The fluoride debate

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 10th of April.

This is WORLD Radio and we thank you for listening. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Up first, a debate bubbling up in America’s tap water.

For 80 years, communities have added fluoride in their water to strengthen tooth enamel, starting with Grand Rapids, Michigan back in 1945. But now, concerns about the side effects of fluoride are turning some people against that long-standing policy.

REICHARD: This week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will call on the CDC to stop recommending fluoride. And in March, Utah became the first state to ban it altogether. Other states may soon follow.

World Journalism Institute Mid-career graduate Rachel Leland wrote this story. WORLD’s Travis Kircher narrates:

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Dr. Kirby Hoetker did not think much about the significance of fluoride in dental health, until she got involved in medical mission trips to Guatemala.

HOETKER: It took me until my third year to realize, ‘Oh my gosh! These people don’t have community water. They don’t have fluoride in their water…

The pediatric dentist practices in Shelbyville, Kentucky. When families fill out forms in the brightly decorated waiting room, Hoetker asks about the water they drink.

HOETKER: Do you use city water or do you use well water or what kind of water do you get?

Dr. Hoetker realized she was seeing similar problems in Kentucky to what she saw in Guatemala, some children drinking well water had softer teeth.

HOETKER: It took me several years in my practice to start believing and seeing the difference and then once I did, I was like ok, so there is a difference.

Fluoride does naturally occur in some groundwater, and helps reverse tooth decay. But since the 1940s, local water operators have added fluoride to the tap. The Centers for Disease Control calls it a top 20th-century public health achievement and estimates that 63% of Americans have access to fluoridated water. But fluoride has its critics, and they are gaining traction.

KALL: So, you know, dentistry is always attempting to control the rate of decay.. I certainly support that. Unfortunately, using a neurotoxin to do that has some disadvantages and concerns…

Dr. Jack Kall is a dentist in Louisville. As a member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, Dr. Kall is concerned about how fluoride affects brain development as a neurotoxin.

KALL: That type of toxin in the body just means that it interferes with the proper function of our neurological system, particularly the brain. And then particularly with the fetus and infants, because their brains are just in the very initial stages of formation and development, that the fluoride can interfere with that.

Dr. Kall compares fluoride to fillings made with mercury, another neurotoxin that has been falling out of favor in recent years.

KALL: The use of mercury fillings has gone down some but it’s still being used. Fluoride use in dentistry, if anything, just continues to skyrocket because unfortunately, our society, most modern societies are so addicted to the use of sugar everything is sweetened.

But a growing number of communities are questioning the use of fluoride.

Last year, a federal judge in California ruled the Environmental Protection Agency must reevaluate fluoride’s health risks—particularly its impact on children’s brain development. The EPA is appealing that decision…but the ruling concerned officials in nearby Utah.

PAXMAN: We've always touted that we've got safe drinking water and that just really bothered me.

Scott Paxman is CEO of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District in Utah. His team lowered fluoride levels from 0.7 to 0.5 parts per million in January. Two months later, Utah’s governor signed a law banning fluoride in statewide public water systems. The ban goes into effect on May 7th.

PAXMAN: So we’ve kept our fluoridation levels at 0.5, we haven’t ordered new fluoride, so we’re basically hoping to run close to being out.

Lawmakers in other states like Florida, Ohio and Kentucky have proposed similar rollbacks.

Many dentists are pushing back against what they see as misguided attempts to tear down an effective public health measure. At an April 1st Miami-Dade County Commission meeting, American Fluoridation Society president Dr. Johnny Johnson urged lawmakers not to drop fluoride.

JOHNSON: There is no credible evidence that there are neurotoxic effects from fluoridated water. No country is stopping it. Please keep fluoridation in your water. Thank you very very much.

The commissioners voted 8-2 to stop adding fluoride to the water, but Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava can veto the decision by April 11th.

The CDC maintains that community water fluoridation is a safe, cost-effective measure to prevent tooth decay. Though that could change if health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to stop recommending fluoride becomes agency policy.

Dr. Hoetker in Kentucky says if parents are concerned about the toxicity of fluoride, they should be less concerned about their water and more focused on teaching their children to spit when they brush their teeth.

HOETKER: Like eating a tube of toothpaste or eating fluoride supplements that that's where you're getting to the toxic levels.

Dr. Hoetker and others fear that without at least some fluoride in community water, many children will grow up with teeth more susceptible to cavities. At the same time, she recognizes fluoride is not the decisive factor.

HOETKER: I'm not really going to be as worried about pushing the fluoride as I am going to be about pushing the better hygiene and not giving my kid a taste for sugar every time, you know, I mean, that's so important to grow up with like understanding that water is a healthy alternative and not soda.

For WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

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