Fluoridation still a lottery
Access to water fluoridation remains a postcode lottery, dental organisations have said. So, too many communities with high levels of dental disease are still being deprived of fluoridation benefits. Only 10% of the UK’s population has access to water fluoridation. This means we are failing children who live in communities with high levels of tooth decay, the BDA has said. 60,683 children and adolescents in England were admitted to hospital in 2012/13 to have multiple decayed teeth removed under general anesthetic, costing the NHS at least £27.6 million. yet evidence suggests that children living in fluoridated areas, such as the West Midlands, have around half the rate of tooth decay of those living in non-fluoridated areas and thousands have been spared traumatic and distressing operations.
Information from BDJ In practice January 2015