Transcript Fluoridation Fibs - Oregon Public Health Association

Fluoridation:
Nature thought of it first
By Kurt Ferre DDS
OPHA annual meeting, Corvallis, OR
October 11, 2011
Volunteering: an opportunity
Public Health
• Goal is to improve the health of a population
• It values the “collective good”
• 3 Criteria to justify public health measure:
1. reduction of ill health
2. reduction of health disparities
3. concern for children who constitute a
vulnerable group
Good Oral Health: E.P.A.
• Education
• Prevention
• Access to Care
Oral Disease “Learnings”
• Cannot have good health without good
oral health
• Healthy kids learn better
• 25% of the population get 80% of oral
disease
• Cannot drill our way out of this “mess”
• Prevention is key
Water Fluoridation:
Definition
Fluoridation is the adjustment, either
upward or downward of the
existing naturally occurring
fluoride levels in drinking water to
an optimal level that has been
determined by our public health
experts in the U.S.
Water Fluoridation:
History
Fluoridation has been practiced in
the U.S. for more than 65 years.
Grand Rapids, Michigan, fluoridated
its public water supply on January
25, 1945.
Water Fluoridation:
An Important Public Policy Issue
Fluoridation is recognized by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control as
one of the 10 greatest public health
achievements in the 20th Century.
Water Fluoridation:
History
“Fluoridation is the
single most important
commitment a
community can make
to the oral health of its
children and to future
generations.”
- Dr. C. Everett Koop
U. S. Surgeon General, 1981-1989
Water Fluoridation:
History
“Fluoridation remains an
ideal public health
measure based on the
scientific evidence in
preventing dental decay
and its impressive costeffectiveness.”
David Satcher, MD, PhD;
Assistant Secretary for Health
& Surgeon General of the U.S.
What Causes Cavities ??
• Cavities are an infectious disease
• Sugar is the food for the germs
• Germs produce acid within seconds
• A microscopic war at the tooth surface
• It is at this enamel surface that fluoride
comes to the rescue
How Does Fluoride Work ??
• As the teeth grow and develop, fluoride is
incorporated into the enamel.
• After the teeth erupt fluoride reverses the
acid breakdown of the enamel surfaces.
• Surface enamel with fluoride is more
resistant to future acid attacks.
Fluoridation/fluoride works
• “Because frequent exposure to small
amounts of fluoride each day will best
reduce the risk for dental caries in all age
groups, the work group recommends that
all persons drink water with optimal
fluoride concentration,….”
• www.cdc.gov/mmwr/indrr_2001.html
August 17,2001/Vol. 50/No. RR.14
We drink through our mouths
Louisiana Medicaid Study
• “Water Fluoridation and Costs of Medicaid
•
Treatment for Dental Decay—Louisiana,
1995-1996
“Findings suggest that Medicaid-eligible children
in communities without fluoridated water were
three times more likely than Medicaid-eligible
children in communities with fluoridated water to
receive dental treatment in a hospital O.R., and
the cost of dental treatment per eligible child
was approx. twice as high.
MMWR: September 3, 1999 / Vol.
48 (34); 753-757
Head Start Dental Utilization Data
The Dalles vs. Hood River
Oregon Smile Survey 2007
Fluoridation Politics
Community Water Fluoridation
“We should ask not are we entitled to
impose fluoridation on unwilling people,
but are the unwilling people entitled to
impose the risks, damage & costs of the
failure to fluoridate on the community at
large? When we compare the freedoms at
stake, the most crucial is surely the one
which involves liberation from pain and
disease.”
John Harris, Ctr. for Social Ethics
& Policy, Univ. of Manchester, UK
Fluoridation Websites
• www.cdc.gov/fluoridation
• www.ada.org/sections/newsAndEvents/
pdfs/fluoridation_facts.pdf
• www.healthyteeth.us
• www.odha.org (click on fluoridation tab)
Kurt Ferre DDS
[email protected]