The city of Shawnee, Oklahoma is exploring ways to improve the dental health of its residents. As this newspaper article reports, local dentists have seen a spike in cavities since the community st...

An Oklahoma Town’s Oral Health Challenge

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The city of Shawnee, Oklahoma is exploring ways to improve the dental health of its residents. As this newspaper article reports, local dentists have seen a spike in cavities since the community stopped fluoridating its water in 2005. The decision to discontinue fluoridation occurred after Hurricane Katrina created a lingering disruption in the city’s supply of fluoride supplier. According to the newspaper: The Shawnee Pediatric Association and Shawnee Dental Association have approached (City Manager Brian) McDougal about starting to add fluoride to the water again, he said, but Shawnee requires “additional capital needs” for water treatment and distribution. Dr Nan Shadid, who has been a dentist in Shawnee for 28 years, said she has noticed a significant increase in the number of children with cavities since Shawnee ceased water fluoridation. Resuming fluoridation would require the city to build a new facility and system, which could cost between $150,000 and $200,000. Of course, if you put that in context, it would be money wisely spent. As this Pew infographic notes, fluoridation returns $38 for every dollar invested in this health practice dental vibrator. The German Impact of Fluoridation A study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry provides further evidence of the benefits of community water fluoridation. The researchers evaluated dental health data for more than 2,300 middle-aged Germans who grew up when the country was divided. Even though evidence shows that East Germans consumed more sugar on average than West Germans, the data revealed that East Germans experienced lower rates of tooth decay that probably resulted partly from drinking fluoridated water tooth scaler australia. The researchers wrote: Studies in [East Germany] between 1959 and 1995 impressively showed that the prevalence of [cavities] of 12-year-olds decreased in spite of high sugar consumption, when fluorides were present due to water fluoridation. East German’s progress on oral health is noteworthy because data show East Germans did not fare well on most health measures. For example, age-adjusted data showed that East Germans had a mortality rate from cardiovascular disease that was 40% to 60% higher than West Germans’ rate dental lab supplies australia.