What Do Water Fluoridation Supporters Say?


American Dietetic Association:

“The American Dietetic Association reaffirms that fluoride is an important element for all mineralized tissues in the body. Appropriate fluoride exposure and usage is beneficial to bone and tooth integrity and, as such, has an important, positive impact on health throughout life.”

American Federation of Teachers:

“The good news is that tooth decay and other oral diseases are preventable. The combination of dental sealants and fluoride has the potential to nearly eliminate tooth decay in school-age children.”

American Medical Association:

“The AMA recognizes the important public health benefits of drinking properly fluoridated water and encourages its member physicians and medical societies to work with local and state health departments, dental societies, and concerned citizens to assure the optimal fluoridation of community drinking water supplies”

American Osteopathic Association:

“The American Osteopathic Association supports the fluoridation of fluoride-deficient public water supply.”

American Public Health Association:

“Dental caries (tooth decay) continues to be the most common chronic disease of childhood, and dental caries incidence for adults exceeds that of children. Although there are gross oral health disparities for minorities, eliminating health disparities is an overarching priority area for APHA. Community water fluoridation has been shown to be the most cost-effective public health measure for the primary prevention of dental caries and has been shown to be the most effective public health strategy to reduce disparities in dental caries between ethnic and racial groups. … APHA Reiterates its strong endorsement and recommendation for the fluoridation of all community water systems as a safe and effective public health measure for the prevention of tooth decay”

“Much of the credit for the nation’s better oral health can be attributed to the decision in the 1940s to begin adding fluoride to public drinking water systems.”

American Society for Clinical Nutrition:

“… the American Society for Clinical Nutrition agrees that fluoridation of community water supplies to an optimum level wherever the natural level is less than optimum is a safe, economical, and effective measure to improve dental health by improving nutrition.”

American Water Works Association:

“The American Water Works Association supports the recommendations of the World Health Organization, American Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association, Centers for Disease Control, American Dental Association, Canadian Dental Association, and other national organizations in the medical community, for the fluoridation of public water supplies as a public health benefit.”

Andrew Burnham, Secretary of State for Health (2009-10), United Kingdom:

“Let’s press ahead with fluoridation of water supplies, given the clear evidence that it can improve children’s dental health.

Association of State & Territorial Dental Directors:

“The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) fully supports and endorses community water fluoridation in all public water systems at the optimal level recommended by the US Public Health Service”

Audrey F. Manley, MD, MPH, Surgeon General under President Bill Clinton:

“Water fluoridation continues to be the cornerstone of community oral disease prevention. The benefits of fluoridation are available, on average, for little more than $0.50 per person per year, and even less, in large communities.”

Australian Dental Association:

“Drinking fluoridated water several times a day is the ideal way to give your teeth a quick fluoride treatment.”

“… Fluoride from fluoridated water is found in saliva and provides a wonderful, low concentration fluoride treatment for your teeth.”

British Dental Association:

“The BDA is pleased with [a program to expand fluoridation in southwest England] because it is likely to encourage consultation on similar schemes in other parts of the country where fluoride could help address the poor dental health of the population.”

“A recent European summary of the latest scientific evidence reiterated the view that water fluoridation is a safe and effective method of reducing oral health inequalities.”

British Dental Health Foundation:

“Fluoride was added to the Birmingham supply in 1964 and the difference in dental health compared to the neighbouring population in non-fluoridated Sandwell was stark. When Sandwell’s water was fluoridated in 1987 it transformed levels of oral health, putting a poor borough amongst the top ten areas for dental health in the country.”

British Medical Association:

“The BMA remains committed to the fluoridation of mains water supplies, after appropriate public consultation, on the grounds of effectiveness, safety and equity.”

British Working Party on the Fluoridation of Water and Cancer:

“There is ample evidence, from many places and over many years, that fluoridation of the public water supply leads to a substantial reduction in dental caries, with all that means in prevention of suffering, inconvenience and unnecessary cost. It can be shown that the beneficial effect of fluoride is significant, whatever other measures are taken in relation to sound nutrition and
preventive dental practice.

“… We have reviewed studies of cancer rates in relation to fluoride naturally present in drinking water and in relation to fluoridation of water supplies. We have found no evidence in these studies to suggest that fluoride or fluoridation is associated with increased cancer rates. … Indeed, the populations with greater exposure to fluoride in water tended to have slightly lower rates of cancer mortality and incidence.

“… We have found nothing in any of the major classes of epidemiological evidence which could lead us to conclude that either fluoride occurring naturally in water, or fluoride added to water supplies, is capable of inducing cancer, or of increasing the mortality from cancer.”

Canadian Dental Association:

“Fluoride is added to public drinking water to protect all members of the community from tooth decay. Community water fluoridation is a safe and effective way of preventing tooth decay at a low cost.”

Canadian Public Health Association

“In 1945, Brantford, Ontario became the first Canadian community to test water fluoridation, thereby achieving a 54% reduction in decay experienced by 8-year-olds.”

“In Quebec, for instance, less than 7% of the population has access to fluoridated water. A study of the oral health of children between 1990 and 1999 found that kindergarten children in Quebec had 40% more cavities than children in Ontario and the United States, and that tooth decay affects 56% of Quebec children in Grade 2.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

The CDC named the “fluoridation of drinking water” as one of “10 great public health achievements” of the 20th century.

C. Everett Koop, MD, Surgeon General under President Ronald Reagan:

“… I encourage the dental profession in communities which do not enjoy the benefits of an optimally fluoridated drinking water supply to exercise effective leadership in bringing the concentration to within an optimum level.”

Children’s Dental Health Project:

“Water fluoridation is particularly beneficial during childhood and in adolescence when cavity experience first begins. Not only do children who drink fluoridated water have fewer cavities but their cavities are smaller and less deep when they do occur.”

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

“Just how effective is fluoridated water? Thanks to it, dentists say half of kids between 5 and 17 have never had a cavity in their permanent teeth.”

Council of State Governments:

“… states need to reduce expenditures in Medicaid budgets and studies have proven that communities benefiting from fluoridated water use fewer Medicaid dollars to treat dental decay.

“… simply by drinking water, everyone, especially those without access to regular dental care, can benefit from fluoridation’s cavity protection whether they are at home, work or school.”