subject: Water Fluoridation As A More Practical Alternative To Milk And Bread Fluoridation [print this page] The fluoridation of water supplies throughout United States could reduce the cost of dental health bills by as much as $100 million a year, according to the American dental association. This is on its way to becoming a reality.
A campaign by The Department of Health and Welfare has been started to provide assistance for the fluoridating of about 438 community water systems and 100 school water systems An addition to the 6,800 communities already experiencing benefits from the fluoridation of water will definitely take place because of this.
A survey showed that 76 million adults still don't know fluoridation is and its uses despite its practice throughout the country.
Around 43 million adults mistake fluoridation as a water purification method or pollution reducer. Of those receiving water from public water systems, around 45 million do not know whether or not their drinking water is fluoridated.
The new government program will push for an improvement in education for the public to understand how valuable fluoridating is as a preventive measure against tooth decay. Preventing tooth decay is a new area that has only been explored recently in contrast to repairing teeth which has been around a lot longer.
Swallowing sodium fluoride regularly during childhood reduces decay by up to 65% even when they reach adulthood, reducing the chances of having to undergo any dental health procedures such as extractions.
No health measure has received as much critical attention in history as the fluoridating of a city's water supply. Research and experience in the community for more than three decades have shown how beneficial and safe fluoridation is.
The chances of developing tooth decay among children is reduced by as much as two thirds if they drink fluoridated water from birth.
A great number of these kids can experience being completely free from decay. Drinking water that is fluoridated will provide not only lifetime benefits, but it will also cut costs of dental health care by half.
Older individuals are recipients of these benefits as well. There is an increase in the numbers of teens who are cavity free, and there are six times more cavity free teenagers who come from fluoridated communities than there are from non fluoridated ones.
The government is on the lookout for economies as it current endorses fluoridation in communities for the improvement of dental health. Communities with inadequate resources for the implementation of the fluoridation program will definitely see the government support as an asset.
An annual total of $2 billion in treatment costs may be spent for 95% of all children because of some form of dental disease. Fluoridation is regarded to be a preventive health measure that is just as helpful as polio immunization.
The cost to restore a child's teeth would drop by as much as $12 if every person invests just 25 cents a year. Between 1971 and the new government program last fall, the Public Health Service spent less than $200,000 a year to promote fluoridation.
An annual amount of $9 million was spent in order to find other alternatives to reduce the number of dental cavity cases.
The alternatives included fluoridated milk and bread. While fluoridating milk would cost around $2 a year per child, fluoridating water as a practical alternative, would cost only around 25 cents per taxpayer.
Also benefits would be denied to children who do not drink milk or suffer lactose intolerance or milk allergies. While an anti decay vaccine may be discovered in the future, improved dental health may be achieved through fluoridation, hygiene, and proper nutrition.
