Dentists and medical professionals throughout eastern Washington are demanding that the Pasco City Council vote to keep fluoride in the city’s drinking water.
City staff says the council’s next discussion about fluoride will likely come up at the Nov. 17 meeting.
The Washington State Department of Health requires the city to give residents three months notice before the council votes to stop adding fluoride to public water supply. The notice period ended Sept. 29.
The city recently held its final feedback session when residents and experts weighed in on the issue.
Six of seven council members attended the Sept. 17 session to hear feedback. There were no council members at the first session in August.
Dentists push back
Dr. Garrett Stoker, a dentist in Kennewick and Pasco, explained that fluoridation is a public health measure designed to prevent disease before it starts.
“Fluoride is not medicating. It is fortifying.” He compared adding fluoride to water to putting iodine in salt, vitamin D in milk and folic acid in bread.
Dr. Andrew Bagley has worked as a dentist at Bagley Dental in Pasco since 1996, two years before Pasco started adding fluoride to the water.
Bagley said he saw a “huge difference” in the number of cavities in children when water was first fluoridated in 1998. Prior to fluoridation, Pasco had the highest rate of cavities in Washington state according to a study at the time, he said.
Bagley said children now have fewer, smaller cavities.
“Decisions about our drinking water are by definition public health,” said Dr. Steve Krager, health officer for the Benton-Franklin Health District.
“Fluoridation is one of those common routine water quality measures.”
Dr. Lilo Black is a Pasco dentist, a member of the American Dental Association and Washington State Dental Association and president of the Benton-Franklin Dental Society.
She applauded the council’s decision to honor Charlie Kirk’s death with a proclamation that stated that he wanted people to think critically thinking and engage civically.
“So I find it so perplexing that when it comes to the matter at hand — water fluoridation in Pasco — that you have completely diverged from the very tenets you espouse.”
She also said that the council didn’t reach out to the Benton-Franklin Health District or the local dental community for input.
“The tooth decay rate is still higher than we would like,” Black said. Yakima Valley Dental Society president Dr. Karen Tritinger-Young also spoke at the meeting in favor of continuing fluoridation.
Pasco resident Cami Maloy grew up drinking fluoridated water, something she feels gave her long-term protection against cavities.
She has an adult daughter with epilepsy. She said that dental care is challenging for her daughter, who is at high risk of aspiration and has sensory issues.
Maloy said that fluoride is a simple way to prevent major dental work that would require her daughter to be sedated.
Concerns about fluoride
A smaller group of people spoke up to voice their concerns about fluoridation.
Derek Kemppainen from Battle Ground, Wash., joined the meeting virtually and said fluoride in the city’s drinking water does not allow for informed consent. He said it “reduces IQ of children with every sip” and is harmful to the human body.
Some of the council’s discussions have mentioned that exposure to high levels of fluoride can potentially cause some cognitive development issues. There is insufficient data to determine if the low fluoride level of 0.7 mg/L currently recommended for U.S. community water supplies has a negative effect on children’s IQ, according to the National Institute of Health.
There’s also been a flood of online feedback. The city received a total of 2,095 comments through the end of the input period Monday night, city officials said. It’s unclear how many of those comments are in favor or opposed to fluoridation.
Original article online at: https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article312164658.html