Consider the Evidence: Fluoride For Healthy Futures

And I truly hoped that none of the viewers would believe what they were seeing, either. Because it wasn't based on evidence - not the kind prefaced by the word 'science.'

And though a year has gone by since this Dr. Oz episode aired, I just couldn't let the date pass without a call to action. To all readers, to all viewers, to you Ms. Brockovich, and you Dr. Oz, I don't ask that you change your mind. Not necessarily. But I do ask that you read this statement drafted with a number of my HSDM 2019 DMD Candidate colleagues, and consider the evidence - the scientific evidence. Because, as a 2019 DMD Candidate at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and a future pediatric dentist, I care about your health today and in the future; I care about our communities' health, and the health of our children, and I care that we make the right choices for everyone today. So, for just a moment, consider . . .

Harvard School of Dental Medicine practices dentistry under a philosophy of evidence-based medicine, providing patients with an up-to-date and research-based quality of care. Unfortunately, the antifluoridation segment on the Dr. Oz show on February 1, 2016, left much to be wanted regarding evidence-based care. In a one-sided depiction of Erin Brockovich s anti-fluoridation rhetoric, this episode gravely misrepresented the strong foundation of research in support of community water fluoridation. In doing so, this episode not only threatened a public health measure supported by over one hundred health organizations, including the American Association of Public Health Dentistry and American Dental Association, but threatened the oral health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable communities in our nation.

Community water fluoridation took root in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945. Soon, with a capacity to flow beyond the barriers to care dividing our society, community water fluoridation flourished as one of the greatest public health achievements of the twentieth century. Though only 37% of adults will actually visit a dentist in a given year, as of 2012, 200 million people in the United States received service from fluoridated water systems. These 200 million individuals thus had access to not only the remineralizing benefits of fluoride at the tooth surface and corresponding reduction in dental caries, but the associated increase in life satisfaction, employment success, and social confidence.

Unfortunately, Erin Brockovich, an environmental activist, misrepresented the impact of fluoride. She alluded to health risks of fluoride toxicity, citing the decreasing fluoride concentration in water from 1.2 to 0.7 mg/L as evidence of her claims. She further instilled fear in products vital to sustained oral health, including fluoridated toothpaste and natural foods. However, Ms. Brockovich failed to mention that the established safe fluoride levels are less than one-half the Maximum Concentration Limit, and all created within standards of the American Water Works Association and NSF International. Further, she fell short in factually supporting her claims of grandeur, misrepresenting the prevalence of dental fluorosis when this condition, in severe state, only presents in fewer than 1% of the population. The evidence in favor of fluoride is of such strength that even pediatricians are seeking to provide topical fluoride application in the pediatric medical home.