Is Fluoridation right for Ontonagon?

I noted with great interest that Ironwood’s City Commission has authorized adding fluoride to the Ironwood City water system. They are applying for a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services grant to cover the costs.

Reportedly, 89% of the population of Michigan has fluoridated water, and among the neighboring communities, Wakefield also has fluoridated water. In former years before the Ontonagon Regional Water System was established, the community of White Pine had fluoridated water. Copper Range, when established the modern community of White Pine just went ahead and included this feature and the results were a very low incidence of tooth decay among the children who were raised in White Pine with fluoridated water.

Adding fluoride to the public water system has been done in countless communities for years. Fluoride is a natural mineral, it is not a chemical, and it naturally exists in both groundwater as well as surface water. In seawater (saltwater) it usually ranges between 1.2 to 1.4 million parts per million (ppm) but in freshwater, it naturally ranges anywhere from no presence to up to 10 ppm.  Fluoride occurs naturally and is released from rocks into the soil, water, and air. Almost all water contains some fluoride, but usually not enough to prevent tooth decay. Fluoride can also be added to drinking water supplies as a public health measure for reducing cavities, and it occurs in higher amounts in many local areas in domestic well water. 

Fluoride destroys the main bacterial strains that cause dental cavities. It bonds to the teeth (ionically) and strengthens weak enamel. It can also act like a desensitizer to sensitive teeth and nerves (like the dentifrice Sensodyne ®, often prescribed for sensitive teeth).  In reinforcing the enamel, fluoride can, in heavier doses, cause some mottling of the tooth surface.  

The best range for fluoride in drinking water is .6 to 1 ppm. The Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Michigan recommends not exceeding 2 ppm. The object is to determine how much fluoride in the water supply is naturally occurring, and then to supplement the municipal water supply to meet the accepted standard.  Wakefield adds enough fluoride to its water to provide .7 parts of fluoride per million. Ironwood on the other hand already has naturally occurring fluoride at .16 ppm.  

When the Ontonagon Regional Water System was in the planning stages, the issue of continuing the fluoridation of the water— as had been done at White Pine— was brought up for discussion.  Everyone was assured that the new water treatment plant would have the capability of fluoridating the water supply and that this feature could be added for a very minimal cost later. 

Several years have gone by but fluoridation has never been discussed. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has stated that adding fluoride to the drinking water is one of the top 10 achievements in the US. Adding fluoride to the water is of universal benefit to families who are financially challenged as it can reduce the need for seeing a dentist as often.  Is it time for Ontonagon to revisit the issue of fluoridating the water supply?

ORIGINAL COMMENT:

Kristine Bradof

Dec 18, 2021

After I moved to the Copper Country 30 years ago, the first dentist I went to said right away, "You didn't grow up here, did you?" He suspected, correctly, that I drank fluoridated water in my youth because my teeth were strong and had relatively few cavities.

LWV of the Copper Country has a position on fluoridation that was initiated by a pediatrician who was a member years ago: "The League of Women Voters of the Copper Country supports the fluoridation of community water supplies in Houghton County at levels based upon the latest public health recommendations." https://my.lwv.org/michigan/copper-country/positions I researched the literature on fluoridation while working at the Michigan Tech Regional Groundwater Education in Michigan Center (now Center for Science and Environmental Outreach), as well as serving on the LWVCC board in the 1990s. We will review the position in light of new information, as we do for all positions periodically.