REDDITCH – Artificial fluoridation of drinking water has been controversial as a public health measure worldwide. Now, the British Dental Association (BDA) has highlighted the benefits for oral health after a new study found that an extension of water fluoridation to areas with high levels of tooth decay could save the National Health Service (NHS) in England about £4 million (€4.8 million) annually on hospital admissions for tooth extractions.
In the study, consultants in public health compared hospital admissions for simple and surgical dental extractions between 2006 and 2009 in the largely fluoridated area of the West Midlands and the largely non-fluoridated area of North West England. They observed significant differences between the two areas and suggested that water fluoridation may be a significant contributor to the differential observed.
According to the study, over the three-year period, approximately 6,000 young patients up to the age of 19 were admitted annually for dental extractions in the North West, while only about 1,100 admissions were recorded per year in the West Midlands during that time. From these numbers, it appears that the prevalence of dental decay among children and adolescents in the non-fluoridated areas in the UK is greater compared with the largely fluoridated areas.
The investigators estimated that the cost for performing an extraction in a hospital ranged from £558 to £789, depending on the complexity of the procedure. Thus, they calculated that the total costs amounted to £4 million in the North West.
“This study is a powerful reminder of how water fluoridation saves the NHS money, and how whole populations can benefit from a huge improvement in their dental health,” said Dr Damien Walmsley, Professor of Restorative Dentistry at the University of Birmingham and Scientific Advisor to the BDA. “Overwhelmingly, studies have shown fluoridation to be a safe and effective measure for reducing high rates of tooth decay.”
According to the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks, small doses of fluoride when teeth are developing can help prevent tooth decay. Nevertheless, too much fluoride may be harmful, leading to discolouration and damage to teeth from fluorosis. It has been suggested that excess fluoride may have other negative health effects, the committee stated.
The study, titled “An alternative marker for the effectiveness of water fluoridation: Hospital extraction rates for dental decay, a two-region study”, was published online on 7 March in the British Dental Journal ahead of print.
RUGBY – The British Dental Health Foundation has welcomed a new labelling system that was launched on Wednesday and aims to enable consumers to make ...
A new report commissioned by the Wrigley Oral Healthcare Programme has found that rolling out three preventative oral health interventions could reduce ...
LONDON, UK: Though the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, it has been going on long enough for certain lessons to have been gleaned from the way in which ...
LONDON, UK: Though the benefits of fluoride in drinking water for oral health are firmly established, it is estimated that just six million UK residents ...
MANCHESTER, UK: Researchers from the University of Manchester have conducted a pioneering study in the UK focusing on the oral health and economic impacts ...
LONDON, UK: Currently, six million people in the UK are supplied with fluoridated water, and around 300,000 are supplied with water which contains naturally...
LONDON, England: Henry Schein UK has launched Smilers and Smilers Expert, twin aligner solutions aimed at general dental practitioners and orthodontists, ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Work on more than a dozen new primary care health centres across Ireland began last week after the European Investment Bank (EIB) ...
LONDON, UK: British dental researchers have published a consensus statement that aims to raise awareness of oral health issues in sport. Through a review of...
BELFAST, UK: Health and dental care worth £44 million were lost to cross-country fraud last year, Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland has ...
Dr. Elisa Chavez DDS, Dr. Teresa A. Dolan DDS, MPH, Dr. Linda Niessen, Dr. Lisa Simon
Live webinar
Wed. 1 October 2025
6:00 pm UTC (London)
Live webinar
Thu. 2 October 2025
2:00 pm UTC (London)
Live webinar
Mon. 6 October 2025
5:30 pm UTC (London)
Live webinar
Tue. 7 October 2025
5:30 pm UTC (London)
Prof. Dr. Falk Schwendicke MDPH
Live webinar
Thu. 9 October 2025
1:00 pm UTC (London)
Dr. Priyantha Pang Lee Yek
Live webinar
Fri. 10 October 2025
10:00 am UTC (London)
Prof. Dr. Dr. Florian Stelzle
To post a reply please login or register