No evidence that fluoride in water supply prevents tooth decay in children

No evidence that fluoride in water supply prevents tooth decay in children
Thursday, July 23, 2015

There’s no evidence that putting fluoride in the public water supply—as happens across the US and in some counties in the UK—prevents tooth decay in children, an independent report has concluded.

Although the rate of dental caries (tooth decay) has fallen consistently over the past 40 years, there are too many factors that could be responsible, say researchers from the Cochrane Collaboration.

And public health agencies may be basing their decision to fluoridate the public water supply on out-dated and biased data, the researchers say.

The Cochrane researchers found 155 studies that looked at the effects of fluoridation, but virtually all of them were biased, and many were so old that fluoride toothpaste hadn’t even be introduced when they were carried out. They also failed to take in......