60 Minute Seminar

Community Water Fluoridation in the Age of Science Skepticism

Friday, June 5, 2020

4:15 PM – 5:15 PM Eastern

CE: 1.0

Speaker(s)

Tooka Zokaie, MPH

Manager, Fluoridation and Preventive Health Activities
American Dental Association

Disclosure: American Dental Association (Employee)
Brittany Seymour, DDS, MPH

Global Health Discipline Director
Department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology and Harvard School of Dental Medicine

Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Josefine O. Wolfe, PhD, RDH, CHES

Oral Health Program Director
Texas Health Institute

Disclosure: Disclosure information not submitted.

Session Description: Community water fluoridation has been supported by science that shows it to be a safe and effective public health practice to reduce dental decay. Fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral, is recommended to be regulated in drinking water at 0.7ppm in the United States. However, with more fervor than usual, cities are skeptical about the benefits of this practice and are asking to remove the regulated and recommended levels of fluoride from their drinking water. Misleading articles and anti-fluoridation organizations circulating the Internet and social media have sparked a new wave of hesitation. We will review the history of community water fluoridation, the most recent evidence that continues to support this powerful cavity-fighting intervention, and show how storytelling can impact audiences that are fluoride-hesitant. From a sample size of 2,000 to the sample size of one we will show how science can continue to be defended in an age of evidence-based research skepticism.

Learning Objectives:

Advocate for community water fluoridation after learning about the evidence-based research and how to speak to audiences that prefer stories to large research studies.
Articulate the importance of community water fluoridation to different audiences, but especially lay people who do not relate to research studies but do to a headline.
Understand the history and current environment of community water fluoridation.