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kids' cavity rates in unfluoridated calgary worsening: study
a study has found children's dental health in unfluoridated calgary is falling further behind their counterparts in edmonton.
sep 2 2021
4 minute read
a water tap in calgary was photographed on tuesday, feb. 2, 2021. calgary city council voted in favour of a fluoride plebiscite during this year’s civic election.
gavin young/postmedia
by: bill kaufmann
children’s dental health in unfluoridated calgary is falling further behind their counterparts in edmonton where the substance is included in drinking water, a university of calgary study states.
the report, which comes less than two months before an oct. 18 plebiscite on whether to reintroduce fluoride into calgary’s drinking water , found 64.8 per cent of grade 2 students in calgary had one or more cavities in their baby teeth.
that compares to 55.1 per cent of edmonton children that age, among the 2,600 children surveyed in each city in 2018 to 2019.
that health gap has widened since a similar study was undertaken five and 15 years earlier, said dr. lindsay mclaren of the u of c’s cumming school of medicine and the study’s lead investigator.
“our findings are quite clear — fluoridation cessation is having a negative effect on children’s dental health in calgary,” said mclaren.
“this reinforces the need for universal, publicly funded prevention activities including, but not limited to, fluoridation of drinking water.”
in 2003 to 2004, 58 per cent of seven-year-olds in edmonton had one or more cavity versus 56 per cent in calgary.
mclaren said the reversal is dramatic showing that “while edmonton has stayed in kind of a straight line, calgary has gone straight up.”
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the u of c researchers said their study involved children in controlled groups that accounted for their dental hygiene practises.
fluoride was removed from calgary’s drinking water in 2011 after calgarians voted down adding it to their water in 1957, 1961, 1966 and 1971, but chose in plebiscites to reintroduce it in 1989 and to retain it in 1998.
opponents of fluoridation contend it has troubling side effects such as fluorosis and brain damage, its benefits are overstated, and that the substance is a toxic industrial byproduct akin to arsenic.
but mclaren and most other public health experts disagree, saying that on balance, the substance’s benefits are clear and carry on beyond baby teeth to adulthood.
“i would be happy if people considered our study alongside the whole body of work when they go to vote,” she said.
“cavities can significantly affect children’s health and well-being, and since calgary stopped fluoridation, we have virtually nothing in the way of primary prevention for this almost entirely preventable problem.”
while fluorosis, or mottling of the teeth, is more prevalent in edmonton — as would be expected as a side effect of fluoridation — it’s not a serious health issue, said mclaren.
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some calgary dentists say they’re shocked at the deterioration of children’s teeth since 2011 and the rise in the number of dental surgeries required as a result.
due to the high cost of privatized dental care in alberta, retaining or adding fluoride to the water supply would be a partial equalizer in oral health outcomes, said mclaren.
“we have significant inequalities socio-economically and ethnically in alberta so you might not need fluoride as much elsewhere,” she said.
she said reporting the data, which was compiled two years ago, was delayed by the pandemic and that “it takes a long time analyzing the data.”
an opponent of water fluoridation said cavity rates among children have been rising in a number of canadian cities despite the presence of the additive.
“the increase in cavities is for the same reason we are seeing a huge increase in childhood obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. — sugary drinks, fast and processed foods, less access to good dental care and hygiene for the poor,” said dr. bob dickson, who is with the group safe water calgary.
he said other programs reducing barriers to dental care should be pursued instead and that emerging science linking fluoride to health problems shouldn’t be ignored.
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“the basic truth is that fluoride and fluoridation harm the poorest and most disadvantaged more than any other groups. we can do so much better for these citizens, such as they do in scotland with the scottish childsmile program,” he said.
on its website, the childsmile program recommends the application of fluoride varnish on children’s teeth twice a year, though it cited the risk of fluorisis from the additive in drinking water.
in a leger poll for postmedia in july, 58 per cent of 464 respondents said they supported returning fluoride to the city’s water supply. sixteen per cent said they were undecided, while 26 per cent said they were not supportive.
city staff members say reintroducing fluoride would cost $30.1 million over a 20-year service life, but the cost wouldn’t drive up water utility rates.
last month, alberta health service launched a campaign to promote the benefits of fluoridation ahead of the calgary plebiscite which coincides with the municipal election.
on wednesday, dickson helped launch an initiative dubbed fluoride free canada that included a letter to liberal leader justin trudeau urging him to convince provincial health ministers to back away from fluoridation.
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