Jan. 25, 1945: Fluoridation — Better Teeth, or Commie Plot?
1945: Grand Rapids, Michigan, becomes the first U.S. city to fluoridate its drinking-water supply.
Fluoridation, implemented as a means of reducing tooth decay, involves adding one part per million of fluoride to the water supply. (The optimum level, according to the Centers for Disease Control, falls between 0.7 and 1.2 ppm.) Fluorine, of which fluoride is a compound, is one of Earth’s most abundant elements, found in almost everything. In mammals, the highest natural concentration of fluoride is found in bones and teeth.
Grand Rapids undertook a study before implementing its fluoridation project, meant to clear up any safety concerns. Fluoride protects tooth enamel but is nevertheless toxic, even potentially lethal, in concentrated form. The Grand Rapids study concluded that the benefits strongly outweighed any risks, and the program got the green light.
Dissenting voices continued to be heard, however, and they grew increasingly strident as more and more municipalities fluoridated their water. Since it coincided with escalating Cold War hysteria, fluoridation was denounced by right-wingers as a communist plot to bring America to its knees by poisoning the water supply.
The Russian-conspiracy theory was completely bogus, of course, but fluoridation remained a health concern. In fact, it’s still a concern today.
Roughly 170 million Americans drink fluoridated water today, and statistics show that dental health in the United States has improved dramatically as a direct result of it. But, aided partly by the internet’s long reach, there is continuing resistance.
Opponents of fluoridation point to newer studies that link it to osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. Some dentists question the need to keep fluoridating water, because most modern toothpastes contain fluoride, which is itself controversial.
Institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Family Physicians continue to maintain that the overall risks are minimal and that these new claims are exaggerated.
This article first appeared on Wired.com Jan. 25, 2008.