The ADA has endorsed fluoridation of community water supplies as safe and effective for preventing tooth decay for more than 40 years. Water fluoridation—the process of adjusting the natural level of fluoride to a concentration sufficient to protect against tooth decay (from 0.7 parts per million to 1.2 ppm)—has been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th Century. Fluoride’s benefits are particularly important for those Americans, especially children, who lack adequate access to dental care. It is safe, effective and has been described as “the best bang for the nation’s public health buck” by a past ADA president.
However, some people have lobbied at federal, state and community levels to end or prevent community water fluoridation. They have raised public concern about the safety of fluoride and, despite evidence to the contrary, have targeted the ADA and local dental associations for our support of fluoridation.
Furthermore, efforts to introduce fluoridation into community water supplies are frequently undermined by limited funds for infrastructure, perceived controversy, voter apathy, confusing ballot language and an abundance of misinformation that has flourished on the Internet. As a result, optimally fluoridated water is available to only two-thirds of those served by public water systems.
Based on scientific evidence, the ADA supports universal fluoridation and believes that all communal water supplies containing less than the optimal level of fluoride should be adjusted to an optimum level. Toward this end, the ADA is urging Congress and state legislators to make capacity-building funds readily available to help communities establish, upgrade and maintain an effective public water fluoridation infrastructure.
The Association welcomes calls for additional controlled studies on the safety, health benefits and cost-effectiveness of community water fluoridation as a means of assuring the public about its safety.
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