Fluoridation: Nature thought of it first

1. Fluoridation:Nature thought of it first By Kurt Ferre DDS OPHA annual meeting, Corvallis, OR October 11, 2011

2. Volunteering: an opportunity

3. Public Health • Goal is to improve the health of a population • It values the “collective good” • 3 Criteria to justify public health measure: 1. reduction of ill health 2. reduction of health disparities 3. concern for children who constitute a vulnerable group

4. Good Oral Health: E.P.A. • Education • Prevention • Access to Care

5. Oral Disease “Learnings” • Cannot have good health without good oral health • Healthy kids learn better • 25% of the population get 80% of oral disease • Cannot drill our way out of this “mess” • Prevention is key

6. Water Fluoridation:Definition Fluoridation is the adjustment, either upward or downward of the existing naturally occurring fluoride levels in drinking water to an optimal level that has been determined by our public health experts in the U.S.

7. Water Fluoridation:History Fluoridation has been practiced in the U.S. for more than 65 years. Grand Rapids, Michigan, fluoridated its public water supply on January 25, 1945.

8. Water Fluoridation:An ImportantPublic Policy Issue Fluoridation is recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements in the 20th Century.

9. Water Fluoridation:History “Fluoridation is the single most important commitment a community can make to the oral health of its children and to future generations.” - Dr. C. Everett Koop U. S. Surgeon General, 1981-1989

10. Water Fluoridation:History “Fluoridation remains an ideal public health measure based on the scientific evidence in preventing dental decay and its impressive cost-effectiveness.” David Satcher, MD, PhD; Assistant Secretary for Health & Surgeon General of the U.S.

12. What Causes Cavities ?? • Cavities are an infectious disease • Sugar is the food for the germs • Germs produce acid within seconds • A microscopic war at the tooth surface • It is at this enamel surface that fluoride comes to the rescue

13. How Does Fluoride Work ?? • As the teeth grow and develop, fluoride is incorporated into the enamel. • After the teeth erupt fluoride reverses the acid breakdown of the enamel surfaces. • Surface enamel with fluoride is more resistant to future acid attacks.

14. Fluoridation/fluoride works • “Because frequent exposure to small amounts of fluoride each day will best reduce the risk for dental caries in all age groups, the work group recommends that all persons drink water with optimal fluoride concentration,….” • www.cdc.gov/mmwr/indrr_2001.html August 17,2001/Vol. 50/No. RR.14

15. We drink through our mouths

16. Louisiana Medicaid Study • “Water Fluoridation and Costs of Medicaid Treatment for Dental Decay—Louisiana, 1995-1996 • “Findings suggest that Medicaid-eligible children in communities without fluoridated water were three times more likely than Medicaid-eligible children in communities with fluoridated water to receive dental treatment in a hospital O.R., and the cost of dental treatment per eligible child was approx. twice as high. MMWR: September 3, 1999 / Vol. 48 (34); 753-757

17. Head Start Dental Utilization Data

18. The Dalles vs. Hood River

19. Oregon Smile Survey 2007

20. Fluoridation Politics

21. Community Water Fluoridation “We should ask not are we entitled to impose fluoridation on unwilling people, but are the unwilling people entitled to impose the risks, damage & costs of the failure to fluoridate on the community at large? When we compare the freedoms at stake, the most crucial is surely the one which involves liberation from pain and disease.” John Harris, Ctr. for Social Ethics & Policy, Univ. of Manchester, UK

23. Fluoridation Websites • www.cdc.gov/fluoridation • www.ada.org/sections/newsAndEvents/ pdfs/fluoridation_facts.pdf • www.healthyteeth.us • www.odha.org (click on fluoridation tab) Kurt Ferre DDS kferre51@comcast.net