Fighting Tooth Decay with Fluoride

Tue, 12 Aug 2008

Just under 50% of England's drinking water is likely to have fluoride added to it if a Government plan is put into action, so says The Daily Mail.

Dental health chiefs would like to put this chemical into 40% of England's water supply in order to fight the high levels of tooth decay throughout the country.

However, critics state that such'mass medication' of water amounts to invading human rights should this be done especially without the public's consent.

Critics are also stressing that dentists are in denial of the dangers associated with fluoride. Fluoride has been connected to diseases, like brittle bone disease as well as cancer .

On the other hand, dental experts state that there is a great deal of evidence indicating that adding fluoride to water assists in the reduction of tooth decay, with children benefitting the most.

Fluoride is found naturally in drinking water supplies, at levels too low to impact upon dental health .

Currently, just 10% of tap water has fluoride added into it, that is, in the North East and the West Midlands .

Plans to add fluoride on a wider basis to the country's water supply were initially announced by Health Secretary Alan Johnson in February 2008. However, the scale at which the Government intends to add the chemical had not been disclosed until now.

£42million has been earmarked for this plan.

The Department of Health confirmed that water companies are only going to start fluoridating water upon consultation with local people.
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