Durango City Council held a hearing in January to gather public input on a petition to stop community water fluoridation. Individual rights vs. social good was a predominant theme.
The addition of trace amounts of fluoride to the natural amounts that already exist in our drinking water is one of the best tools we have to prevent dental decay in the community, especially among low-income children. Unlike Europe, the U.S. does not provide universal medical and dental care. American children, in families who cannot afford regular dental care, suffer.
As a pediatric nurse practitioner, I have worked in public health for 30 years providing care to at-risk children. Many of us in medical and dental professions who have spent a lot of time exploring children’s mouths have seen the profound difference in the oral health of those children not exposed to fluoride.
Salt Lake City did not fluoridate its water while I was working there before 2000. I would frequently send 4- and 5-year-olds with mouths full of rotten black stubs to the oral surgeons at the University of Utah dental school for anesthesia and placement of stainless steel crowns to relieve pain and improve eating. This cost taxpayers between $500 to $1,000 per tooth. The $35,000 Durango pays per year to add fluoride for prevention equals the cost of major dental repair for two or three children.
Salt Lake City has since added fluoride to its drinking water but offers a fluoride-free tap to those who want to fill up jugs for their personal use.
For more than 70 years, the best available scientific evidence consistently indicates that community water fluoridation is safe and effective. Like the addition of iodide to salt to prevent goiter and mental retardation and the fortification of foods with folic acid to prevent neural tube deformities in babies during pregnancy, scientifically established amounts of micronutrients, such as fluoride, added to food and water have made significant gains in protecting the health of our community.
Please vote “no” on the upcoming ballot to remove fluoride from Durango’s drinking water.
Sherrod Bealle
Durango
