You go to the dentist. They polish your teeth and finish with a fluoride treatment. You use toothpaste with fluoride at home. Seems like enough, right?
Now imagine a future where the fluoride in your water, the biggest source of cavity prevention for millions of Americans, is gone.
That future might be closer than you think.
New research published in the JAMA Health Forum just dropped a warning that should make every parent and policymaker pause. Removing fluoride from US public water could lead to 25 million cavities and cost 9.8 billion dollars over just five years.
That’s not a typo. Twenty five million new cavities, mostly in children, and nearly ten billion dollars in additional dental care.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that helps harden tooth enamel and prevent decay. For over 70 years, adding small safe amounts to public water supplies has been considered a triumph of public health, praised by everyone from the CDC to the American Dental Association.
But that’s changing.
Some states including Utah and Florida have already started scaling back water fluoridation. And with high profile figures like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr questioning its safety, the movement to pull fluoride from water is gaining steam despite overwhelming scientific evidence supporting its benefits.
Despite there being fluoride in toothpaste, that doesn’t mean removing it from water is no big deal.
For many low-income families, especially those on public insurance or with no insurance at all, regular dental visits and high quality fluoride toothpaste aren’t guaranteed. Water fluoridation was the great equalizer. Take it away and the children most vulnerable to tooth decay suffer the most.
The new study shows exactly that. The impact of removing fluoride would hit the poorest communities hardest, creating an even deeper gap in access to basic health.
Tooth decay isn’t just about discomfort or a couple of fillings. Left untreated, it can lead to infections, abscesses, and even systemic issues like sepsis or heart disease. Kids miss school. Parents miss work. Health costs skyrocket. Lives are affected far beyond the dentist’s chair.
This isn’t a science debate. This is a political one and it could have real painful consequences for millions of families. If we pull fluoride from the water, it won’t be the wealthy suburban neighborhoods that suffer. It’ll be the working class families already struggling to access care.
There’s still time to stop this.
We can listen to the overwhelming body of evidence. We can protect public health instead of giving in to fear based politics. We can keep fluoride in our water and keep millions of kids out of the dentist’s chair, in school, and out of pain.
Because once those 25 million cavities start showing up, it won’t just be about fluoride anymore. It’ll be about why we let it happen.
