Children and poorer families in some Oklahoma towns could be at greater risk for tooth decay as a result of municipalities cutting fluoride use in tap water to save on costs.
According to NewsOk, about 62 percent of Oklahomans have fluoride-infiltrated running water in their houses, five years ago it was 70 percent.
Al Mikell, associate professor of biology, said the reason for the reduction of fluoride is not just about cost but chemicals as well.
“There’s a little bit more work that they have to do than just throwing things in the water,” Mikell said. “They’re not just buying a sack of something and throwing it in.”
Mikell said inserting fluoride in the water is an expensive process, but the effects from not putting it in the water can negatively affect those who cannot afford proper dental care.
“It’s very expensive and poor people don’t really have good dental insurance,” Mikell said.
Leaving fluoride out of the water is one way for Oklahoma to save money, but perhaps not the best practice, Mikell said.
Junior Spencer Becker said fluoride can help teeth in various ways.
“Fluoride does help prevent cavities,” Becker said. “It helps re-mineralize your teeth, like your plastic ones and various affirmative to sugars creating acid in your teeth. So it does help the remineralization process, but it’s not completely necessary.”
Becker said there are some positive sides to having fluoride in water.
“It does help to reduce the amount of cavities in children,” Becker said. “It helps reduce the amount of dental cost. I think it could effect people in a negative way, but we have a lot of other resources available to us.”
While bottled water can be alternative source of fluoride, it is also more expensive than tap water.
“A lot of mineral water has a good bit of fluoride in it,” Mikell said. “Poor people are not buying bottled water. They drink it from the tap. They’re not buying bottled water for a dollar.”
Mikell said when towns stop using fluoride in the water, it’s easy revert back to the practice.
“They may decide it’s really easy to put back in,” Mikell said. “It’s not going to take a big investment to start it back up again.”
Becker said that the reason for not putting fluoride in the water is a money problem.
“I think the main cause is money,” Becker said. “If the state can save money, they will.”
Although fluoride in drinking water has benefits, there are risks.
“If they keep it in moderate small amounts it can be good for us, but if they put in too much it’s bad for us and can be toxic,” senior Katherin Portwood, a Biology major, said. “Other than that, they take it out there are health risks, but there are also health benefits. It can go both ways.”
Portwood said fluoride does help keep children’s teeth healthy.
“They absorb more fluoride than adults do and even though out renal system will flush it out, they take out more,” Portwood said. “If there isn’t fluoride in our water treatment system, there’s a chance that children, young children, don’t get that.”
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