PEDIATRICS Vol. 9 No. 5 May 1952, pp. 651-655
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PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

FLUORIDATION OF PUBLIC WATER SUPPLIES

Editors: MYRON E. WEGMAN, M.D..

" . . . In view of these considerations, your Committee recommends that any community which includes a child population of sufficient size, and which obtains its water supply from sources which are free from or are extremely low in fluorides, should consider the practicability and economic feasibility of adjusting the concentration to optimal levels. This adjustment should be in accord with climatic factors and a constant chemical control should be maintained. With proper safeguards, this procedure appears to be harmless. However, it should be conducted under expert dental and engineering supervision by the state board of health. It should not be undertaken unless this can be provided. How much reduction in the prevalence of caries will actually be realized in a particular community will vary according to local conditions. The procedure will supplement but not supplant other dental health measures. About one half of the population of this country is living in small villages and rural areas and will not benefit by fluoridation of public water supplies. Other provisions for preventing dental caries in this fraction of the population should be continued and developed."

Support of the policy of fluoridation has come officially from the U. S. Public Health Service, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, the American Public Health Association, the American Dental Association and more recently the American Medical Association. It is to the distinct credit of the dental profession and both national and local dental societies that they have been in the forefront of local community efforts to further a preventive technique which should have the effect of reducing the amount of reparative dentistry needed.