Why fight years of positive water fluoridation research?
Why fight years of positive water fluoridation research?
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Friday, January 11, 2008
If fluoridation opponents, and those undecided, don't want to take the word of Martin County dentists, who have devoted their professional lives to the improvement of oral health, read what others have said.
Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. surgeon general, has said of fluoridation, "It is the single most important commitment that a community can make for the oral health of its citizens."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proclaimed that fluoridation has a place among the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century, along with polio and smallpox vaccination and milk pasteurization.
The CDC also says of opponents, "We have heard all their arguments before. They are masters of communication with the goal of planting doubts in your mind, not improving public understanding." I practiced in St. Albans, Vt., for 17 years without fluoridation and 18 years with it. The results were dramatic. It was not difficult to pick out which kids lived in the city and which came from parts of the town with well water. I'm sure that dentists everywhere have seen the same dramatic results. If you believe any of the anti-fluoride propaganda, doesn't it seem weird to you that the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, along with more than 100 national and international organizations, endorse water fluoridation for preventing dental decay?
Ask yourself, what is it that these opponents think they know that millions of people around the world, nearly half a billion in all, who are enjoying the benefits of fluoridation, don't know? What is it they know that more than 60 to 80 years of research and experience hasn't discovered?
The answer should be very obvious.
ROBERT L. BARKER JR., DDS
Port St. Lucie
Editor's note: The water fluoridation question will appear on the Jan. 29 ballot for Stuart voters.
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Friday, January 11, 2008
If fluoridation opponents, and those undecided, don't want to take the word of Martin County dentists, who have devoted their professional lives to the improvement of oral health, read what others have said.
Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. surgeon general, has said of fluoridation, "It is the single most important commitment that a community can make for the oral health of its citizens."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proclaimed that fluoridation has a place among the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century, along with polio and smallpox vaccination and milk pasteurization.
The CDC also says of opponents, "We have heard all their arguments before. They are masters of communication with the goal of planting doubts in your mind, not improving public understanding." I practiced in St. Albans, Vt., for 17 years without fluoridation and 18 years with it. The results were dramatic. It was not difficult to pick out which kids lived in the city and which came from parts of the town with well water. I'm sure that dentists everywhere have seen the same dramatic results. If you believe any of the anti-fluoride propaganda, doesn't it seem weird to you that the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, along with more than 100 national and international organizations, endorse water fluoridation for preventing dental decay?
Ask yourself, what is it that these opponents think they know that millions of people around the world, nearly half a billion in all, who are enjoying the benefits of fluoridation, don't know? What is it they know that more than 60 to 80 years of research and experience hasn't discovered?
The answer should be very obvious.
ROBERT L. BARKER JR., DDS
Port St. Lucie
Editor's note: The water fluoridation question will appear on the Jan. 29 ballot for Stuart voters.
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