Fluoridation Succeeds

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30776, 14 June 1965, Page 1

Fluoridation Succeeds

•‘The Press” Special Service i WELLINGTON. June 13 “Before fluoridation began in Hastings in 1954, health authorititles predicted this public health measure would reduce tooth decay by 50-60 per cent,” said Dr. G. H. Leslie. Director. Division of Dental Health, today. “Now. after 10 years of fluoridation, this prediction has been fulfilled in New Zealand and no longer do we have to rely on the results of similar studies carried out overseas,” he said. Dr. T. G. Ludwig, director of the New Zealand Medical Research Council’s dental research unit, has just com-; pleted an examination of Hastings children who have; been drinking fluoridated water since birth. He reports the following results: —

“These children have been exposed to the protection offered by fluoridation throughout their lives and they have therefore received its maximum benefits, but even the children aged 12 to 16 who have only partial protection have reductions in decay in their permanent teeth ranging from 46 to 30 per cent. “Although it has always been recognised that the benefits of fluoridation are more marked in the permanent teeth, worthwhile reductions have also been observed in the deciduous or baby teeth,” said Dr. Leslie. “Children aged five to six years have 50 per cent less decay and seven-year-olds 36 per cent less.

“Many of the five to seven-year-olds are now completely free from any dental decay whatsoever and require no more than a periodical polishing of the teeth when they visit the school dental nurse.

i “Whereas 4 per cent of five-year-olds were free from decay in 1954. almost 28 per ; cent are now immune. In the case of seven-year-olds, less than 1 per cent were free from decay in 1954. Today, as a result of fluoridation 17 per cent are free. “Statistics, however, cannot demonstrate exactly how

much fluoridation has improved the dental health of Hastings children. For instance, where teeth do decay, the size and complexity of fillings are reduced. The greatest reduction occurs in the cavities between the teeth where treatment is more difficult and time consuming. “Dental nurses in Hastings can now care for more children than their counterparts in unfiuoridated areas while the payment made for fillings under the Social Security (dental benefits) scheme for the treatment of post-primary children has been halved when compared with the cost incurred for similar work in an unfluoridated group. “These results speak for themselves,” said Dr. Leslie. “What cannot be measured is the discomfort and inconvenience saved for it is estimated that as a result of fluoridation the primary school children under treatment in Hastings have been spared at least 11,000 fillings a year.

“Let us. hope that there will not be too much delay before all children living in areas with a community water supply are equally fortunate in receiving the same protection as those in Hastings,” Dr. Leslie said.

Age Reduction of Decay, in Permanent Teeth 6 84 per cent 7 73 per cent 8 67 per cent 9 53 per cent 10 55 per cent