Federal Fluoride Guideline Lowered As Side-Effect Research Mounts

By Sara Jerome
@sarmje

The federal government has decreased the level of fluoride it recommends for tap water.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its recommendation in April for "the optimal fluoride level in drinking water to prevent tooth decay." The department advocated that these levels not exceed 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water. That drops down from the previous recommendation, issued in 1962, for 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams per liter.

The change had been several years in the making. The health department first proposed this change four years ago, "and most large cities have already lowered their fluoride levels accordingly," Newsweek reported.

An increasing set of data shows that fluoride, a seeming silver bullet for tooth decay, has some drawbacks. One drawback is fluorosis, "a staining of the teeth. Mild cases lead to white spots, while more severe ones can cause brown stains and mottling. The most recent data shows that 41 percent of American adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 have some form of fluorosis, a number that continues to rise," Newsweek reported, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Deputy Surgeon General Boris Lushniak noted the risk of fluorosis in the department's announcement. “While additional sources of fluoride are more widely used than they were in 1962, the need for community water fluoridation still continues,” he said. “Community water fluoridation continues to reduce tooth decay in children and adults beyond that provided by using only toothpaste and other fluoride-containing products.” One study found that tooth streaking and spottiness are present for about 2 out of 5 adolescents, Lushniak said per the Associated Press. It's mainly a cosmetic problem, he added.

"The change is recommended because now Americans have access to more sources of fluoride, such as toothpaste and mouth rinses, than they did when fluoridation was first introduced in the United States," he told reporters during a conference call, per NPR.

Fluoridation opponents say the new standard is still too high. "They say there's evidence that overexposure to fluoride might increase the risk for other health issues, including possibly thyroid problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and even lower IQs," NPR reported.

Dr. Philippe Grandjean at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health urged caution.

"Due to the importance of having the best possible brains in the future, I think that that would suggest that we be careful about the amount of fluoride that we deliver to the population in drinking water," he said, per the report.

Fluoridation dates back to 1945, "when Grand Rapids, MI, became the world's first city to add fluoride to its drinking water. Six years later, a study found a dramatic decline in tooth decay among children there, and the U.S. surgeon general endorsed water fluoridation," the AP reported.

Image credit: "grill," oliver.dodd © 2008, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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