UK - Mass medication or a cure for tooth decay

Mass medication or a cure for tooth decay
5:20pm Saturday 4th October 2008
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By Joanna Lean »
FLUORIDATION of the water supply, seen by some as forced mass medication and by others as an ideal solution to tooth decay, could be coming to Warrington.
As the Warrington Guardian went to press health executives at NHS Warrington were debating whether to progress with an investigation in to its feasibility.
The board was presented with a paper asking them to formally request that the North West Strategic Health Authority carry out more research into the feasibility of a water fluoridation scheme in Warrington.
Fluoride occurs naturally in all drinking water and some areas have high instances of it. Those areas typically have fewer average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth in children.
Other areas have been artificially fluoridated since the 1950s and note similar figures.
However, evidence on the extent of the benefits of fluoridation is weak, according to the North West Fluoridation Evaluation Group.
The group’s report, written by PCTs across the north west, identifies the positives and negatives to the fluoridation argument.
Adding fluoride can improve dental health in adults and children, particularly in areas with poor records of dental health.
But extra fluoride can cause fluorosis, a mottling of the teeth. Areas with fluoridated water suffer from a 48 per cent prevalence of fluorosis, but “the vast majority of this is mild and does not constitute a public health problem,” the report said.
Areas that are not fluoridated see around 15 per cent fluorosis rate.
Worries over connections to cancer and bone fractures were inconclusive, the report added.
Perhaps the biggest issue facing health trusts is whether they consider fluoride a medicine. If they do, they must consider informed consent and fluoridation must conform to the same standards