Fluoridated Water Helps Protect Against Tooth Loss In Later Life

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

Parents can help protect their children’s teeth for years to come by giving them fluoridated water, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University combined data from a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention community health study and a water census to see the affects of drinking fluoridated water in the 1950s and 1960s on tooth loss in the 1990s.

They found that adults who had drank water with added fluoride as kids in the 50s and 60s generally had good dental health .

According to the researchers, fluoride still improves tooth enamel in children whose adult teeth have not yet shown. It also helps teeth damaged from the decay process and breaks down bacteria on teeth .

Matthew Neidell, a health policy professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, said: "Your fluoridation exposure at birth is affecting your tooth loss in your 40s and 50s, regardless of what your fluoridation exposure was like when you were 20 and 30 years old."

He added that the study findings were complicated by the fact that respondents who did not live in the same county their entire lives received differing amounts of fluoride in their water.

Furthermore, the study could not adjust for factors such as use of fluoride toothpaste, which also provides a dose of fluoride.
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