A lthough recent data suggest that the incidence rate of dental caries has begun to decline dramatically in developed nations' Canadians still have a moderate to high rate of the disease.2 Fluoridation of communal water supplies is the most cost-effective measure to prevent dental caries; it reduces dental decay by 30% to 60% yet costs only about 15¢ per person per year.3 Unfortunately, only ab...

OBJECTIVE Fluoride was first added to the Australian water supply in 1953, and by 2003, 69% of Australia's population was receiving the minimum recommended dose. Extending coverage of fluoridation to all remaining communities of at least 1000 people is a key strategy of Australia's National Oral Health Plan 2004-2013. We evaluate the cost-effectiveness of this strategy from an Australian health...

BACKGROUND A review of the safety and efficacy of drinking water fluoridation was commissioned by the UK Department of Health to investigate whether the evidence supported a beneficial effect of water fluoridation and whether there was any evidence of adverse effects. Down's syndrome was one of the adverse effects reported. The aim of this review is to examine the evidence for an association be...

Fluoridation of drinking water supply has been hailed as one of the top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century. At an optimal level of 1.0 ppm, it is considered the most costeffective, safe and efficient strategy of reducing dental decay in all social strata of the community. The anticariogenic mechanism of fluoride does not differentiate between the benefits of topical fluorid...

BACKGROUND There are concerns that altered thyroid functioning could be the result of ingesting too much fluoride. Community water fluoridation (CWF) is an important source of fluoride exposure. Our objectives were to examine the association between fluoride exposure and (1) diagnosis of a thyroid condition and (2) indicators of thyroid functioning among a national population-based sample of Ca...