Need to put children's oral health first in Israeli debate on water fluoridation

摘要

A possible dental public health crisis is looming in Israel. How can this be? As many as 70% of the Israeli population are currently supplied with optimally fluoridated water and oral health studies carried out in Israel over the past decade have demonstrated the benefits. For example, a national study of Israeli 12-year olds in 2002 (Zusman et al., 2005) found an average DMFT of 1.39 in fluoridated areas compared with 1.83 in non-fluoridated ones. The national mean DMFT, in this study, was 1.66. Ten years later, in 2011/12, a study (yet unpublished) of 12-year olds by Jerusalem's Hebrew University-Hadassah Dental School (commissioned and financed by the Israeli Ministry of Health) reported an average national DMFT of 1.17. This decline was predominantly attributed to water fluoridation and the use of fluoride dentifrices.