Water Fluoridation Study Shows Limited Benefit to Children’s Oral Health

After looking at the results of a study, it was determined that fluoridating water sources has a minor positive impact on children’s oral health. Therefore the £1.7 billion annual NHS spend to tackle dental caries may be made smaller by applying the method of fluoridating water, according to experts.

But, although positive, the scientists discovered that the impacts of fluoride in water appear to be less significant than previously thought.

Senior investigator for the research, Dr Michaela Goodwin, said that “while water fluoridation is likely to be cost-effective and has demonstrated an improvement in oral health, it should be carefully considered along with other options, particularly as the disease becomes concentrated in particular groups.”

Almost 3,000 kids in Cumbria took part in a 6-year study. The findings revealed a slight decrease in caries in the younger group of children, with 17.4% in fluoridated regions having fillings, decay, absent teeth as opposed to 21.4% in non-fluoridated regions.

Out of the older group of participants, almost 22% in non-fluoridated has the selected oral problems, compared to just over 19% in fluoridated areas.

Despite the fact that the prevalence of childhood teeth decay has dramatically decreased over the past half a century, almost one quarter of five-year-olds in 2019 had dental decay.

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