NEW YORK, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ — “Caries experience may be associated with income,” reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Low income, not fluoridation deficiency, predicts more cavities is revealed in newly-released statistics posted 10/25/04 on the CDC’s website(1).
Those states reporting third-graders cavity rates and children living
below the federal poverty level indicate that poor children have more cavities — even when water is fluoridated. And, the states with the highest rates of fluoridation don’t have the lowest cavity rates.
For example, CDC statistics show that:
Despite a 60% fluoridation rate, Arkansas has the highest rate of
third-graders suffering with tooth decay (72%) and the most poor children(45%)
Oklahoma third-graders endure the second worst cavity rate (69%) even
though 3/4 of the state is fluoridated. But 41% are poor, the second poorest
state on the CDC’s list.
Similarly, 89% fluoridated South Dakota reveals the third worst decay rate (68%) where 41% are poor.
At the low end:
Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont third-graders have the least decay —
49%, 45% and 44%, respectively, and the smallest amount of poor children (26%, 32% and 31%), Fluoridation rates: 63%, 75%, and 54%, respectively.
“Increasingly, studies and statistics find that the purported cavity
reducing benefit of fluoride have not been demonstrated, while the documented health risks of fluoride have dramatically risen,” says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.
Water engineers dispense fluoride chemicals into 2/3 of Americans via
their water supply attempting to prevent tooth decay. However, in the United Kingdom, where only 10% drink fluoridated water, tooth decay rates are equal too or better than those of the U.S.(2) and have declined over the last ten years.(3)
In contrast, U.S. cavity rates increased(4) along with fluoride overdose
symptoms, prompting some researchers to suggest that water fluoridation be stopped(5a,b).
In both the U.S. and U.K., lack of money and dental care predicts higher
rates of tooth decay — regardless of fluoridation status(6a,b).
By neglecting the poor, organized dentistry helped create an oral health
epidemic.(7) Promoting fluoridation may deflect government regulators from forcing dentists to treat poor children.(8).
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