Tennessee lawmakers advanced a new bill, SB162, which prohibits fluoride from being added to public water systems. The bill passed on its first consideration, which is the first step of many in getting this bill passed.
The bill which was introduced by Senator Joey Hensley, was filed on Thursday, January 16 and prohibits public works municipalities from “adding fluoride to a public water system by the supplier of water who owns, operates, or controls the public water system.”
Water fluoridation is defined as a process in which public water supplies add fluoride to the water to help prevent tooth decay, however, there have been both opponents and proponents of this type of legislation for years.
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, close to 90% of Tennesseans receive fluoridated water. This is down from the 95.2 percent statewide rate achieved in 2004. Tennessee follows recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that the amount of fluoride in drinking water is 0.7 mg/l for prevention of tooth decay.
According to the Tennessee government website, in 1951, dental health in Tennessee took an important step forward when Milan, in Gibson County, became the first city in the Volunteer State to fluoridate its water supply. The addition of fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral proven to reduce cavities, soon improved lives in the small West Tennessee community. From 1951 to 1956, there was a 57 percent reduction in tooth decay for six-year-old children served by the Milan water system. That decrease was noted by parents, doctors and dentists, and fluoridation of community water became accepted across the state and nation as a safe, effective way to reduce cavities.
According to tn.gov, close to 80 years of intensive scientific research and experience with water fluoridation in the United States and 73 years in Tennessee have proven community water fluoridation is safe and effective and protects, promotes, and improves the health of its citizens. Comparisons of dental health before and after fluoridation in Tennessee showed a 75 percent decline in decay of children’s permanent teeth from the early 1950s to the late 1980s.
CWF (Community Water Fluoridation) is the most natural and cost-effective means of protecting residents in a community from tooth decay. Fluoride is naturally present in all water. CWF adjusts the amount of fluoride present in a community's water supply to a recommended level for preventing tooth decay according to tn.gov.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children not having access to fluoridated community water have a 20 to 40 percent higher chance of tooth decay, which can impact not just their dental and physical health, but also their social and economic health as they grow older. The CDC has cited fluoridated community water as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the last century. The current cost for CWF is approximately 50 cents per-person, per-year, which is a fraction of the cost for repairing one cavity.
According to the CDC, tooth decay, or dental caries, is the most common infectious disease among children, and it is preventable. Good oral health can heighten self-esteem, affect social interactions, impact learning success, reduce medical costs, and enhance opportunities for employment.
Water fluoridation is important for many reasons: Every dollar spent on community water fluoridation saves $38 in dental costs and helps to keep our children in school, learning, instead of sitting in a dentist’s chair with a toothache. We lose 51 million school hours each year in the U.S. due to dental-related childhood illnesses. Fluoride protects Tennessee’s most vulnerable children from dental pain and decay and gives them the healthy teeth needed for strong self-esteem and success in life according to tn.gov and the CDC.
Tennessee surveys show underserved populations experience disproportionately higher levels of dental disease than the general population and the result is significant increases in dental treatment costs to the state.
Please be sure to follow us for the latest updates regarding this years legislative sessions.