NIH Report Cites Fluoridation’s Influence and Significance

Posted January 03, 2022& filed below Fluoride and Public Well being, Fluoride within the Information.

Within the yr 2000, the U.S. Surgeon Normal launched a landmark report on oral well being that introduced recent momentum to coverage and medical efforts to stop oral illness.

In December of 2021, the U.S. Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) released a report referred to as Oral Well being in America: Advances and Challenges that was supposed as a follow-up to the 2000 Surgeon General’s report. The brand new NIH report explores the significance of preventive methods, amongst them group water fluoridation (CWF).

Recognizing the necessity to shut oral well being disparities, the NIH report noticed: “Not only does water fluoridation confer a protective effect beyond that offered by other sources of fluoride, it can especially benefit children in low-income families.” The report cited a 2019 study displaying that residing in a predominantly fluoridated county lowered the affect of income-based disparities in tooth decay. The NIH referred to as these findings “important from a health policy perspective.”

In a piece about oral well being in rural areas, the report notes that rural Individuals have an added threat issue as a result of “fluoridated water supplies often are not available in rural areas.”

The NIH report additionally highlighted the distinctive, passive nature of CWF. “Decreasing health disparities depends in large part on programs and policies aimed at providing more equitable distribution of evidence-based, health-promoting interventions,” the report explains. “Generally, this means programs that are not dependent on individual behavior change or compliance, such as community water fluoridation programs.”

The NIH report identifies misinformation as a think about why some communities have stopped CWF. “While budgetary concerns may contribute to these decisions, community water fluoridation has been discontinued in some locations as the result of organized opposition based on false and unscientific arguments.”