THE standard of oral health in Herefordshire is poor compared with regions where the water supply has been fluoridated.

But at a meeting of Herefordshire Council’s health scrutiny committee on Tuesday, September 22, the county’s director of public health, Dr Akeem Ali warned against drawing easy conclusions from the data.

And committee chairman, the Herefordshire councillor for Ledbury, Kay Swinburne, advised that Herefordshire should be compared with other areas were water fluoridation has not taken place, to see what lessons can be learned.

She said: “We must compare apples with apples.”

Both Dr Ali and Cllr Swinburne said the situation was too complex to be debated quickly.

The committee decided to debate the possible fluridation [sic: fluoridation] of Herefordshire on another date, still to be announced.

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