgary stopped adding fluoride to its drinking water.

“This determination of metropolis councilors was astonishing to nan wide public, but shocking and alarming to dentists, to pediatricians, to anesthesiologists and others successful nan wellness attraction field, who knew what it would mean,” says Juliet Guichon, a ineligible and morals clever clever astatine nan University of Calgary who formed a group that advocated for adding fluoride backmost to drinking h2o successful nan city.

Several studies person shown that fluoride is simply a safe and effective measurement to forestall bony decay. It recruits different minerals, specified arsenic calcium and phosphate, to strengthen bony enamel and fend disconnected acerb made by bacteria. Oral wellness tin besides affect a person’s wide health.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that communities crossed nan state adhd 0.7 milligrams of fluoride for each liter of water. It’s up to authorities and section governments to determine if they want to travel that recommendation. In 2022, nan CDC reported that 63 percent of Americans received fluoridated water.

But that believe now is coming nether caller scrutiny. In March, Utah became nan first authorities to prohibition fluoridation; galore section governments crossed nan state are besides debating nan issue. And connected April 7, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told news reporters that he planned to show nan CDC to extremity its recommendation.

Adding fluoride to h2o has been contested successful nan United States since nan believe became wide successful nan mid-20th century. Opponents person historically voiced wellness concerns, including astir bony staining and disproven worries that fluoridated h2o could origin bony cancer, arsenic good arsenic claims that fluoridation amounts to wide medicine and violates individual freedoms. More recently, group person pointed to investigation showing an relation betwixt fluoride and lowered IQ successful children. But those findings, which person been heavy criticized, looked astatine fluoride concentrations overmuch higher than those recovered successful astir Americans’ drinking water.

What happened successful Calgary, arsenic good arsenic successful Juneau, Alaska, which stopped h2o fluoridation successful 2007, whitethorn beryllium a cautionary communicative for different municipalities. Science News said pinch researchers and different experts successful some cities to understand what tin hap erstwhile section governments opt to extremity adding fluoride to drinking water.

Looking into nan mouths of second-graders successful Calgary

Lindsay McLaren says she ne'er anticipated becoming a self-described fluoridation researcher. As a quantitative societal intelligence astatine nan University of Calgary, she studies really nationalist policies tin impact nan wellness of a population. She hadn’t fixed overmuch thought to fluoridation until 2011, erstwhile nan Calgary City Council decided to region fluoride from nan city’s water.

The move prompted McLaren to creation a study looking astatine really nan dental wellness of nan city’s children fared erstwhile fluoride was removed. She recruited dental hygienists to spell to schools and inspect nan mouths of second-grade students. Some went to schools successful Calgary and others went to schools successful Edmonton, a akin metropolis successful nan aforesaid state that still fluoridated its water.

In Calgary, nan squad surveyed 2,649 second-graders astir 7 years aft fluoridation ended, meaning they had apt ne'er been exposed to fluoride successful their drinking water. Of those, 65 percent had bony decay. In Edmonton, 55 percent of surveyed children had bony decay. While those percentages whitethorn look close, they people a statistically important quality that McLaren calls “quite large” connected nan organization level.

“Compared to Edmonton kids, Calgary kids were now considerably worse arsenic acold arsenic dental wellness goes,” McLaren says. Other factors, including fare and socioeconomic status, did not explicate nan differences betwixt children successful Edmonton and Calgary, she says.

In 2024, different study recovered a higher complaint of bony decay-related treatments for which a kid was placed nether wide anesthesia successful Calgary than successful Edmonton. From 2018 to 2019, 32 retired of each 10,000 children successful Calgary were put nether wide anesthesia to dainty bony decay, compared pinch 17 for each 10,000 children successful Edmonton.

The findings didn’t astonishment section dentists, says Bruce Yaholnitsky, a periodontist successful Calgary. “This is conscionable evident to us. But you request to person due subject to prove, successful immoderate cases, nan obvious.”

Analyzing Medicaid claims successful Juneau

Years earlier Calgary’s metropolis assembly opted to region fluoride from its water, members of nan section authorities successful Juneau made a akin decision.

Jennifer Meyer says she first became willing successful studying nan effects of deficiency of fluoridation successful Juneau aft moving location successful 2015. At nan time, she had 2 young children; a 3rd was calved successful Juneau. She was amazed astatine how much dental work, including fillings, she noticed among many different preschool and simple schoolhouse children.

“I thought ‘Wow, what’s going connected here?’ Because I could spot a batch of nan decay and nan repairs,” Meyer says.

Juneau had stopped adding fluoride to its drinking h2o successful 2007 aft asking a six-member committee to reappraisal nan grounds astir fluoridation. A transcript of nan commission’s study obtained from Meyer, a nationalist wellness interrogator astatine nan University of Alaska Anchorage, shows that 2 committee members opposed to fluoridation made claims astir nan wellness effects that Meyer says are “false” and “not grounded successful value investigations.”

The commission’s chair criticized anti-fluoride positions, astatine 1 constituent penning that portion of nan lit was based connected “junk science.” But he yet recommended that nan metropolis extremity fluoridation, claiming that nan grounds astir its information astatine debased concentrations was inconclusive. With nan commission’s members divided astatine 3–3, nan Juneau Assembly voted to extremity fluoridation.

Meyer and her colleagues analyzed Medicaid dental claims records made earlier and aft nan metropolis stopped fluoridation. They recovered that nan average number of procedures to dainty bony decay rose successful children nether property 6, from 1.5 treatments per kid successful 2003 to 2.5 treatments per kid successful 2012.

The costs of these treatments successful children nether 6 years old, erstwhile adjusted for inflation, jumped by an mean of $303 dollars per kid from 2003 to 2012.

Meyer says that accrued Medicaid costs for dental treatments yet extremity up being paid by taxpayers.

“When politicians determine to withhold a safe and effective nationalist wellness involution for illustration fluoridation, they are imposing a hidden wellness attraction taxation connected everyone successful their authorities aliases community,” Meyer says.

Continued calls to extremity fluoridation

Today, galore opponents to fluoride successful h2o mention a arguable systematic reappraisal released past twelvemonth by nan National Toxicology Program, which is nestled successful HHS and evaluates nan wellness effects of substances. That August 2024 reappraisal concluded pinch “moderate confidence” that h2o pinch much than 1.5 mg of fluoride per liter was associated pinch lowered IQ successful children.

But that dose is much than double nan CDC’s recommended amount. And nan reappraisal authors couldn’t find if debased fluoride concentrations for illustration those recovered successful treated drinking h2o successful nan United States had a antagonistic effect connected children’s IQ. In addition, simply uncovering an relation does not beryllium that higher levels of fluoride caused lowered IQ, nan NTP notes connected its website.

More broadly, Meyer says, “ending fluoridation … based connected anemic aliases misrepresented grounds is not a precaution, it’s negligence.”

Juneau remains without fluoridated water. In Calgary, though, residents voted successful 2021 to bring it back. With 62 percent of voters opting to reintroduce fluoride, nan separator was higher than it was successful nan 1989 ballot that brought fluoride to Calgary successful nan first place. Guichon says McLaren’s study, mixed pinch “determined advocacy,” helped bring nan electorate to nan polls.

“More group voted to reinstate fluoride than voted for nan mayor. So that’s a success,” Meyer says. “But successful America, we are entering a acheronian time.”