Is Water Fluoridation Safe?

When we ask if water fluoridation is safe, we are asking:  “Is artificially fluoridated water safe for ingestion by all consumers, regardless of an individual consumer’s age, size, diet, or health?”

Water fluoridation, one of the pillars of public health policy in the United States, was adopted to reduce tooth decay rates. Students in  public health university programs, medical and dental schools, and public health  professionals alike are taught to support water fluoridation policy, not to question its efficacy or safety.

Even fluoridation advocates agree that ingestion of fluoridated water when teeth are forming can cause dental fluorosis.

A new study headed by Harvard Research Scientist Anna L. Choi finds dental fluorosis a possible marker for fluoride neurotoxicity; it reports the results of a simple, specific mental development test: the child’s ability to repeat a sequence of numbers both forwards and backwards. Even children with very mild dental fluorosis performed less well than children without fluorosis. Read the full study. Choi AL, et al, Association of lifetime exposure to fluoride and cognitive functions in Chinese children: A pilot study, Neurotoxicol Teratol (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ntt.2014.11.001

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See FLUORIDE DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY

See DENTAL FLUOROSIS

Water Fluoridation: A Critical Review of the Physiological Effects of Ingested Fluoride as a Public Health Intervention by Stephen Peckham and Niyi Awofeso (2014).