The Oklahoma Dental Association (ODA) today criticized an executive order from Gov. Kevin Stitt that removes a long-held recommendation for appropriate fluoridation in Oklahoma’s public water supplies.
According to the ODA and the medical community, public water fluoridation has played a major role in improving oral health for seven decades. Fluoridation programs have been so successful that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has proclaimed community water fluoridation as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.
“As dentists, we care deeply about the oral and overall health of our patients,” said Dr. Twana Duncan, an Antlers dentist who serves as ODA president. “Adding fluoride to our public water supply is a safe and effective way to prevent tooth decay, strengthening teeth and improving oral health. By simply drinking fluoridated water, Oklahomans are doing something good for their oral health. Our communities should not be forced to shut down a public health program that has provided so much benefit to so many Oklahomans.”
Duncan encouraged Oklahomans to contact Gov. Stitt, the Oklahoma State Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Quality to express their support for community fluoridation programs.
“Community water fluoridation is a local issue that should be decided at the local level, not by bureaucrats in Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C.,” Duncan said. “These decisions should be made in consultation with medical experts using the latest, most accurate scientific data. Improving the lives of our fellow Oklahomans should be at the forefront of any public health discussion.”
The Oklahoma Dental Foundation is concerned removing fluoride will have an outsized impact on rural Oklahoma. The foundation operates MobileSmiles, a program of dental clinics which travel the state providing care to Oklahomans without access to regular dental care.
“The Oklahoma Dental Foundation supports community water fluoridation,” said MobileSmiles’ Dental Director, Jana Winfree, DDS, MPH. “Along with dental care, our providers also deliver oral hygiene instruction and nutritional counseling. Drinking water is essential for health. Water that is optimally adjusted with fluoride reduces tooth decay, even with the widespread availability of fluoride toothpaste. Oral health is related to overall health. Community water fluoridation is a safe and effective method to improve the health of Oklahomans of all ages.”
The American Dental Association (ADA) is also critical of the state’s misguided effort.
“According to the CDC, even with the widespread availability of fluoride toothpaste, water fluoridation helps reduce tooth decay by 25%,” said Brett Kessler, D.D.S. and president of the ADA. “More than eight decades of evidence- based research and practical experience have demonstrated the effectiveness of community water fluo-ridation in reducing tooth decay. Optimally fluoridating water at levels in the U.S. have been proven to be safe and effective time and again.”
Kessler also noted that no country in Europe bans the use of fluoride and the value of water fluoridation is recognized internationally. Some countries, he added, have implemented milk or salt fluoridation programs to improve oral health among the population.
According to the CDC’s website, “community water fluoridation has been one of the most practical, cost-effective, fair, and equitable measures that communities can take to improve residents’ oral health and made substantial contributions to narrowing oral health disparities.”
The Oklahoma Dental Association fosters an awareness of the obligations and responsibilities of the dental profession society, to help advance the art and science of dentistry, and to promote public health and health services in the State of Oklahoma. For more information, visit okda. org.
