More Australians Benefiting from Fluoridation
Water fluoridation is even more common in Australia than it is in the United States. A 2023 research review reported that 89% of Australians with access to public water systems receive water that is fluoridated to help prevent tooth decay. And that percentage has recently risen.
This summer, the community water system in Bunbury — a city on Australia’s southwestern coast — began adjusting the natural fluoride in its water to the recommended level for reducing the risk of decay. Nearly 50,000 people live in Bunbury. Several other communities in Australia’s southwest either have begun or will soon begin fluoridation.
As in other countries, efforts to fluoridate drinking water has been propelled by research. A 2016 report found that tooth decay was significantly more common in Bunbury and other non-fluoridated communities than it was in the metropolitan area of Perth, a city which has been fluoridated for decades.
Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council has conducted multiple reviews of the evidence and has concluded each time that water fluoridation is beneficial and safe.
