Medical experts warn the move could have consequences for oral health, especially among children.

On the plus side, I smell a great opportunity for a longitudinal population study. 🤔

  • SaladKing@lemm.eeEnglish
    27·
    7 days ago

    If you are dentist in the area or plan to be a dentist you are about to make big money in the next few years.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
    181·
    7 days ago

    DISCLAIMER: This is only true to the population that does take care of their teeth, which means that it will actually negatively affect some people in a serious way.

    While stopping the usage of fluoride in water is a bad decision that will lead to people having more dental issues, I would like to say that there are other developed nations that don’t have fluoride in their water and it’s not the end of the world. Because in modern times people use toothpaste and dental floss and have all of this routine that most people do twice a day, the fluoride in the water is not nearly as significant as that routine.

    I don’t have the research right now but I do remember that I once dove into it and most of the studies are pretty old and the dental hygiene that we have today did not exist to the same degree and therefore fluoride in the water was a more significant additive.

    • derpgon@programming.dev
      23·
      7 days ago

      You’d be surprised how many people don’t brush their teeth, let alone twice a day, and let alone floss. Those who do the correct shit will probably not feel the difference, those who don’t will lose the only protection they had left.

    • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
      6·
      6 days ago

      Rural dental care is notoriously poor in the US. Also, for some ridiculous reasons, dental care is treated separately from medical care when it comes to insurance. I know people who can’t afford to go to the dentist and one who is lucky to have access to low cost dental school care. Putting fluoride in water at least helps those who don’t or can’t take good care of their teeth.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
      3·
      6 days ago

      Yeah, I was actually wondering if it’s still necessary if every toothpaste already has fluoride in it. It’s probably still better to keep adding it just in case, since there’s no real downside to doing it. But I guess we’ll see in a generation what the long term effect is.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        4·
        6 days ago

        It’s absolutely still necessary. There’s a hundred reasons someone isn’t brushing their teeth and it’s a crucial support for them.

      • matjoeman@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 days ago

        There’s flouride free toothpaste and the kind of people who don’t want flouride in their drinking water also don’t buy toothpaste with flouride in it.

  • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
    18·
    7 days ago

    You see, the brilliant part of this is that the leopards drink the same water. It’s going to make it a lot harder for them to eat everyone’s faces if their teeth are all rotted out.

  • hperrin@lemmy.caEnglish
    181·
    7 days ago

    I guess it’s a good time to be a dentist in Utah. They’ll have tons of new cavities to fill.

  • commander@lemmy.world
    5·
    7 days ago

    It is sad in states with poor public health the condition you see people’s teeth. There’s always those that can afford dental care. Poor people can practice good habits but being able to see a dentist for a regular checkup/cleaning gives chance to be pestered to brush well, floss, etc. Utah teeth will look on average worse in the following decade