Fluoride may be added to Plymouth’s drinking water

It's being considered to fight tooth decay

Adding fluoride, a chemical element, to drinking water in Plymouth may be considered as part of a drive to improve oral health.

One in 10 people in England currently receive fluoridated tapwater, which could be rolled out elsewhere depending on public support.

The government says there is strong scientific evidence that water fluoridation helps reduce tooth decay and it is safe and effective.

Plymouth City Council is looking at ways it can improve oral health as more than one in five children aged under five in the city has visible tooth decay.

Although the US Centre for Disease Control says adding fluoride to drinking water was one of the 10 most important public health advances of the twentieth century, it is a contentious issue because residents can’t opt out once the chemical is added to water supplies.

The government can require water companies to increase the naturally occurring concentration of fluoride in water supplies to one milligram per litre, which it says is well within the World Health Organisation’s recommended maximum level known to reduce tooth decay.

The Health and Care Act 2022 gives the secretary of state the power to introduce water fluoridation schemes. It was supported by both Conservative and Labour when it went through parliament.

Similar fluoridation schemes operate around the world, including in the USA, Canada and Ireland, covering an estimated 400 million people.

Around six million people in England already have fluoride added to their water, while some supplies provide a similar level of fluoride naturally.

A plan for the north east is awaiting evaluation, public health consultant Robert Nelder told Plymouth City Council’s health and wellbeing board.

Plymouth City Council started a dental task force 18 months ago to address a dental crisis in which 23,000 people, including more than 4,000 children, are waiting to see an NHS dentist.

A new dental practice in the city centre run by the Peninsula Dental School, part of the University of Plymouth, will open later this year.

This will be an ‘education practice’ offering general, urgent care and oral surgery using both undergraduate and qualified dentists, therapists and trainees.

Funding of £900,000 from the Integrated Care Board (ICB) will go towards improvements such as toothbrushing schemes in Plymouth schools and throughout Devon. Free dental care is being offered to children in the city, through an initiative with the dental school’s social enterprise called PDSE.

Mr Nelder said young people in deprived areas who receive fluoridated water had “really good oral health” but there had been no new schemes in the country for 40 years.

Whilst adding fluoride to the water supply does not eliminate tooth decay, it reduces decay levels and the impact of dental disease, he said.

“At the present time, everyone is waiting to see what the results of the consultation are in the north east before deciding whether to go in that same direction.”

But Mr Nelder said the campaign against water fluoridisation is “well organised and very vocal”.

He explained that Plymouth doesn’t have the recommended level of naturally occurring fluoride and the most appropriate site for it to be added to the water supply is the Mayflower water treatment works.

However, this does not supply all of Plymouth but it does include parts of the South Hams and Cornwall.

“The views of neighbouring areas and indeed those across the south west are still unknown and would need to be sought.” he said.

It could be many months before detailed regulations relating to water fluoridation are available.

A report for the health and wellbeing board said more than 600 children in Plymouth have a total of more than 4,000 teeth removed under general anaesthetic each year, at a cost to the local health system of approximately £1 million.