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Chief Dental Officer in favour of fluoridation |
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Monday, 11 February 2008 |
Adding fluoride to public water supplies has been proved to be effective and would be of benefit to lots of people in the community, Scotland’s Chief Dental Officer Margie Taylor has said.
In an interview with Holyrood magazine Taylor, who in her role
as Chief Dental Officer advises the Scottish Government on issues
relating to oral health, said that research has shown fluoridation is
“beneficial and effective”.
“Certainly in America they are aiming to have well over 60 per cent of
the population drinking fluoridated water. It is just not something
that has been pursued in Scotland.”
Asked who it would benefit the most, Taylor said: “It would be
beneficial to lots of people in the community, but the people who would
benefit most would be the ones who have got decay or are most likely to
get decay. And we know that the ones who are more likely to get decay
are the ones in the most deprived communities.”
She also said that while she takes on board the argument that it only
works if you drink the water and you can’t force people to drink it,
people wouldn’t necessarily have to drink gallons of water for it to
have an effect, adding: “If you put fluoride into the water it gets
into the food chain, so it would automatically be in whatever they
drink.”
However, Public Health Minister Shona Robison said the decision on
adding fluoride to public water supplies rests with local NHS Health
Boards and local communities, not the Government, and at present there
are no plans to introduce fluoride into Scottish water supplies.
“There has been significant progress over recent years towards dental
targets without fluoridation although the need for it is under constant
review.
“The decision to consult with the public on the matter of water
fluoridation lies entirely with local NHS Health Boards. However, there
are currently no plans to introduce water fluoridation into the public
water supply in Scotland.”
She added that when the public were last consulted on the issue in a
2002 consultation on improving children’s oral health, the overwhelming
majority were against the idea.
However, Andrew Lamb, Scottish director of the British Dental
Association said that adding fluoride to water could reduce levels of
tooth decay and give children a decent start in life.
“Research confirms that fluoridation helps to reduce tooth decay. For
example, children in Birmingham, which has had fluoridated water for
over 40 years, have half the cases of tooth decay that children in
Manchester [have], which doesn’t have fluoridated water.
“Therefore the addition of fluoride into water supplies in certain
areas could reduce the levels of tooth decay and give children a decent
start in life.”
However, he added that for maximum effect, fluoride should form part of
an overarching oral health strategy that considers all effective
methods to improve health.
“This,” he said, “includes healthy eating advice, identifying
sugar-free medicines, improving periodontal health, stop smoking
guidance, accessing alcohol misuse, and prevention of erosion.”
Readers have left 2 comments. 1. Chief Dental Officer in favour of fluoridation
Anonymous, Unregistered I am old enough to remember that this idea ws "floated " before and a wee Glesca woman took her case to the Court of Session and the idea was put on the shelf, fluoride is not for everyone and we should not be medicating the public through the water system 2. Chief Dental Officer in favour of fluoridation
Anonymous, Unregistered fluoride is a systemic, bio-accumulating poison and the idea that it should be added to drinking water as an enforced mass medication is completely unacceptable to the vast majority of the citizens of this country. It is interesting that it is regularly touted by the dental profession, but never by public health professionals. Could this be because people who see the bigger picture know that the idea breaks every strand of medical ethics? And also that attempting to solve a dietary/lifestyle problem (high intake of sweet sugary foods and poor dental hygene practice during childhood), by forced treatment of the entire population with a systemic poison is likely to result in huge healthcare costs in later life from increased brittle bone disease, hip fractures, thyroid dysfunction and cancer in young men( all of these are associated with fluoride bio-accumulation) is probably not a very good idea. Oh yes! And why do dentists promote the idea? Because it allows them to grow even fatter and richer than they already are by charging wealthy patients for cosmetic tooth whitening treatments in response to the unsightly brown staining and mottling of teeth which is caused by ingestion of even quite small doses of fluoride. They really are a shameful bunch.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 February 2008 )
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