Help For Kids’ Teeth: Another Study Reports “clinically significant” Benefits of fluoride in Water

Posted June 22, 2023 & filed under Children's Oral Health and Fluoride, Fluoride and Public Health, Fluoride, Oral Health, and Access to Care, Health Equity.

A team of researchers in England examined the impact of fluoride in water and reported “strong evidence for a highly clinically significant reduction” in the amount and severity of tooth decay. This new study, The effect of community water fluoridation on dental caries in children and young people in England: an ecological study, focused on children and teens. It revealed that fluoridated water was linked to a major reduction in the rate of hospital admissions for tooth extractions.

The authors wrote: “Given that around 70% of the English population have [insufficient fluoride] in their drinking water and the high levels of dental caries and associated treatment, these findings indicate that many children and young people could benefit from community water fluoridation.”

The study, published by the Journal of Public Health, analyzed dental health data for children in England. Currently, about 10% of England’s population has access to drinking water with the recommended concentration of fluoride.

The study’s authors found that fluoridation offered benefits “across all categories of (social/economic) deprivation, with a greater effect in areas of greater deprivation.” This aligns with the findings of a 2021 report by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. That report noted that fluoridation “not only benefits the entire population but disproportionally benefits economically vulnerable groups” — partly by reducing the need for costly treatments to repair decayed teeth.

Reducing the need for treatment not only reduces costly treatment, it spares children the consequences of tooth decay: pain that makes it hard to sleep, eat, attend school, and otherwise enjoy childhood. Fluoride in all its forms helps kids, and that’s why we support it.