Latest news with #JAMAHealthForum
CBS News
6 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
Removing fluoride from water could result in 25 million cavities and cost $9.8 billion, study estimates
New research suggests that removing fluoride from public water would increase dental care costs and tooth decay for children across the United States. The study, published Friday in the JAMA Health Forum, used a nationally representative sample of 8,484 children aged 0 to 19 from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate projected outcomes of stopping water fluoridation in the U.S. — something some states, including Utah and Florida, have already begun doing. Researchers found removing fluoride was associated with an increase in tooth decay of 7.5 percentage points, or 25.4 million cases, and cost approximately $9.8 billion over 5 years. These effects would disproportionately affect publicly insured and uninsured children, who are already at the highest risk of unmet dental needs, the authors added. Fluoride is a mineral that helps strengthen teeth and reduce cavities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It does this by repairing and preventing damage to teeth caused by bacteria in the mouth that produce acid, which in turn dissolves minerals in a tooth's surface and can even lead to tooth loss. Tooth decay by itself can be painful and costly to treat but left untreated can cause further problems, including infections and abscesses or even sepsis, according to the World Health Organization. Some research has also linked poor oral health to other complications, such as cardiovascular disease due to inflammation and infection. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water was long considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century, but Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought it into question, claiming fluoride is linked to a slew of health problems. Dental experts have told CBS News they largely disagree. "Seventy years of research, thousands of studies and the experience of more than 210 million Americans tell us that water fluoridation is effective in preventing cavities and is safe for children and adults," according to the American Dental Association. Fluoride can come from a number of sources, including most toothpaste brands, but researchers say drinking water is the main source for Americans. Plus, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this year that it is starting the process of removing ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for kids from the market.
CBS News
9 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
Removing fluoride from water could result in 25 million cavities and $9.8 billion, study estimates
New research suggests that removing fluoride from public water would increase dental care costs and tooth decay for children across the United States. The study, published Friday in the JAMA Health Forum, used a nationally representative sample of 8,484 children aged 0 to 19 from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate projected outcomes of stopping water fluoridation in the U.S. — something some states, including Utah and Florida, have already begun doing. Researchers found removing fluoride was associated with an increase in tooth decay of 7.5 percentage points, or 25.4 million cases, and cost approximately $9.8 billion over 5 years. These effects would disproportionately affect publicly insured and uninsured children, who are already at the highest risk of unmet dental needs, the authors added. Fluoride is a mineral that helps strengthen teeth and reduce cavities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It does this by repairing and preventing damage to teeth caused by bacteria in the mouth that produce acid, which in turn dissolves minerals in a tooth's surface and can even lead to tooth loss. Tooth decay by itself can be painful and costly to treat but left untreated can cause further problems, including infections and abscesses or even sepsis, according to the World Health Organization. Some research has also linked poor oral health to other complications, such as cardiovascular disease due to inflammation and infection. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water was long considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century, but Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought it into question, claiming fluoride is linked to a slew of health problems. Dental experts have told CBS News they largely disagree. "Seventy years of research, thousands of studies and the experience of more than 210 million Americans tell us that water fluoridation is effective in preventing cavities and is safe for children and adults," according to the American Dental Association. Fluoride can come from a number of sources, including most toothpaste brands, but researchers say drinking water is the main source for Americans. Plus, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this year that it is starting the process of removing ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for kids from the market.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Kids will develop 25.4 million more cavities if fluoride is banned nationwide, study finds
A national ban on the mineral fluoride in U.S. public drinking water could result in a decayed tooth for one out of every three children, researchers said on Friday. A model estimating the potential impact on children's dental health and its costs found that it would result in a 7.5 percent increase in tooth decay, translating to 25.4 million more teeth. It would also cost an additional $9.8 billion over the course of five years, and $19.4 billion after 10 years. 'Fluoride replaces weaker ions within tooth enamel, making it stronger and less susceptible to tooth decay caused by bacteria,' Dr. Lisa Simon, a founding member of the system and a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said in a statement. 'There's strong evidence from other countries and cities, such as Calgary in Canada, showing that when fluoride is eliminated, dental disease increases. Our study offers a window into what would happen in the United States if water fluoridation ceased.' Simon was the senior author of the findings, which were published on Friday in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral found in the soil and water, has been used to help strengthen tooth enamel for decades. It was first added to public water systems in 1945. It has been deemed one of 10 great public health interventions of the 20th century because of the dramatic decline in cavities since then. Recently, however, states have acted to implement their own bans. The first was in Utah, and Florida followed suit a few weeks later. The bans come as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., told The Associated Press last month that he would instruct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation in drinking water. Kennedy has cited a widely controversial study related to IQ that has been criticized by experts. But dentists say doing so would be costly to the health of Americans — and especially low-income or rural families who may rely on fluoride in drinking water as a cost-effective way to protect their teeth. Children with limited access to dental care are expected to be the most affected by a ban. 'Dental cavities disproportionately affect disadvantaged children,' Dr. Tomitra Latimer, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement. 'That includes kids with autism, Down syndrome or cerebral palsy, who may take sugary medications or struggle with brushing.' The authors of the JAMA study found that a national ban would substantially increase dental decay and costs, particularly for publicly insured and uninsured children. To develop the model, the researchers used detailed oral health and water fluoridation data in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that was collected from 8,484 children ages 19 and below. Then, they simulated two scenarios over periods of five and 10 years. One would maintain current fluoride levels, and the second would eliminate fluoride from public drinking water. They ran the simulation 1,000 times. The number of fluorosis cases — the discoloring of tooth enamel due to excessive fluoride intake — decreased by 0.2 million. The study did not look at cognitive effects from fluoride exposure, saying that current levels of fluoride in public water are not associated with worse neurobehavioral outcomes. The current recommended fluoride level in public water systems is 0.7 milligrams per liter. 'We know fluoride works. We're able to show just how much it works for most communities and how much people stand to lose if we get rid of it,' said Simon. 'Extensive research confirms the recommended level significantly reduces dental cavities without posing health risks,' Latimer said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rotten result? Kids' cavities would increase by millions if every state banned fluoride
The long-term effects of banning fluoride from public drinking water across the country could cost families billions of dollars and result in millions of rotten teeth, a new analysis predicts. The study, published Friday in JAMA Health Forum, shows that if all 50 states stopped community water fluoridation programs, kids in the U.S. could expect to develop 25.4 million more cavities within the next five years. That's the equivalent of a decayed tooth in 1 out of every 3 children. The number of cavities would more than double in 10 years, to 53.8 million. 'That is a tremendous increase,' said Dr. Tom Reid, president of the Wisconsin Dental Association. 'It's another bit of proof that what we've been saying for over 80 years is 100% accurate: Proper dosing of community water fluoridation prevents cavities.' Reid was not involved with the new research. Fluoride is under increasingly intense fire despite its dramatic ability to prevent tooth decay. Two states, Utah and Florida, have already banned the addition of fluoride to public water systems. Others, including Kentucky, Massachusetts and Nebraska, could follow — all buoyed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new role as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Under Kennedy's leadership, HHS gutted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's oral health division, which provides funds to states and local jurisdictions to promote good dental health practices, including the use of fluoride. 'We thought this was a really important time to be able to put some numbers to the discussions' about fluoride, said Dr. Lisa Simon, an author of the study and internal medicine physician at Mass General Brigham in Boston. She and a colleague analyzed data on 8,484 children, from birth through age 19, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. NHANES is conducted every year by the CDC and includes interviews about what people eat and extensive details about their blood work, doctor's exams — and dental visits. The team created a model to predict what could happen under two scenarios: if every public water system had optimal fluoride levels, and if there is a total national ban on fluoride in water systems. Filling those cavities to fix that level of decay would cost money: $9.8 billion within five years, and $19.4 billion within a decade. 'It's actually a pretty conservative estimate,' Simon said, because it doesn't take into account related issues, like whether a child has to go under general anesthesia, the lifetime costs of replacing fillings and implants, or if parents have to miss work to take children to the emergency room because of extreme toothaches. Tooth decay goes beyond a simple cavity that needs to be filled. In severe cases, teeth crack, making it difficult for people to chew food properly. It can also lead to gum disease and widespread infection. Simon said that low-income families who struggle to afford dental care and kids on Medicaid would be disproportionately affected. 'It harms everyone to eliminate fluoride, but harms those children and families the most,' she said. The potential fallout from fluoride bans isn't just mathematical magic. The Canadian city of Calgary, for example, experienced a significant rise in kids' cavities after its leaders removed fluoride from public water systems in 2011. Within a decade, they voted to reinstate community water fluoridation. 'I hate to see us not learn from history,' Reid said. 'It doesn't take immense intellectual ability to realize that, boy, there are communities that have done this and regretted their decisions.' The U.S. has been adding fluoride to drinking water for decades. The CDC, as well as doctors and dentists, heralds the mineral as one the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. But fluoride has been demonized, particularly among conservative groups who maintain that it's a toxin that, at best, is causing tooth discoloration and, at worst, driving down kids' intelligence. Kennedy frequently cites a study published in 2019 that suggested IQ levels were slightly lower in kids whose mothers had higher measures of fluoride in their urine during pregnancy. The JAMA study is also included in the 'Make America Healthy Again' report recently released by the health secretary. The research, however, was far from conclusive. Similar studies were done in other countries with much higher levels of water fluoridation than the U.S. No studies in the U.S. have flagged any measurable decreases in children's cognitive development since fluoride was introduced. The new analysis didn't include possible cognitive effects — good or bad — of a total ban on fluoride because current levels of fluoride in public water systems, the authors wrote, 'are not definitively associated with worse neurobehavioral outcomes.' They did look at the issue of tooth discoloration. Excessive amounts of fluoride can cause white or sometimes brown marks on teeth called fluorosis. It's a cosmetic problem, not a physical one. The modeling study found that banning community water fluoridation wouldn't make a big splash in reducing fluorosis: just 200,000 fewer cases over five years. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Removing fluoride from public drinking water may lead to millions more cavities in US children, study estimates
The longstanding public health practice of adding fluoride to public drinking water systems in the United States is facing new challenges and bans in some places, and experts have warned that the change would come with significant costs – both to the health of children and the health care system. A new modeling study, published Friday in JAMA Health Forum, estimates that removing fluoride from public water in the US would lead to 25.4 million excess decayed teeth in children and adolescents within five years, along with $9.8 billion in health care costs. After 10 years, these impacts would more than double to nearly 54 million excess decayed teeth and $19.4 billion in costs. That translates to one additional decayed tooth for every three children in the US – but the costs wouldn't be spread evenly, said Dr. Lisa Simon, an internal medicine physician with Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-author of the new study. 'We know that the people who have the most benefit from fluoride are people who otherwise struggle to access dental care,' says Simon, who has been researching dental policy for a decade. 'When we think about those 25 million decayed teeth, they're much more likely to appear in the mouths of children who are publicly insured by Medicaid or come from otherwise low-income families.' Fluoride is a mineral that can be found naturally in some foods and groundwater. It can help prevent tooth decay by strengthening the protective outer layer of enamel that can be worn away by acids formed by bacteria, plaque and sugars in the mouth. Adding fluoride to public water systems started in the US in 1945 and has been hailed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the 10 greatest health interventions in America in the 20th century In 2022, close to two-thirds of the US population was served by community water systems that had fluoride added to them, according to CDC data. But US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in April that he would tell the CDC to stop recommending that fluoride be added to public drinking water, and lawmakers in two states – Utah and Florida – have banned the practice this year. To estimate the effects of removing fluoride from community water, Simon and co-author Dr. Sung Eun Choi from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine assessed clinical oral health data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to create a nationally representative sample of US children. At baseline, the data showed that about 1 in 5 children between the ages of 2 and 5 were estimated to have dental caries, a chronic infectious disease involving tooth decay and cavities, along with more than half of children ages 6 to 12 and more than 57% of teenagers. But removing fluoride would raise those prevalence rates by more than 7 percentage points, the researchers found. 'This is a huge cost for our country and it's all avoidable. There is no better replacement for the time-tested, doctor trusted use of fluoride in community water programs,' Dr. Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Association, said in a statement. 'No amount of political rhetoric or misinformation will change that good oral health depends on proper nutrition, oral hygiene and optimally fluoridated water, or fluoride supplements if community water programs lack fluoride.' On the campaign trail last fall, Kennedy called fluoride 'industrial waste' and claimed that exposure has resulted in a wide variety of health problems, including cancer – claims that both the American Cancer Society and the CDC have disagreed with. And in April, HHS and the US Environmental Protection Agency announced that they would study the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water – a review centered around a government study from last year concluding that higher levels of fluoride are linked to lowered IQ in children. In the new modeling study, researchers found that only about 1.5% of US children in 2016 had exposure to this excess level of fluoride – considered to be above 1.5 milligrams per liter – that posed risk for fluorosis, a condition that leaves streaks or spots on teeth, or other harms. Meanwhile, about 40% of US children had access to optimal fluoride levels that effectively prevent tooth decay – between 0.6 and 1.5 milligrams per liter – while about 46% had access to even lower levels. The authors of the new study did not assess the neurocognitive effects of fluoride because 'current federal guidance does not find an association' at the levels used in public drinking water. They found that removing fluoride would only help prevent about 200,000 cases of fluorosis over five years. Tooth decay can mean a lot of things, Simon said, but their model was picking up cases that would likely need at least a filling along with severe cavities that could turn into a root canal or a tooth extraction – the costs of which would be borne by families, insurers and the government. 'Talking about money, which is really important, is only one way to measure that cost,' Simon said. 'It's also a cost in terms of children being in pain, children not being able to eat, children missing school or not being able to pay attention in school because their teeth hurt, parents missing work, children losing teeth that are supposed to stay with them for their entire lives, and those children growing into older adults who are more likely to be missing teeth with all of the health consequences that entails.' Forecasts in the new modeling study mirror real-life impacts that were measured in other parts of the world after fluoride was removed from drinking water. Calgary, Alberta, stopped putting fluoride in its water in 2011, and a study found that children there had more cavities than those in cities that kept fluoride. Calgary will resume fluoridation this year. Simon worries the effects in the US might be even greater because of health inequities that are especially pronounced in the dental care system. 'We've had fluoridated water for so long and it's worked so well that we've stopped appreciating the amazing things it's done,' she said. 'When something has been a success story for 80 years … you don't know which kid never got a cavity because they were exposed to fluoride, and we don't know which older adults aren't wearing dentures because of that.'
