WOODLAWN, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Montgomery County utility board has made a controversial decision to stop adding fluoride to its water supply.
There has been a nationwide conversation about removing fluoride from water, but the move is one both dental and health experts warn against.
Fluoride has been added to drinking water across much of Middle Tennessee for more than 50 years. However, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wants it removed. Tennessee leaders have talked about fluoride, with one citing a set of 72 epidemiological studies analyzing the association between fluoride exposure and IQ.
“Of the 19 [studies] they considered highly qualified, and low risk of bias, it showed an association between IQ and fluoride, and even low levels of fluoride, affect the IQ of children,” Sen. Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) said.
Health experts who spoke with News 2 questioned those findings.
Amid the ongoing debate, board members of the Woodlawn Utility District voted earlier this week to stop adding the mineral to its water supply starting December 31. General manager Lynn Burkhart spoke with News 2 and explained they're not against fluoride.
“We just want to give people a choice and if you add the fluoride, those who don’t want it don’t have a choice,” Burkhart said.
He added other area utility districts in the area also choose not to add it and that small amounts of fluoride are already naturally-occurring in water.
“We feel like with fluoride toothpaste, fluoride mouthwash and things like that, they get enough and we don’t need to add to it,” Burkhart said.
Dr. William Schaffner with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center strongly endorsed the use of fluoride in drinking water and explained its origins.
“When it was in drinking water in very, very small amounts, it actually strengthened the enamel — the white covering — of our teeth and it profoundly reduced tooth decay, particularly among children, but also among adults,” Schaffner said.
Schaffner said that the key to fluoride is the amount added to the water supply, which can be easily and correctly calibrated and monitored.
Dentist Matthew Smith with Snodgrass-King Dental Associates in Mt. Juliet recommended patients talk with their dentist if their community takes fluoride out of their drinking water.
“Where you live as an adult, where you lived as a child, all of those things affects how your body grows and develops," Smith said. "So I would definitely expect that in the next 10 to 20 years if there was no fluoride, there would be a much larger increase in cavities in the population.”