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By
Paul Connett,
PhD
Time and time again,
promoters of fluoridation - from the US Surgeon General down to
the local dentist - have told an unsuspecting public that the reason
we have to fluoridate public water supplies is because it is an
"equitable" thing to do. We are told that it helps all
people, regardless of income, and provides much needed "dental
care" to the poor.
This argument is, of
course, very powerful emotionally, as most people want to do what
they can to help the poor, particularly children. It is, however,
another example of the "Big Lie".
Lack
of Dental Care
Whether intended or not,
for over 50 years fluoridation has served to distract attention
from the fact that the US, despite its enormous wealth, provides
very poor dental care to families of low income. Today, roughly
80% of US dentists refuse to treat children on Medicaid
because Medicaid's compensation is too low.
One mother of a Medcaid
insured child recently told a group of researchers from the University
of North Carolina:
"I could not get
a dentist to take Medicaid. I got the book out, the telephone
book, and I went through about 10-15 dentists, and no one wanted
to take Medicaid. I just gave up."
She is not alone. The
University of North Carolina researchers found that Medicaid-eligible
residents in 40 North Carolina counties have no private dentist
available to them.
The
Quick "Fix"
To remedy this situation,
US health departments, instead of calling for more investment in
Medicaid, all too frequently seek the cheap and easy, albeit illusionary,
"fix" of water fluoridation. In such campaigns, the challenge
of finding the much-needed government funds for strengthening Medicaid
is usually bypassed and ignored.
This is, of course, probably
one of the attractions of water fluoridation - no difficult budget
decisions - simply add an inexpensive chemical (inexpensive because
it's a hazardous industrial waste product) to the water, and presto
- the poor can enjoy the dental care they wouldn't otherwise receive.
In a sense, water fluoridation
has become a de facto substitute for dental insurance. Perhaps this
is one of the reasons why western Europe hasn't felt as compelled
as the US to fluoridate their water - because most of these nations
have universal health insurance. As a result, poor children do not
have the same kind of difficulty finding dentists who will treat
them.
Of course, just because
fluoridation is cheaper and easier for government, doesn't necessarily
mean that it is an effective substitute for dental insurance. Indeed,
there would be a good discussion to be had, were fluoridation a
safe and effective means of reducing dental decay among the poor.
Unfortunately, however,
that is not the case...
Red
Flags Weekly July 29, 2002
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