An increase in the prevalence of cavities in children has prompted dental experts to seek out new ways to fight tooth decay.
"We encourage the development of new technology to address these problems," says ACSH's Jeff Stier. "However, it's also important that we continue to use old technologies that are proven to work, such as water fluoridation."
Water fluoridation is a safe, effective way to prevent tooth decay, and it happens to be a favorite target of chemical conspiracy theorists. In fact, activist deceit about fluoride is so widespread that there is even a measure in the New York City Council to ban water fluoridation. "This measure was introduced by the Chairman of the Council's Health Committee, Joel Rivera," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "This baseless threat to dental health in our city must now be taken seriously. New York City's water has been fluoridated since 1965, and the city enjoys one of the lowest rates of dental caries in the nation."
ACSH staffers were pleased to welcome Dr. Tom Curran of the New York State Oral Health Coalition to our morning meeting so that he might share his insights with us about this travesty. "The main guy going after fluoride is Dr. Paul Connett," he explained. "For any condition that doesn't have a proven etiology, he says its cause is water fluoridation. Twenty years ago, the people defending fluoride could say, 'These people are quacks, this is pseudoscience.' But now the people who are against fluoride are relatively sophisticated in their approach. They're still wrong, of course, but they've gotten very good at spreading their message."