Article content

It’s cheap, effective, safe and prevents disease, yet there is public resistance due to uninformed fears. No, this isn’t another screed against anti-vaccination advocates, but rather a critique of fellow Montrealers who are against fluoride in the drinking water.

Dental caries is a near universal concern for Canadians, with 96 per cent of adults having experienced at least one cavity in their lifetimes. Given that our Medicare system does not generally fund dental care, it can be a costly one as well, with one-third of Canadians having no dental insurance at all.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Opinion: It's time for Montreal to fluoridate its drinking water Back to video

To combat this, dental experts have been pushing for introducing fluoride into the city water supply as a public health measure for decades. Organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Canadian Public Health Association (CHPA) and the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) cite research that shows that fluoridation of municipal drinking water reduces caries in the entire population.