Utah has become the first US state To ban municipal drinking water fluoride. Other states will probably follow. Apparently a messy movement Even Keeled Governor Adopt A public evidence protected (fluoride prevents tooth decay) and has become something focused on something that seems to be Personal freedom. To take the decision, he said “We addressed this natural experiment“,” They grew up with fluoride in water and comparing people grown with people. He said there was no great difference, he talked to the dentists and decided to sign the bill.
I asked the governor for more information about the experiment. I asked the Department of State Health if there was a data such an experiment. The Department of Health told me: “DHHS does not have data on relations between water fluoride and cavities.” The governor’s offices did not answer my requests.
Can Utah be so different from the rest of the countries, from experiments that show benefit and fluoridated water returns? There are approximately One million children In Utah, making it a situation The highest percentage of young people Nationally. This decision will be the hardest on them.
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To decompress the madness of this law, we only need to look at Hawaii. Hawaiian cities do not add fluoride to their water supply, even if the state has no banned. Unless You are in the military baseWhere drinking water is fluorided, Hawaiian residents only consume low fluoride levels in water naturally. From May 2014 to May 2015, 70% of the third level He had a decline in Hawaii’s toothache. The average average of the national average was 52 percent. There are no clearly new data; A spokesman at the State Health Department said he would look at it.
It is amazing that the Department of Health, a list of ways to prevent parents from preventing your parents, in a report, without irony “drink fluoridated water.“
What makes fluoride is constant to strengthen his teeth, which are constant Bacterial attack in the mouth; These bacteria take sugar molecules from food and excite corrosive acid as a waste product that dissolves teeth. Consisting It stops that corrosion in several ways. They stick to the crystals that make up the enamel, acid is difficult to dissolve. The ore is associated with calcium within small holes caused by acid bacterial bacteria, helping me meet; This makes your teeth more resistant to acid. And it helps strengthen your teeth, attracting more calcium on the skin, creating a mineral with enamel, it is stronger than we already have.
The decision of the governor Spencer Cox is the decision of Utah in the head of US Health and Human Services. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.wants to Remove fluoride It supplies a part of his plan in the water, in the words of the President Donald Trump, health “go”. But the only thing that is savage is that science is distorting or aside from what he holds on fluoridation. Some Utah dentists can also argue that children need to be financially beneficial for children who need a filling What Cox has done is in a hurry.
State data clearly what is in the game.
In 2015, 66% of children aged six to nine had at least one cavity. This number will surely increase as now 44% of Utah residents Equipped with fluorized drinking water will not have access. Officials of the Department of State Health said they are studying the final data from 2023, but many people did not participate in surveys. That’s worrying because Cox said in signing the invoice “to me that we should be a high bar for me to meditate my government.” This bar must include all evidence about the safety and efficiency of fluoride in the dental health, not the word of a few hints and the “natural experiment” nobleus.
Sure, there are other ways to drink fluoride water. But these ways are not as simple as the faucets turn, especially for people with limited income. Fluoride helps toothpaste. A dentist who can request support fluoride varnishes. It helps to buy fluoridated water.
But in Utah, there are state records 1.1 Million Dental Insurance InsuranceTrade or Medicaid / Chip, which provide toothpart coverage for lower income. While many policies cover fluoride varnish for children, this option is not easier to work than family work than walking in the kitchen and a cup than with fluoridated water. As the rest of the nation, not all Utah dentists will accept the Medicaid / Chip. And 66% of regions Report a shortage of dentists in the state. Being able to buy bottled water is a luxury that everyone can afford.
So in Utah, municipalities now need to figure out how they want fluoride water supply, this new law is as economical as a health problem. The state spent people $ 52 million in an average year Adult visit to the Department of Emergency or Oral Health issues between 2007 and 2017. At that time people spent $ 4.7 million In a pediatric emergency visit, despite insurance. The number of visits associated with dental decline or infection is certainly grown.
Fluoride drinking public health measures such as fluoride are large. Everyone has access. Everyone benefits from them. One of the things of one night in the law is established in the state phase for more health in the state. And it is equally disturbing that the decision supports the movement that chooses cherries and the nature of the risk of risk.
By saving In a federal study That’s my colleagues at American scientific The report has failed a peer review twice, in 2024, convinced of antifluoride movements California to command a Northern Judge The environmental protection agency had to lower fluoride in drinking water. The argument is based on the study above the recommended drinking water today (0.7 liters of liter liter) that fluoride could affect the IQS for children. However, this study was misinterpreted to build this legal challenge for fluoremas. Finding high fluoride levels? Du nothing to add fluoride water supply. Water with fluoride levels twice HHS recommends the fluoride naturally.
In addition to the review process, research expressed concerns about the information established by the IQ link, and the research did not consider the benefits of fluoride or whether the findings have been really important for most US municipal systems for most fluoride.
Sure, high fluoride levels can cause health problems. And if you do the wrongly controlled research exam, you can find the harmful link you are looking for. But to say that some researchers find a detriment, others, others, during decades, even more advantages, then no one can benefit them, does not protect personal freedoms. It is doing something available and beneficial to many people.
The pendulum again has claimed personal liberation in the case of fluoride, essentially the role of the community and society is misunderstood. The effects of non-freedom is not the effects. Taking something from the people, allowing you to choose whether to use it, weakens effectively. And again, children pay the price with tooth health and taxpayers pay the price that helps cover the cost of something in great detail.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views indicated by the author or authors are not necessarily American scientific.
