Opinion

Alaska’s dental health disaster proves New Jersey needs water fluoridation

Alaska and New Jersey might be about as dissimilar as two states get. Yet a ­recent scientific study on tooth ­decay among children in ­Juneau, Alaska, holds important lessons for Garden State policymakers.

The Juneau study proved — yet again — that community-water fluoridation helps prevent tooth decay and saves money by reducing the need for dental care, particularly among children.

Why does that matter to New Jersey? In the Garden State, only 15 percent of residents receive fluoridated water from public systems; the nationwide figure is 75 percent.

That means New Jersey ranks 49th out of 50 states for the share of the population that drinks ­water fluoridated at the level recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (0.7 parts per million).





To see why that’s a problem, consider the data from the Alaskan study. Public-health researchers from the University of Alaska and Minnesota’s Walden University picked Juneau, the Alaskan capital, because it presented almost the perfect case study in what happens when communities cease fluoridating their public-water supplies.

In 2007, voters in ­Juneau resolved to cease fluoridation of the water supply. Municipal officials in Fairbanks, Alaska, followed suit four years later, citing a supposed lack of evidence for the benefits of fluoridation and the ­alleged risks associated with it.

The Alaskans were wrong.

The federal government considers the fluoridation of community water supplies to be one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the previous century, and numerous studies have proved both its safety and its efficacy in preventing cavities, particularly among children, and offering significant cost savings to patients and taxpayers.





The result of Juneau’s decision: “The odds of a child or adolescent undergoing a dental caries procedure in 2003” — ­before fluoridation was ceased — “was 25.2% less than that of a child or adolescent” who grew up in ­Juneau after the city stopped fluoridating its water supply. And the mean caries-treatments costs for the children who grew up without water fluoridated at recommended levels was nearly 50 percent higher.

Those findings are in line with previous research. Bottom line: Fluoridation saves money. On an individual basis, the lifetime cost of fluoridation is less than the cost of one dental filling. For community water systems that serve more than 1,000 people, the economic benefit of fluoridation ­exceeds the cost. Fluoridation is a cost-saving method to prevent tooth decay.





The economic importance of fluoridation is underscored by the fact that the cost of treating dental disease is frequently paid by not only the affected individual but also the general public through services provided by health ­departments, community health clinics, health insurance premiums, the military and other publicly supported medical programs.

A New York state study published in 2010 compared the number of Medicaid claims in 2006 for cavity-related procedures in fluoridated and non-fluoridated counties. It found a 33.4 percent higher level of claims for fillings, root canals and extractions in non-fluoridated New York than in fluoridated counties.

Contrary to claims from fringe voices who still agitate against it, fluoridation remains the single most effective public health measure to prevent tooth decay. Talk about a win-win!





That is why organizations such as the New Jersey Dental Association, the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health ­Organization and more than 100 other national and international groups recognize the benefits of fluoridation. New Jersey officials would be wise to follow these recommendations and institute ­robust fluoridation standards statewide.

The Garden State should lead the nation on this vital question — not have to follow Juneau, Alaska. That would alleviate pain, both fiscal and literal.

Arthur Meisel is the executive ­director of the New Jersey Dental Association.





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