Water Fluoridation Backed by Dental Charity that has ‘seen the benefits first hand’
By: The British Dental Health Foundation| Articles
The UK’s leading dental charity has backed calls for fluoride to be added to England’s water supplies, saying ‘this simple measure would massively improve the oral health of children in this country’
The British Dental Health Foundation was speaking after Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, called for a public debate on the issue.
Chief executive of the Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, who used to practice on the border of Birmingham (who have fluoride added to their water) and Sandwell (who previously did not have fluoride added to their water) commented:
“This is excellent news.
“Having practised on the border of Birmingham and Sandwell for much of my career I have seen, first hand, the positive impact water fluoridation can have on dental health.
“It still amazes me that it was possible to tell from which side of the dividing main road a child came from, simply by the state of their teeth. However, the difference was massive.
“At that time Sandwell was towards the bottom of the oral health leagues. However, water fluoridation was introduced in Sandwell in 1987 and over the next few years they rapidly moved up the table and into the top-10.”
Currently around 10% of the UK’s water supply is fluoridated but the government has today announced that it will make £14 million per year available to Strategic Health Authorities whose consultations find that people are in favour of the development.
Dr Carter continued: “Robust scientific research supports the fact that fluoride significantly improves oral health and there is no evidence to suggest that it can have any negative impact on overall health.
“Let us not forget that Birmingham has been fluoridated since 1964 and has reported no effect other than significantly improved dental decay rates.
“With this in mind we are delighted that the government is taking steps to encourage debate on the subject of water fluoridation.
“Previous studies suggest that the public is in favour and, if this is the case once again, then we can look forward to children in the UK enjoying far higher levels of dental health.”
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