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: 2) by esperto123 on Monday December 16 2019, @10:47AM (1 child)
yeah, according to the article they went from 1.55 to 2.52 cavities, saying that it increased 1 cavity a year on average doesn't sound as much, but if they had put a more clickbaity title "removing fluorine increase cavities by 66%" would draw much more attention and still be correct. That's a huge impact.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @11:50PM
So you think with fluoride in Juneau that kids 0-6 were getting 1.5 cavities per year on average? So by the time they are six they've had 9 cavities filled. Doesn't that seem off to you?