Petal dentist Dr. Barbara Mauldin is continuing to touch base with the Petal Board of Aldermen on the issue of adding fluoride to the city’s water system, recently visiting the September 19 board meeting to receive an update on that matter and the reason for the delay in continuing that practice.

Mauldin, who has come before the board on several occasions over the past several months, said at the meeting that she has looked through the city budget that was recently passed, and did not see a line item for fluoride in that document. Mauldin said that she was of the understanding that ClearWater Solutions – which handles the city’s public works – had been placed in charge of checking to see whether that chemical was available or feasible for purchase, but she had received no update on those efforts.

“I want to kind of know what happened to the fluoride, if it was not purchased, where did that money go?” she asked the board. “And if it was purchased, why did the chemical not get added?”

Mayor Tony Ducker said that if the chemical were made available to the city, officials should not have too many problems obtaining the funding for it.

“The bigger issue is going to be consistency and what it will cost,” he said.

Matthew Fountain, supervisor with ClearWater Solutions, said he has been able to locate a source that would provide bags of fluoride for $97.50 each, but the availability of the product is an issue, rather than the price.

“It takes 18 bags to get started (back adding fluoride to the system), which would be $1,755 for all three (city water) wells,” he said. “Plus, it takes five bags a month at each (water) plant, for 15 bags total for roughly $1,400.

“But this right here, it’s iffy that you can get your hands on some of it; it’s real spotty still, from what I’m being told. They said you can get your hands on it … but it’s not consistent because it’s supply and demand; it comes faster than it goes out.”

Mauldin has attended several recent board meetings to tout the health benefits of adding fluoride to the water system, especially for small children. She said when fluoride is administered at a certain growth period throughout a child’s life, the chemical replaces a hydroxy molecule – which forms the tooth – which makes teeth denser, which helps them resist breakdown from acids.

“Acid attack is what causes decay,” Mauldin said. “So when a child is brought up in our community, they’re going to have the benefit of having the best teeth they can (if we have fluoride).

“We’ve been missing this now for a while, so those children who have not been under fluoride (do not get that benefit). So I implore you to be active to let’s get going on this.”

Back in April, Mauldin told the board that she had found a few vendors to supply the fluoride, but Fountain said he had experienced difficulty finding a vendor with an available stock. One company, for example, told him they had 200 bags in stock, but 400 already were allocated and the date of the next shipment was unknown.

Mauldin said one of the vendors did tell her that the cost of sodium fluoride had increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the doctor said that measure applies to almost everything these days, including eggs at the grocery store.

“I mean, come on,” Mauldin said. “Everything we touch these days is infinitely more expensive … and I think that’s what you need to decide.

“But to say that it’s not at all available, I think was not completely truthful. I wish that we were one of those cities that had been on back order, instead of being here trying to re-establish a relationship.”

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health’s website, fluoride has been proven to protect teeth from decay, helping to rebuild and strengthen the tooth surface by replenishing minerals.

“It strengthens teeth that are still developing in young children, and helps prevent adult tooth decay as gums recede with age,” the website states. Fluoride is safe and cost-effective when added to community water systems that may require it, and fluoride treatment provides early, long-lasting prevention for children against oral and dental disease.”

Samantha McCain, who serves as chief communication officer for the City of Hattiesburg, said to the best of her knowledge, there has never been a problem procuring fluoride, and prices are currently normal.

The City of Petal began adding fluoride to its water supply in 2011. Approximately one-third of city residents, however, don’t receive fluoride in their drinking water, including customers of Barrontown Utility Association.

From October 2021 to August 2022, the City of Petal used 65 bags of fluoride; the previous year it used 112 bags. As of Mauldin’s first visit to the board, the city had not been able to obtain fluoride for approximately two months.

Studies from the American Public Health Association show fluoridated water prevents at least 25 percent of tooth decay in children and adults, along with the use of other fluoride products. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the fluoridation of water to be “one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.”

Fluoridation does have its opponents, however. The website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – lists several pros for the measure, but a few alleged cons as well.

Those include the fact that excessive fluoride intake may cause dental fluorosis; water may possibly be contaminated with toxic chemicals while being fluoridated; the effectiveness of fluoridation was not validated by any randomized controlled trial; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had previously classified fluoride as an “unapproved new drug.”

If the city’s fluoridization were to be discontinued, the board would have to notify the Mississippi Department of Health, as well as the residents of the City of Petal.

*Original full-text article online at: https://www.hubcityspokes.com/local-content-health/mauldin-continues-campaign-fluoride-city-petal-water-supply