Our next potential leader of American health policy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wants to ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water — a practice that experts agree has remarkably improved dental health for millions of Americans at little cost.
In a country where many people do not have access to dental care, a widespread crackdown on this naturally occurring mineral could be a disaster. To see how we do this, let’s look at the sobering case of Juneau, an Alaskan city that voted to stop fluoridating its water in 2007, citing many of the same fears that RFK voices today.
In a 2018 study published in the journal BMC Oral Healthresearchers examined the dental records of adolescents in the Alaskan community who sought medical care in the years surrounding the ban.
They divided them into two treatment groups: a group from 2003, when public drinking water had optimal fluoride levels, and a group from 2012, well after the fluoride ban.
The results were devastating. On average, the 2012 group underwent a significantly greater number of cavity-related procedures in adolescents than the 2003 group. Likewise, the odds of someone age 18 or younger undergoing the same type of procedure in 2012 were 25 percent higher.
Children born after the fluoride ban were the most affected age group and not only received the most tooth decay treatments, but also received the most expensive treatments on average.
On the economic side, the researchers also found that dental care costs for adolescents increased by 73 percent as a result of fluoride policies, even after adjusting for inflation. In short, it seems clear that removing fluoride caused an increase in tooth rot – and with it, medical costs.
Today, nearly three-quarters of the U.S. population has access to fluoridated water, helping to reduce tooth decay in children and adults. an estimated one 25 percent. The US Centers for Disease Control has hailed fluoridation as one of the ten greatest public health interventions in history.
So why does RFK, who was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Health and Human Services, want to ban this? According to him and other critics, fluoride is a dangerous “industrial waste” linked to everything from IQ loss to cancer.
Although fluoride poses complications, RFK’s criticisms are unproven or exaggerated. Most of the disadvantages of fluoridation arise from doses that are extremely high compared to the amount added to public water.
According to Scientific American, At three times the recommended amount of water, fluoride can cause a condition called dental fluorosis, which damages – usually cosmetically – the developing teeth of young children. It can also cause more severe and painful skeletal fluorosis, but that is extremely rare.
As for the effects on a child’s mental acuity, the evidence is highly controversial. A 2024 study conducted by the US National Toxicology Program linked high levels of fluoride to lower IQs in children – but the study only focused on the effects of fluoride at twice the recommended level in the US, and could not identify such strong connection with reasonable fluoride concentrations. It also failed to pass scientific review twiceand bypassed independent review of the most recent version, per SciAm.
In short, there is not nearly enough evidence to justify a nationwide ban on fluoridation – and enough evidence to show that it would be a bad idea.
More about RFK: If you are taking Adderall, RFK Jr. should probably make you quite nervous
