Local authorities from across the UK should add fluoride to water supplies, following new research which confirms it has no negative effects. That is the message from the Oral Health Foundation, which is calling for the introduction of widespread community fluoridation schemes, a move they believe will help protect millions of Brits from tooth decay.
The extensive research, carried out by the National Toxicology Program in the US where 80% of water is fluoridated, states that following years of analysis, there is “no link between elevated levels of fluoride and cognitive learning deficits”.
Dr Nigel Carter OBE, CEO of the Oral Health Foundation, says water fluoridation is a safe and highly effective way to significantly reduce health inequalities across the UK: “The single biggest improvement to oral health in the United Kingdom came with the introduction of fluoride into toothpastes and water fluoridation schemes can have an equally positive effect. Fluoride not only helps protect the teeth against tooth decay, it also reduces the amount of acid that the bacteria on teeth produce”.
