JoCo water has been treated with fluoride for decades. As skepticism mounts, will that change?

Johnson County’s two biggest water suppliers are holding the course on water fluoridation, with no plans to stop as anti-fluoridation views gain traction nationally.

Both WaterOne, which provides water service for 17 Johnson County cities, as well as the city of Olathe, which operates its own water department, have taken note of an uptick of residents with concerns about fluoridation.

And both are aware of a ruling last fall by a federal judge in California saying there appears to be enough risk that the Environmental Protection Agency should look into it.

Both entities maintain that they are bound to follow voters’ wishes and health guidance, and that fluoridation, which has been used since the mid-1900s as a way to prevent dental problems, is still considered safe at the recommended level of 0.7 parts per million.

“WaterOne employees are consumers of the water we create,” a utility spokesperson said in an email. “We stand behind our mission to provide safe, high-quality water for ourselves and our community.”

But a recent federal study and the subsequent court ruling have added energy to an effort to end fluoridation, with the result so far being more anti-fluoride speakers at water board meetings and more requests to undo votes taken 50 years ago that paved the way for fluoridation in local water supplies.

“Teeth can be fixed. It’s not that big a deal,” said Dennis Batliner, an Overland Park resident who has spoken against fluoridation. “But if you damage someone’s brain or body parts you can’t fix that. So to me, it’s a no-brainer decision to stop fluoridation.”

Court ruling sparked renewed concerns

The federal court ruling last year and a recent National Institutes of Health study the judge cited have loosed a cascade of activity recently that has given support to anti-fluoridation critics who have for years been dismissed as cranks.

In September last year, federal District Court Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee, sided with environmental group Food & Water Watchand some anti-fluoridation activists in their lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency.

Chen cited the NIH study recently finalized that said there was evidence to link fluoride consumed from all sources to lower IQ scores in children. While Chen did not say fluoridated water is inherently harmful, he did note that levels that are “far too close” to drinking water levels could be hazardous.

A corresponding study by JAMA Pediatrics backed that up.

The studies and court ruling seemed to contradict decades of praise for the additive, but fluoridation advocates point out that the threshold amount in the studies is significantly higher than what people are getting in their drinking water.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Dental Association remain staunchly supportive of fluoridation.

The CDC cites cost-effective public health benefits, especially for poor and elderly populations, calling water fluoridation “1 of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.”

Johnson County’s health department stands with those organizations.

“Fluoridation is a safe and effective way to reduce and prevent cavities by keeping teeth strong. Drinking fluoridated water results in less mouth pain, fewer fillings and fewer days of missed school and work,” said JCDHE Director Charlie Hunt in a statement.

He also noted a CDC statistic that there’s a $20 return on every $1 spent on fluoridation.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has also stood by its support of fluoridation. That organization questioned the NIH review, noting that its definition of high levels from all sources is twice that found in water supplies. The study noted IQ changes at more than 1.5 milligrams per liter.

Not a new issue in Kansas

Since the court ruling, fluoride has increasingly been a topic at all levels of government. Last month Utah became the first state government to issue a statewide ban on added fluoride, which goes into effect May 7.

Recently, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been a longtime skeptic of fluoridated water, said he would direct the CDC to take another look at its guidance on fluoridation and possibly to remove its favorable recommendation.

That was followed closely by the news that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson agreed fluoride should be reexamined.

The issue had already made its way to Kansas. Wichita voters rejected fluoridation in 2012, and last year the Abilene City Commission voted to stop fluoridating but walked that decision back about a month later.

Meanwhile, the Kansas House of Representatives water committee held an informational hearing on fluoridation earlier this year, even though no bill was under consideration.

Olathe, WaterOne’s response so far

Closer to home, city officials in Olathe noted the ruling in a recent report to the Olathe City Council.

“Given the recent court ruling, Olathe, like other communities, is facing questions from concerned residents. While the American Dental Association supports its continuation, citing benefits for oral health, the [California] court ruling has introduced a degree of skepticism about whether the merits of fluoridation outweigh any potential harm,” staff wrote in the city report.

It concluded that city staff are “actively monitoring the situation” and following science-based regulatory advice to “balance public health benefits traditionally associated with fluoridation against the emerging concerns highlighted by the recent court ruling.”

At WaterOne, fluoridation has been a topic more often during the public comment portion of monthly board meetings. Officials with the utility say they will continue to follow current guidelines, which were established by the U.S. Public Health Service and are also the standard of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

“From time to time, fluoridation becomes a topic of public interest, typically driven by national headlines,” said WaterOne communications manager Kelly Fry in an emailed response to questions. “Recently a handful of individuals have shared their thoughts about this topic. We are happy to hear their perspective and answer their questions, as with all our customers about matters that are meaningful to them.”

What are skeptics’ concerns?

Joann Atchity of Shawnee is one of those skeptics.

She’s been to several WaterOne board meetings to speak out against fluoridation, and in 2021, she made it a centerpiece of her campaign to get on the WaterOne board.

She didn’t win that race but continues to ask local officials to put the brakes on fluoridation.

Atchity got interested in fluoride in the water in 2011, when she had some of her own health concerns about her thyroid function, she told the WaterOne board at its meeting last November.

She said she went on to study the effects of excessive exposure to fluoride on thyroid and kidney functions and became convinced of its danger. Then came the recent NIH study linking fluoride with lower IQ.

She has asked water officials to pause fluoridation while more research is done. Barring that, she also asked for a warning on the WaterOne webpage.

The problem, says Atchity and others who have been speaking out, is that things have changed since 1945, when it was first used as a way to reduce cavities.

Fluoride is a mineral that naturally occurs in groundwater in different concentrations, depending on location. Undiluted, it is highly acidic and corrosive.

To get to the target of 0.7 ppm, WaterOne and Olathe workers look at the existing levels and then add fluorosilicic acid.

In Olathe, that comes from Kansas City, Kansas-based Harcros Chemicalsand is a side product of phosphorus mining. WaterOne officials say the utility sources fluorosilicic acid from a vendor that produces it specifically for drinking water.

The 0.7 ppm level added to water is extremely small. Fry, the WaterOne spokesperson, likened it to less than a drop in a hot tub.

Since the middle of the 1900s, people have also added dental hygiene products containing fluoride to their bathroom cabinets. Atchity and Batliner say the additional products could further raise exposure to the mineral beyond 0.7 ppm.

Batliner added that the chemical itself is considered “hazardous waste,”according to officials now tasked with removing it from equipment in Utah.

There’s no way to determine a safe amount of fluoride to add to the water for an entire population because individuals have varying risks, especially if they have health problems, Atchity said. Residents should get the same informed consent on fluoride in the water that they get from pharmaceuticals, she added.

Fluoride cannot be removed by simple water filters, Batliner added. It takes a more complicated and often expensive system like reverse osmosis to get rid of it.

Batliner, Atchity and other fluoridation skeptics say people should have a choice about buying dental products with fluoride, but it should not be in the water supply.

Fluoridation policies likely to remain in place for now

Opposition to fluoridation has been around for about as long as cities have been doing it, and that is part of the difficulty in getting things changed, say the opponents.

For years, fluoride was pitched as a boon to health — safe and harmless with no downsides. And that has taken root in the way it’s been viewed, they said. In popular media, fluoridation skeptics have been frequently portrayed, like the Communist-fearing Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Stanley Kubrick’s classic Cold War-era satire “Dr. Strangelove.”

“To question it was a little nutty,” Atchity said. “So when people did speak about it they were really marginalized.”

But barring a state ban, it’s unclear what action could be taken.

Fluoridation started at the local level. Olathe residents initially voted against it in 1956, but overturned that three years later, with 423 in favor of fluoridation and 329 opposed.

The WaterOne decision was made in 1965 and went into effect two years later. Voters in the water district approved fluoridation by a 3-1 margin, with 7,704 voting in favor and about 2,300 opposed, (The Kansas City Timesreported 2,337 no votes, but the county record was only partly legible).

Without another local vote or state law, opponents would need the state health department to issue guidelines lowering the level of fluoride to zero to end the practice, they said.

But KDHE is officially neutral on the risks and benefits of fluoridation, an official said in a recent statehouse committee hearing. No laws require fluoridation, but if a water district goes that route, then the department will monitor to make sure it’s meeting standards.

Fluoridation advocates stand by its benefits

There remains vocal and adamant support for fluoridation within Johnson County and Kansas, particularly from dentists who say the small cost of fluoridating water has prevented major infections, root canals and other expensive oral health problems.

Overland Park dentist Lisa Thurlow said she gets questions daily about fluoride now that it’s become a topic in the news.

“I welcome the conversation because then I get a chance to talk to them about what the science says and, if I’m recommending fluoride treatment, why,” she said. “I like people who are paying attention and want to get good information.”

Thurlow said fluoride has proven itself over the decades to be an effective way to prevent tooth decay and related problems that can go with it. She also questioned conclusions about the dangers of fluoride based on studies of higher levels than the typical consumer would get.

For one thing, toothpaste, mouthwashes and varnish containing fluoride are topical and not ingested, she said. So even though people are exposed to the mineral through sources other than their tap water, it is generally in trace amounts. It would be unlikely that they could consume dangerous levels, she explained.

People with particular health problems, like thyroid or kidney disease, should talk their fluoride questions through with their physicians, she said.

One big beneficiary of water fluoridation is children’s teeth even before they break through the gums, Thurlow said.

“As long as we’re following the science, if we continue to study it I think that’s fine, but I’m still going to recommend it to my patients. I’m still going to make recommendations based on science,” she said.

Advocates also made their case at a recent hearing before the Kansas House Committee on Water in February.

Abilene dentist Beatrice Brittan said fluoride hesitancy is often due to misleading information and that fluoride is recognized as safe and effective by credibly recognized major health or scientific organizations.

She told the committee that putting fluoride in the water is more effective than relying on fluoride toothpaste because a little of the mineral from drinking water stays in saliva to constantly bathe teeth at a low level.

Areas without fluoridation could expect to see more people with not only cavities but more expensive problems like root canals, she said.

“I have seen firsthand how lack of access to fluoride can very quickly cause extensive and painful dental decay, particularly in children. When people lose access to fluoride when communities make decisions to stop fluoridating their water, those decisions are typically costly and painful,” she said.

She added that nearby towns like Solomon and Harrington, which don’t fluoridate, have had higher numbers of children needing urgent dental care than does Abilene.

Tanya Dorf Brunner, executive director of Oral Health Kansas, said fluoridation has brought a level of good health that modern people take for granted.

In 16th and 17th Century England, when people were beginning to record causes of death, Dorf Brunner said complications from rotting teeth were listed as the fifth or sixth highest cause of death.

“We think of dental disease as maybe a more minor thing in our lives. Many of us experience it, but it’s more of a minor health issue,” she said. ”But it’s a minor health issue because of the scientific discoveries. The proliferation of fluoridated water and the fact that we now have fluoridated toothpaste have helped make sure that people don’t have to live in fear of dental infections and dying of ‘teeth.’”

Original article online at: https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/04/24/water-fluoridation-johnson-county-258082/