Fluoride — long heralded as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century — could be removed from public water systems under the influence of one of President-elect Donald Trump’s advisors, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy — who has no training in medicine or dentistry — called fluoride “an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss” and other problems on the social media platform X.
“I think fluoride is on its way out,” Kennedy said on MSNBC on Wednesday. “The sooner it goes out, the better.”
Whether to add fluoride to the water supply is decided and funded by local jurisdictions, not the federal government. Still, Kennedy said that if he were tapped, he would advise communities about fluoridated water.
Dentists who care for children’s oral health say the end of fluoridated drinking water would be harmful.
“It won’t happen right away, but as children continue to grow and develop, they will get cavities more often,” says Dr. Meg Lochary, a pediatric dentist in Waxhaw, North Carolina, an area that recently opted out of adding fluoride to water systems. “Eventually we will see an increase in tooth decay.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fluoride exposure through municipal water supplies is especially important for families who do not have dental care.
While an estimated 75% of Americans have fluoridated drinking water, hundreds of American communities are increasingly turning to water fluoridation.
In the middle are parents trying to make sense of the widely differing views on added fluoride. Is it okay? Is it bad? Let’s break it down.
What are the benefits of fluoride?
Mouths are teeming with bacteria, which produce acid in saliva. These acids weaken the teeth and lead to tooth decay. Fluoride combats that process with a one-two punch, by reducing acid and strengthening enamel, the protective outer layer of the tooth.
The phenomenon was discovered in the early 20th century among residents of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Tooth decay was virtually non-existent in the population. The only thing that could explain this was their drinking water, which naturally contained a lot of fluoride that leached from local rocks and soil.
Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first community in the world to add fluoride to its water supply in 1945. Within ten years, the number of cavities among young children in the city fell by 60%. Other public water systems followed.
Major public health groups, including the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC, quickly supported the use of fluoridated water. They all cite studies showing it reduces tooth decay by 25%.
Preventing cavities is a major public health coup, experts say. Uncontrolled tooth decay can lead to infections, tooth loss and painful abscesses.
Are there any risks associated with fluoride?
Despite decades of research and real-world evidence of its benefits, fluoride continues to come under scrutiny.
To date, there is no conclusive evidence proving that fluoridated water leads to any of the outcomes Kennedy mentioned, including loss of intellect.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that fluoride has lowered children’s IQs,” said Dr. David Margolius, director of public health in Cleveland.
However, there are some small studies worth mentioning.
Research published in May suggested that fluoride exposure during pregnancy could be linked to neurobehavioral problems in children. However, the study authors said that based on the findings, it is premature to stop adding the cavity-fighting mineral to drinking water.
A 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that IQ levels were slightly lower in 3- and 4-year-old children whose mothers had higher amounts of fluoride in their urine when they were pregnant.
While the researchers said it may be time to put a pause on water fluoridation, they didn’t say the mineral should be removed from water supplies.
In September, a federal judge in California ruled that even though he could not conclusively conclude that fluoridated water was a public health hazard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must tighten regulations on water fluoridation.
What should parents do?
Experts claim there is no credible evidence that fluoride has lowered children’s IQ levels.
With science in mind, parents should be able to ask questions about what their children are consuming, says Dr. Richard Besser, former acting CDC director and current president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“Every parent should feel very comfortable asking their child’s doctor, ‘What should my approach to fluoride be to protect my child’s teeth?’” Besser said. “These are valid questions, but saying fluoride has no value goes against the science and evidence.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
