It is no surprise that the issue of water fluoridation is so controversial when leading health organizations such as the CDC and WHO have come to inconclusive findings on the benefits or dangers of the ingestion of fluoride [Adair, Fawell]. Thankfully these sources provide some clarity in showing that the use of topical fluoride is beneficial and not harmful. The harmful effects of infants ingesting fluoride are repeatedly recognized by various organizations and research articles [Fawell, Levy]. It is shocking that many people continue to believe that ingesting fluoride is good for their teeth without any data or understanding of how or why they hold that belief. Perhaps the studies that have shown that fluoride ingestion lowers IQ really are correct.
There is often the misbelief that fluoride ingestion from water results in a decrease in dental caries. This incorrect assumption remains due to websites that say they are related due to data that supports the finding. In this case, decreased dental health is not caused by the lack of fluoride in water. This is visible when we realize that over the same time period, dental health improved more in countries where no fluoride was added than in countries where fluoride was added to the water. Clearly there are other factors besides fluoride that alter dental health. Unfortunately websites such as [ODHS] provide a link due to correlation and not causation.
Perhaps what is most shocking about the continued fluoridation of water in the United States is that as European nations have begun the trend of removing fluoride from the drinking water, the US continues to add more fluoride to the water [Fluoride Action Network]. With such varying data on the benefits of fluoride ingestion, we must ask ourselves why we continue to passively accept this drug in our water that we know so little about. Why aren’t more people not concerned or thinking about what they are drinking in their tap water? I propose that education among the general public needs to increase and there needs to be a public demand for fluoride to stop being added to drinking water.