Daily Iowan, Wesley Cropp
Published September 6, 2006
A taste-free, invisible substance flows through every tap in Iowa City. Coursing up and down pipelines, the city's fluoridated water has served essentially as free dental care for 61 years, officials say.
But many researchers nationwide now argue that the substance could have some harmful side effects.
One UI researcher is set on validating his theory that fluoride is still effective in preventing tooth decay.
UI dentistry Professor Steven Levy is in the process of gathering data from the women and children he studied between 1992 to 1995 about effects of fluoride use. The head researcher of the Iowa Fluoride Study will go to Ireland next week to discuss his findings, which concentrate on fluoride's effects from infancy to teenage years.
"Everyone benefits from fluoride in the water," said Levy, who is in the preventive and community dentistry department at the UI College of Dentistry.
But other experts believe harmful effects of fluoride outweigh its benefits. Officials from the Environmental Working Group - a group of scientists, engineers, policy experts, and lawyers who head environmental investigations - said fluoride in drinking water is not good and boosts the risk of cancer in young boys.
Jovana Ruzicic, the organization's press secretary, said a Harvard University study revealed that boys ages 5 to 8 in communities with fluoridated water were five times more likely to develop bone cancer.
"There is no benefit, only damage," Ruzicic said.
Though Ruzicic added that bone cancer may be relatively rare, a more common side effect found in such communities is dental fluorosis: brown staining and pitting of the teeth.
Studies have shown that high concentrations of fluoride can damage tooth enamel, said John Doull, the chairman for a National Research Council study on fluoride in drinking water.
Levy, the UI researcher, recognizes that such cosmetic and dental nuisances do occur among Iowa City residents because of the fluoridation.
"But our decay rates would be higher without it," he added.
Iowa City's water supply is tested daily to make sure fluoride levels stay at 1 part per million, which is considered safe by most fluoride experts, said Carol Sweeting, the information coordinator for the city's Water Department.
Fluoridation of drinking water began in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1945, and half of U.S. communities use the process, Ruzicic said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified the substance as one of the 10 most important achievements of the 20th century, Levy said.
"I, along with most government and professional bodies, support properly fluoridated drinking water to prevent tooth decay in kids and adults," said John Stamm, a spokesman for the American Dental Association.
He noted that fluoridated water saves millions of dollars in dental filings and has been shown to reduce tooth loss.
Another issue debated regarding fluoride and its effects is the government's recommended levels. While the maximum is set at 4 parts per million of fluoride, Doull said, if children drink fluoridated water already at the federally mandated maximum level, they are more susceptible to sustain damage to their teeth enamel.
That is why government officials need to consider lowering the maximum levels allotted for fluoride in drinking water, he said.
But, despite the national back-and-forth debate on the benefits of fluoridation, Levy, the UI researcher, is adamant about the advantages of adding the substance to tap water.
"Fluoride is much better than not having it," he said. "But we cannot prove it's safe."
