It's a topic that has cropped up at City Hall before. At least the Oct. 16 meeting of the city’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee (to which D was referring) was led by experts who could debunk claims about water fluoridation and speak to its effectiveness. Today’s committee discussion about water fluoridation will be led mostly by people who would likely prefer to see fluoride taken out of the city’s water supply.
Alongside the director and assistant director of Dallas Water Utilities, you have Dr. Griffin Cole with the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. In one video on Youtube, you can hear him talking about the supposed dangers of fluoride, including the claim that fluoride has been scientifically proven to lower IQs. Then, there’s Professor Bruce Lanphear with Simon Fraser University. He co authored an op-ed in 2020 titled “It is time to protect kids’ developing brains from fluoride,” which claimed there was mounting evidence that fluoride may hamper brain development and reduce IQs in children. Lastly, you have Dr. John Staniland of the Fluoride Action Network, an organization that is, according to its website, “dedicated to protecting public health by ending water fluoridation and other involuntary exposures to fluoride.”
You need not watch the meeting today. What these “experts” have to say about fluoride is laid out plainly in the presentation they’ll give to the committee. And, man, it’s a doozy. One slide simply calls fluoridation “unnecessary, unproven and unsafe.” Another slide claims that increased water fluoridation corresponded with lower IQs. Another claims that fluoridation leads to more tooth decay, not less (as Big Fluoride would have you believe).
These are all claims that were debunked during the committee’s last discussion on water fluoridation on Oct. 16. That discussion was led by a panel with the likes of Dr. Mary Swift with the Texas Dental Association, Dr. Johnny Johnson Jr. of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, and Dr. Philip Huang and Dr. Anh Nguyen with Dallas County Health and Human Services.
Swift explained to the committee last month that fluoride can be found in drinking water, toothpaste, dental products such as mouthwash and in some foods. She said that when bacteria present on teeth consume sugars, it produces acids that remove minerals from the surface of teeth. Fluoride can re-mineralize tooth surfaces by binding with tooth enamel to produce a much harder mineral. The harder the mineral, the more resistant to tooth decay and cavities.“In some households, a toothbrush is a luxury." – Dr. Mary Swift, Texas Dental Association
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Fluoridation is most important to vulnerable communities, specifically children who don’t have access to quality dental care, Swift said. “In some households, a toothbrush is a luxury,” she said.
In August 1966, Dallas Water Utilities began adding fluoride to all three of its treatment plants. Today, the city spends about $500,000 annually to fluoridate its water. About 73% of Americans served by community water systems receive water that is fluoridated. And it’s a good thing, too, because, according to Swift, fluoridated water reduces tooth decay by about 25% over a person’s lifetime, benefitting both adults and children.
We’ve also seen what happens when you don’t fluoridate water. In 2007, Juneau, the capital of Alaska, stopped fluoridating its water supply, Swift noted. However, the city of Anchorage kept the practice. Nine years later, the average per-child cost for cavity treatments had shot up 47% in Juneau but had increased by only 5% in Anchorage.
Time and again, opponents of water fluoridation have blamed it for a long list of ills, including migraines, cancer, acne and lower IQs. However, these claims don’t hold up under scrutiny, Swift said. “Evidence shows that these claims are baseless and each time a fact checker has been sent to review a claim about the safety of fluoride, they have found it false or misleading,” Swift said.
On top of that, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Dental Association and several other groups all recommend community water fluoridation.
So, it’s a wacky topic to even entertain at City Hall. But if you’re going to listen to either discussion, maybe go back and tune in to the Oct. 16 committee meeting. Just turn off the video when City Council members start asking questions.
