Fluoridated Water Does Not
Prevent Tooth Decay

by Mark D. Gold


I will cover two areas in this section. I will list a selection of information which shows that fluoridation is not helping to prevent dental decay. At the same time, I will comment on how the Dental Trade Organizations have used flawed studies to convince dentists that fluoridation was useful. I will preface those comments with:

"ALERT #x"
For this discussion, remember that in the U.S., Trade Organizations like the American Dental Association (ADA) recommend that water should be fluoridated to 1 part per million (1ppm), although they allow for variations depending upon the climate (.7 ppm - 1.2 ppm).

Also, please remember that the original studies by H. Trendly Dean on fluoridation which led to the decision to allow fluoridation of municipal water supplies

  1. Were worthless by his own criteria.
  2. Did not consider other minerals in the water.
  3. Did not consider the differences between "natural fluoride" (e.g., CaF) and fluoride waste products (e.g., NaF).
  4. Only reported his chosen selection of data -- a subsection of the data gathered.
  5. Had little or no statistical analysis.
  6. Included no safety experiments except for dental fluorosis.


  1. Yiamouyiannis, J. "Water Fluoridation and Tooth Decay: Results From the 1986-1987 National Survey of U.S. Schoolchildren" Fluoride, Journal of The International Society for Fluoride Research (Volume 23, No. 2; April 1990; pp 55-67).

    This study showed, once and for all, that fluoridation of the U.S. water supply was worthless, at best.

    Summary: Data from dental examinations of 39,207 schoolchildren, aged 5-17, in 84 areas throughout the United States are analyzed. Of these areas, 27 had been fluoridated for 17 years of more (F), 30 had never been fluoridated (NF), and 27 had been only partially fluoridated or fluoridated for less than 17 years (PF). No statistically significant differences were found in the decay rates of permanent teeth or the percentages of decay-free children in the F, NF and PF areas. However, among 5-year-olds, the decay rates of the deciduous teeth were significantly lower in F than in NF areas.

    Table 2
    Average-age-adjusted DMFT [Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth] rates for 39,207 U.S. schoolchildren and 17,336 lofe-long resident schoolchildren in 84 areas throughout the United States. Standard deviations are given in parentheses.

    ---------------- Total --------------- Life-Long --
    Fluoridation
    Status
    No. of
    Areas
    No. of
    Students
    DMFT   No. of
    Students
    DMFT
    Fluoridated 27 12,747 1.96
    (0.415)
      6,272 1.97
    (0.465)
    Partially
    Fluoridated
    27 12,578 2.18
    (0.465)
      5,642 2.25
    (0.470)
    Nonfluoridated 30 13,882 1.99
    (0.408)
      5,422 2.05
    (0.517)


    As you can see, there are no statistical differences in decayed, mission, or filling teeth for U.S. children aged 5-17.

    Yes, there is a stastically significant advantage in DMFT for 5-year-olds. However, by age 6, that advantage disappears. The suspected cause for the one-year, temporary benefit is slightly delayed tooth eruption in fluoridated water drinkers. Whatever the cause, remember, there are no statistically significant difference after age 5.

    ALERT #1


    ALERT #2


  2. Steelink C., Fowler M, Osborn M et al. Findings and recommendations of subcommittee on fluoridation. City of Tuscon AZ 1992 (PO Box 27210).
    Also see: Chemical and Engineering News (7/27/92).

    A study of Tuscon elementary children was performed by Cornelius Steelink, Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona. The study was performed in order to determine the "benefits" of water fluoridation.

    They compared tooth decay versus fluoride content in a child's neighborhood drinking water for 26,000 elementary school children.

    Here are the results:


    I saw a graph with the percentage of tooth decay plotted against fluoride concentration. As soon as it goes over .6 ppm, the decay goes way up.

  3. "Influence of social class and fluoridation on child dental health" Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 13 37-41 1985.

    This study examined the influence of social class (environmental and lifestyle factors, diet, etc.) and fluoridation on dental health. It showed that dental health as continued to improve equally in both fluoridated and unfluoridated areas and that the level of dental health was strongly related to social class.

    A similar result (with slightly better teeth in unfluoridated areas) was found in Colquohoun J. "Child dental health differences in New Zealand" Community Health Studies 11 85-90 1987.

    ALERT #3


  4. Ziegelbecker RC, Ziegelbecker R. "WHO data on dental caries and natural water fluoride levels." Fluoride 26 263-266 1993.

    and
    Ziegelbecker R. "Fluoridated water and teeth" Fluoride 14 123-128 1981

    Both of these studies are from large data set showing that there is no correlation between caries and fluoride concentration and no improvement in dental health from fluoride. In the 1981 study, for example, Ziegelbecker made of random sampling of all available data on caries prevalence. He selected 48,000 12-14 year-old children from 136 community water supplies in seven countries.

  5. Diesendorf M. "The mystery of declining tooth decay" Nature 322 125-129 1986.


    Mark Diesendorf, an applied mathmetician, expert in research design, and health researcher at the Human Sciences Program at Austrailian National University showed in this analysis that the decline in dental decay in fluoridated areas has not been greater than in non-fluoridated areas. He used 24 studies of unfluoridated areas to prove this.

    Diesendorf isn't the only expert to realize the fact that fluoridation is not what lead to the improvement in dental health. In the April 1988 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association, Stanley Heifetz of the NIDR wrote, "the current reported decline in caries in the U.S. and other Western industrialized countries has been observed in both fluoridated and nonfluoridated communities, with percentage reductions in each community apparently about the same."

    ALERT #4


  6. Teotia SPS, Teotia M. "Dental caries: a disorder of high fluoride and low dietary calcium interactions" Fluoride 27 April, 1994 (page 61).

    This was a 20-year study (1973-1993) of 400,000 children in India. It shows that the higher the fluoride concentration in water, the more caries occured. In addition, this study shows that adolescents ingesting fluoridated water and a low calcium diet have extremely high rates of fluorosis and dental decay.

  7. Imai Y. "Study of the relationship between fluoride ions in drinking water and dental caries in Japan" Japanese Journal of Dental Health 22 144-196 1972.

    This study of 22,000 Japanese schoolchildren showed that above 0.4 ppm the decay rate increased significantly.

    When the fluoride concentration was below 0.2 ppm the decay rate also increased significantly. This was thought to be caused by the lack of calcium in the water when the fluoride was less than 0.2 ppm.

    Needless to say, Japan, like the large majority of countries (including industrialized countries) does not fluoridate their water supply.

    8) Colquhoun, J. "Is There a Dental Benefit From Water Fluoride?" Fluoride Vol. 27, No. 1 13-22, 1994.


    This study, like the Yiamouyiannis study of 39, 207 US schoolchildren, proves that fluoridation in New Zealand was and is worthless. The data was collected for 98% of all 12-13 year-old children and 5 year-old children in New Zealand.

    Here is the table from the study showing the main population centers.

    Table
    ---------------------- 12-13 year olds -------- 5 year olds ------

    Center No. of
    Children
    Caries-
    free %
    Mean
    DMFT
      No. of
    Children
    Caries-
    free %
    Mean
    DMFT
    NON-FLUORIDATED              
    Christchurch (5822) 37% 1.9   (3849) 55% 1.8
                   
    FLUORIDATED              
    Auckland (11464) 33% 2.0   (9611) 53% 1.8
    Hamilton (2689) 30% 2.3   (2266) 47% 2.3
    Palmerston Nth (1025) 31% 2.3   (950) 55% 1.8
    Wellington (4237) 36% 1.8   (3344) 58% 1.6
    Dunedin (1168) 29% 2.2   (994) 56% 1.5



    This must-read study/report goes on to show the major flaws in so many pro-fluoridation studies. Some notable excerpts:


    He goes on to examine the history of fluoridation research which is full of flawed studies beginning with HT Dean's studies in the 1930s and 1940s. Any student of dental science should read this review.

  8. Other


    ALERT #5



    Conclusion

    Portland, Oregon rejected fluoridation not long ago. Albany, New York rejected fluoridation recently. Several cities and towns have thrown out fluoridation over the last few years.

    To conclude, I'll quote Virginia Rosenbaum in an article entitled "U.S. EPA Scientists Warns Nation of Hip Fractures in Elderly Caused By Fluoride"


    There are numerous studies showing detrimental effect from fluoridation (not only cancer and hip fractures), but you won't find those studies listed in any ADA or EPA reviews.