In other words, what happens when a population suddenly stops taking fluoride in their drinking water, like Juneau's citizenry did?
Now, thanks to a recent study led by first author and public health researcher Jennifer Meyer from the University of Alaska Anchorage, we've got new insights into the subsequent effects.
In the study, Meyer assessed Medicaid dental claim billing records for two groups of children and adolescents aged 18 or under.
One of these groups represented what the researchers call "optimal" community water fluoridation (CWF) exposure: 853 non-adult patients on behalf of whom Medicaid dental claims were filed in 2003, years before the fluoride cessation began in 2007.
The other group was made up of 1,052 non-adult patients from families who similarly met Medicaid income requirements, and who made the same kind of dental claims almost a decade later, in 2012.
[...] "By taking the fluoride out of the water supply... the trade-off for that is children are going to experience one additional caries procedure per year, at a ballpark (cost) of US$300 more per child," Meyer explained to KTOO News.
Reference: Jennifer Meyer, Vasileios Margaritis & Aaron Mendelsohn, Consequences of community water fluoridation cessation for Medicaid-eligible children and adolescents in Juneau, Alaska, BMC Oral Health, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-018-0684-2
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @08:19AM (1 child)
Shouldn't you be busy coming up with some Trump themed ASCII art to spew forth into the interwebs?
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @08:38AM
We are coming for you, Fluoride troll! When we find you, the first thing we will do is remove all your fillings. Then we will force you to have single payer health insurance, that covers dental and vision. You will have no where to go, no where to hide! You poor, poor pathetic excuse for a human being. Oh, and BTW, Trump is dying. Walter-Reed trip still not explained, but it wasn't a lack of fluoride in his water.