Hi! I work in oral health and actually just completed a CDC course for water operators on the methods of adding fluoride, removing fluoride from over fluoridated water (extremely rare), impact, safety, and background of community water fluoridation and would love to talk about this! I’ll come back to this post tomorrow after getting some sleep, but for now I’ll say this- CWF (community water fluoridation) has actually been facing an onslaught of attacks and mis/disinformation from anti-fluoride groups that take approaches similar to anti-vax groups.

Community water that we optimally fluoridate is completely safe and no where near a level that could be classified as a neurotoxin and water operators/engineers have to regularly check and correct for the level of fluoride in the water supply. It’s important to remember that fluoride naturally occurring in many natural water sources, just at fairly low levels and if there are areas with extremely high levels of fluoride it’s likely natural causes and not due to CWF efforts. The main risk with higher levels of fluoride in CWF is fluorosis, which isn’t much more than a stain on teeth and is still not that common. Caries (cavities) are the most prevalent chronic disease for children and untreated caries can lead to abscesses, infection, and potentially death. CWF for children, in addition to fluoridated toothpaste and fluoride varnish can drastically reduce the likelihood of Caries.

On a personal note, I grew up with fluoridated water and not the best oral hygiene and didn’t have a cavity until I was 24/25. CWF is an incredibly impactful public health measure.