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For decades, water fluoridation has been promoted as an unquestionable good – one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, according to the CDC.
But science has a way of cutting through such just-so stories, and over the past half year in particular, science has been doing just that.
Science was at the heart of the landmark ruling handed down by a US federal court back in September against the Environmental Protection Agency. The court found that the risk of neurodevelopmental harm from early childhood exposure to fluoride was “unreasonable” and ordered the agency to take action to reduce that harm.
This ruling was based on extensive scientific evidence, including a comprehensive report from the National Toxicology Program that found consistent associations between fluoride exposure and reduced IQ in children, and noted that there appeared to be no safe level of exposure.
Photo Credit: Fluoride Action Network
Meantime, new studies and reviews have been published that similarly challenge the conventional wisdom about fluoride.
Consider the 2024 update from the Cochrane Library, one of the most respected publishers of scientific reviews. While fluoridation showed some mild protection against decay in baby teeth, there was little evidence of benefit for adults. The review also noted that fluoride’s effectiveness appears to be less now than in decades past, perhaps due to it being so widely available in commercial oral care products.
A British study from last year also found the benefits of fluoridation to be far less than usually advertised. In this case, the research team compared dental health outcomes between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities. Those areas with “optimally” fluoridated water had just a 2% lower rate of tooth decay than non-fluoridated communities and only underwent 3% fewer invasive dental treatments.
A more recent study in the Journal of Health Economics took a look at long-term outcomes for individuals exposed to fluoridated water during early childhood. There were some troubling correlations between that exposure and struggles with self-sufficiency later in life – struggles such as finishing high school and supporting oneself financially. Early fluoride exposure was also associated with worse health, a lower likelihood of joining the military, and a greater likelihood of going to jail.
One factor that could be driving those differences is the previously noted impact of fluoride on IQ – an impact most recently documented by a study in JAMA Pediatrics. Its authors analyzed 74 studies on the relationship between fluoride exposure and children’s IQ scores. When measuring fluoride in water, they found that higher fluoride levels meant lower IQ scores – but only above certain thresholds. When fluoride was measured in urine, the link was found at all levels tested.
Notably, the highest quality studies found that higher fluoride exposure was linked to lower IQ scores at all levels tested, no matter if it was measured in water or urine.
In light of the shifting tides, some major manufacturers of children’s dental products are now facing lawsuits over their fluoride-containing products. These cases cite the current FDA warnings about fluoridated products for young children – for instance, that children under age 6 shouldn’t use mouth rinses with fluoride and that both these and fluoride toothpaste be kept out of reach of such little ones.
Fortunately, fluoride just isn’t necessary for good oral health. There are other, better ways of preventing tooth decay.
Nutrition is where it starts. A diet rich in minerals, vitamins D3 and K2, and other essential nutrients help build strong teeth from the inside out and continually replenishes them with minerals to keep them strong. Traditional diets, which typically included mineral-rich bone broths and fermented foods, supported excellent dental health long before the advent of modern interventions.
Good home hygiene offers additional support, especially when augmented with practices such as oil pulling, tongue cleaning, using an oral irrigator, and applying ozone. (Yes, there are ozonated oils that you can use at home to complement the ozone therapy we do here in our office.) Combine this with an overall healthy lifestyle, and you’ve got a recipe for oral health success!
Natural, time-tested approaches such as these, focused on supporting the body’s innate ability to maintain health, offer a safer and more effective way forward than chemical interventions such as fluoridation. As communities reevaluate their water fluoridation practices – and increasing numbers are – they have an opportunity to take that path for themselves, supporting both oral health and overall well-being.
