USA - Martin County Commission faces brush with fluoride question

Martin County Commission faces brush with fluoride questionBy GEORGE ANDREASSI george.andreassi@scripps.com November 19, 2006STUART — Fearful the Martin County Commission may cave in to a group opposing the addition of fluoride to the county's drinking water, several local dental and health professionals said they plan to tell the commissioners about its importance in preventing tooth decay. "We feel very strongly it's of enormous benefit to the community," said Dr. Radamee Orlandi of Jensen Beach, president of the Treasure Coast Dental Society. "Its safety is well known." Children who rely on public dental care in Martin County have twice as much tooth decay as those in St. Lucie and Indian River counties, where the drinking water is supplemented with therapeutic amounts of flouride, several local dental and health professionals said. That's why the county's Oral Health Task Force pushed for the addition of fluoride to the county's water system in 2003 and the County Commission agreed, they said. It would be self-defeating to stop the $200,000 project before it is completed in early 2007. The County Commission is set to review the issue at its Dec. 19 meeting. "We're meeting with each of the commissioners," Orlandi said. "Coming up in the next week or so, we're going to meet with all of them one on one and explain that they have to listen to the sound, rational, scientific reasoning behind the whole thing." Therapeutic amounts of fluoride — less than one part per million — make teeth more resistant to decay, particularly for children and seniors, said Orlandi and other local dental and health professionals. The benefits of fluoridating water have been known for six decades and countless studies have proven the safety, they said. The American Dental Association and the American Medical Association are among the supporters of the practice. "I'm going to tell the commissioners: 'If you're taking this anti-fluoride group's word for it and you're not going to do it, you're basically taking their side over the side of every major medical and dental association in the country,'" said Dr. Erik Tallbacka, a Stuart dentist and member of the county's Oral Health Task Force. Pat Arena of Jensen Beach has led the opposition to fluoridating the county's drinking water, making emotional appeals to the County Commission several times to warn about potential health risks of exposure to high levels of fluoride, such as brittle bones in seniors and bad teeth in infants. "The ADA just made a recommendation not to use fluoridated water for infant formula," Arena said Tuesday. "Can you guarantee every person in the county will know that? We've been poisoning our infants for 50 years." "If you vote it in, the county could be held both legally morally accountable," Arena said. "Anyone that knows the risks or even possible risks of fluoridation and still supports it needs to have their motives examined." Arena added, "There are several alternatives for dental health, but all must remain a personal choice." As a result of the pleas, Commissioners Sarah Heard, Lee Weberman and Susan Valliere said they are considering scrapping the fluoridation of the county's water supply. "I'm leaning towards thinking that we don't need to add anything into our water that may have huge negative impacts," Heard said. "There are a lot of naysayers out there who are bringing us scientific proof that it's not beneficial and in fact that it's quite harmful. So, I think I'm an anti-fluoridation commissioner." Weberman is probably not going to support the fluoridation because "I don't understand what problem we're trying to solve." Valliere voted against the project in 2003 because of health concerns and said she hasn't changed her mind. But Orlandi, Tallbacka and other health professionals said they don't buy the arguments. They said children whose families can't afford regular dental care would suffer tooth decay unnecessarily unless the county goes forward with fluoridation of the county's drinking water. "It's a shame we haven't been doing it for a long time," Tallbacka said. "Dental disease is the No. 1 disease of childhood. We have a chance to take the No. 1 disease that kids in this community have and basically cut it in half."

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