Dentists Award the Toothless and Cavity-Prone

New York -- May 2004 -- “Fluoridation honors” were bestowed upon many
communities(1), which happen to have the highest cavity and tooth loss rates,
by the American Dental Association (ADA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
and the American Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors
(AASTDD).
Organized dentistry neglected to check oral health before awarding their
“2003 Community Water Fluoridation Awards.” Dentists may be embarrassed to
learn they honored the most toothless and cavity-prone Americans in the name of
water fluoridation. Is your community on the list?(1)

Fluoride added to water supplies, usually at taxpayers’ expense, is
publicized to save money and prevent tooth decay. Conspicuously absent are data
supporting these claims.(2) In fact, government statistics reveal worse or
less teeth in residents of fluoridation-honored communities than in their
non-fluoridated counterparts. For example:

A) Dentists gave Fifty-Year Awards to fluoridating water systems including:

· seven West Virginia and 5 Kentucky water districts. Yet, 42% of
mostly fluoridated(3) West Virginians and Kentuckians are edentulous – the
country’s worst toothless rates.(4) And 66 percent of West Virginian children
have cavities by age eight.(17)

· the Tulsa, Oklahoma, water department, where 19% of residents lost
six or more teeth.(5) Compare that to New York State’s two largest
non-fluoridated counties, Suffolk and Nassau, where only 16% lost six or more
teeth. Nassau and Suffolk received no kudos for retaining their natural
choppers.

Further, an Oklahoma Department of Health Report reveals an “Alarming
Prevalence of Tooth Decay Among Oklahoma’s Children,” where nearly 70
percent of third graders have cavities(6) although 75% drink fluoride-laced
water.

· Nashville, Tennessee, where 20% lost 6 or more teeth. Contrast:
Wichita, Kansas refused fluoridation, repeatedly over the years(7)(8).
Results: more teeth for Wichita - only 14% lost 6 or more, less than most
fluoridated cities. Yet, no awards for Wichita!

B) “State Fluoridation Quality Awards” were given to:

· 96% fluoridated Indiana, where 25% have lost all their teeth; 45%
have lost 6 or more teeth.(4)

· 96% fluoridated North Dakota where 5,262 children participate in
fluoride mouthrinse/tablet school programs and 44% of eight-year-olds
participate in sealant programs. Yet, 51% of 6 to 8-year-olds and 70% of
14-year-olds olds have tooth decay.(9)

C) “State Fluoridation Reaffirmation Award” given to Monticello,
Arkansas. "The state of Arkansas children's dental health is in crisis and
needs immediate attention" reports the Arkansas Department of Health(10). 72%
of Arkansas third-graders have cavities despite 60% state-wide
fluoridation(11).

D) “Community Initiative Awards” given to recently fluoridation-adopting
communities, e.g. Pinellas County, Florida, over the strong objections of
its citizens. (Citizens for Safe Water
http://www.aquasafe.us/AquaSafe-Action.htm )

E) The “State Fluoridation Initiative Award” to Utah with the most teeth
but least fluoridation of all the states (2%), not for their good dental
health, but because “Utah has the most new systems fluoridating.” This
despite vigorous citizen opposition. (
http://www.stopfluoridation.homestead.com )

F) California Fluoridation 2010 Workgroup and the $15 million funding from the
California Endowment were awarded for forcing fluoridation in California while
citizen groups in various cities formed, at their own expense, to resist the
addition of an untested chemical into their drinking water.(15). Only four
states have better tooth retention rates than slightly fluoridated (29%)
California. The California Fluoridation Task Force, found that poor children
had the most cavities regardless of fluoridation status.(16)

“The Surgeon General declared tooth decay a silent epidemic(12). Yet,
two-thirds of Americans drink fluoridated water,” says lawyer Paul Beeber,
President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. “The truth is,
most American children are fluoride over-dosed(13), and the poorly nourished
get more cavities(14) regardless of fluoridation,” says Beeber

Groups opposed to fluoridation http://www.fluorideaction.org/fan-contacts.htm

Contact: New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc., PO Box 263,
Old Bethpage, NY 11804

[email hidden]

http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof

http://tinyurl.com/ad9k

References:

1) 2003 COMMUNITY WATER FLUORIDATION AWARDS, ASSOCIATION OF STATE AND
TERRITORIAL DENTAL DIRECTORS, ANNUAL MEETING and NATIONAL ORAL HEALTH
CONFERENCE, May 3, 2004

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/fluoridation_awards.pdf

2) "What the 'York Review' on the fluoridation of drinking water really found,"
28 October 2003, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York,
York, UK
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/fluoridnew.htm

3) February 2002, CDC: Populations Receiving Optimally Fluoridated Public
Drinking Water --- United States, 2000

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5107a2.htm

4) CDC: Public Health and Aging: Retention of Natural Teeth Among Older Adults
--- United States, 2002 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5250a3.htm

5) CDC: SMART: Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trends, Oral
Health: Lost 6 or more teeth due to decay or gum disease

http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss-smart/ListMMSAQuest.asp?yr2=2002&MMSA=Al
l&cat=OH&qkey=6605&grp=0

6) COMANCHE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT, February 26, 2004
http://www.health.state.ok.us/chds/comanche/Press-Media/2004/Tooth%20Decay
%20and%20Oklahoma%20Children.htm

7) "The Ayes Have It! Wichita Water Department: A History 1882-1982", chapter
8, page 098
http://www.wichita.gov/CityOffices/WaterAndSewer/WWDHistoryBook/Chapter8/8
-98.htm

8) The Wichita Eagle, May 9, 2004, “What the Legislature Did”

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/local/8625104.htm

9) Overview of Oral Health in North Dakota Power Point Presentation
http://www.health.state.nd.us/ndhd/prevent/mch/dental/summit2000/Oral%20He
alth%20Access%20in%20North%20Dakota.ppt

10) Dental health of state's children said 'in a crisis'
By Anthony Childress, 4/20/2004

http://www.jonesborosun.com/archivedstory.asp?ID=9010

11) CDC: “Percentage of 3rd Grade students with Caries Experience (treated or
untreated tooth decay) “
http://www.cdc.gov/nohss/caries_experience/byState.htm

12) “First-ever Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health Finds Profound
Disparities in Nation's Population” http://www.nidr.nih.gov/news/052500.asp

13) J Am Dent Assoc. 2002 Feb, Prevalence and trends in enamel fluorosis in the
United States from the 1930s to the 1980s, Beltran-Aguilar ED, Griffin SO,
Lockwood SA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_
uids=11868834&dopt=Abstract

14) "The relationship between healthful eating practices and dental caries in
children aged 2-5 years in the United States, 1988-1994," Journal of the
American Dental Association, January 2004
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=
Abstract&list_uids=14959875

15) http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/250.html

16) "The Association of Early Childhood Caries and Race/Ethnicity among
California Preschool Children," Shiboski, Gansky, Ramos-Gomez, Ngo, Isman,
Pollick, Journal of Public Health Dentistry, Winter 2003

http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?objid=D1D1364B000000F56F7E81
925727268A

17) Winter 2003 West Virginia Oral Health Task Force

http://www.wvvoices.org/library_downloads/OralHealth_Newsletter.pdf