Editor:
Re: City may discontinue fluoride use.
Our clinic, the Kids Only Dental Clinic, sees approximately 6,000 children visits a year.
Although it is true that the “general public receives fluoride in food, drink and oral hygiene products,” in my experience, it has proven to be insufficient.
These products should ideally be used in addition to the fluoride in our drinking water.
If our kids flossed, brushed with fluoridated toothpaste, and drank the fluoridated tap water, we would reduce the number of cavities by half.
Drinking tap water at home and in the schools is the easiest and least expensive way to prevent dental cavities.
Numerous studies have shown that fluoride in the drinking water protects baby teeth and strengthens the developing adult teeth.
Taking away fluoride affects those who need it the most, the low-income families and the public who are non-compliant in meeting their dental-care obligations.
Children with the least resources and the poorest home care are the ones who need the fluoride they receive from the simple act of drinking tap water.
If parents and children had excellent dental-home care, limited their snacks, and received enough supplemental fluoride through diet and oral hygiene products, then I would agree that fluoridating the water would not be necessary.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case in my experience. The number of children, and I’m sure adults as well, who continue to require extensive dental restorations has remained the same over the last 16 years that I have been practicing in the Cariboo.
Without the fluoridation, I am very sure this number will grow exponentially.
With the high cost of dentistry, fluoride at any price is a bargain.
Dr. Gerry Dyck
Williams Lake