Fluoridation: No Benefit, another study shows
NEW YORK, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Dental
examinations of 4800 South Australian ten- to
fifteen-year-olds’ permanent teeth reveal unexpected
results – similar cavity rates whether they drink
fluoridated water or not, reports Armfield and Spencer
in the August 2004 “Community Dentistry and Oral
Epidemiology” (1).
Children sampled lived in fluoridated and
nonfluoridated metropolitan and rural areas of the
Australian state, South Australia.
Collected rainwater, or tank water, is the main
non-fluoridated (non-public) water source for 37% of
South Australians, 8% drink bottled water. The public
water supply is fluoridated in Adelaide, South
Australia’s capital city. The rest of South Australia
is predominantly non-fluoridated, the authors report.
“The effect of consumption of nonpublic
(non-fluoridated) water on permanent caries (cavities)
experience was not significant,” report Armfield and
Spencer.
“It should be noted that, as discussed here, the
drinking of bottled or tank water is neither
immediately deleterious nor beneficial to oral health
in and of itself,” write the authors.
The American Dental Association asserts that
fluoridation provides 15-35% cavity reductions in
fourteen to seventeen-year-olds. But South Australian
adolescents averaged less than 1 decayed, missing
or filled permanent tooth surfaces (28 teeth have 128
surfaces), whether they drank fluoridated water or
not.
Actually, many studies show, after fluoridation
ceases, cavities decline (2). Others reveal
fluoridation is ineffective at reducing tooth decay
(3a-j).
The media recently used the Australian study to blame
fluoride-free bottled or tank water for increased
cavity rates in primary or baby teeth (4). However, no
decay data was included for one- to four-year-olds,
the children with the most baby teeth. The studied
group (5100 five- to nine-year-olds) already shed
primary teeth, perhaps some decayed. This places doubt
on the validity of the conclusion that fluoridated
water is linked to decreased primary-tooth cavities in
this population sample.
“Cities waste millions of dollars fluoridating their
water supplies; but the poor, malnourished or less
educated still get the most cavities and the least
dental care,” says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New
York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.
“Dental health crises exist in many, fluoridated
cities (5); while residents of non-fluoridated
Wichita, Kansas and Long Island, New York have better
dental health than many fluoridated areas (6),” says
Beeber.
References: http://tinyurl.com/ad9k
Contact: Paul Beeber, Esq., President,
nyscof@aol.com
SOURCE New York State Coalition Opposed to
Fluoridation, Inc.
PO Box, 263,
Old Bethpage, NY 11803
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
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