Once hailed as a triumph of public health, water fluoridation is now under intense attack in the US.
Despite decades of data proving its efficacy at protecting teeth from decay—particularly children’s teeth—two states have now banned the use of fluoride in public water, and communities around the country have followed suit or are considering doing the same. The current US health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is known for his anti-vaccine advocacy and for peddling conspiracy theories, has pledged to remove fluoride from US water.
Fluoridated water and occasional low-dose supplement tablets are the clear reason why I didn’t have a single major cavity until I was nearly 50, in spite of a lifetime of very haphazard, on-again off-again brushing habits. (yes, I’ve since standardized my brushing!). My parents and other relatives aren’t especially genetically resistant to tooth decay or anything, so I’m pretty sure it was the fluoride that gave me such a cavity-free first five decades. That certainly saved me money, but it saved the public health system even more. Meanwhile I still did my part to keep dentists in business with yearly cleaning and checkups.