The New Brunswick Dental Society is urging municipalities in the province to reconsider adding fluoride to their water.
This comes after a new report was released by the Canadian Agency For Drugs and Technology in Health, which shows that at 0.7 parts per-million, fluoride doesn’t pose any risks, and instead drastically reduces tooth decay.
Dr. Suzanne Drapeau-McNally, President of the New Brunswick Dental Society, says the benefits far outweigh the risks.
“The savings from averted decay treatment generally outweighs the cost of implementing community water fluoridation,” she said in an interview.
Drapeau-McNally and the society are asking city councils to read the document in hopes it will change their minds.
“With this document, it will clarify, it will let them see the benefits of fluoride,” she said.
She says fluoridation of drinking water is “a tool that protects the most vulnerable,” such as children and seniors, both of which New Brunswick has high numbers of.
She also points out that fluoride is easily accessible and a non-discriminatory form of healthcare. In a society where high costs can prevent people from accessing adequate care, adding fluoride to water levels the playing field.
Saint John city council voted to remove fluoride from its water in 2014, and Moncton in 2017, due to concerns about its safety and regulations.
During a Saint John council meeting Monday, the city pointed out that while the letter will be considered by city staff, its new water treatment plant doesn’t have the mechanisms in place to provide water fluoridation, meaning it would have to spend a lot more money to make it a reality.
Drapeau-McNally hopes that with municipal by-elections and a federal election around the corner, more politicians will add water fluoridation and dental care to their platforms.
