As Florida urges local governments to remove fluoride, areas with experience issue warnings

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - As Florida's top health official encourages cities and counties to discontinue fluoride in their water supply, warnings are coming in from communities that have already done so.               

Some of those communities warn that the health of children has been severely impacted by years of going without fluoride, which the CDC calls one of the top 10 public health steps taken during the 20th century. 

Whether fluoride is in a drinking water system is up to individual cities and counties.

READ MORE: City of Winter Haven to stop adding higher fluoride levels to water supply

When Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo recommended that municipalities remove fluoride last week, it was not binding.              

For those who have been there and done that, they say, be careful what you wish for. 

In Calgary, Canada, there was life before fluoride was removed from drinking water and after. 

"We (are) still extremely sad," said pro-fluoride activist Juliet Guichon. "Sad that children, mostly children, had to suffer so badly." 

Guichon points to pictures printed in the Calgary Herald, that show what happens when kids don't get proper dental care, nor fluoride in their water. 

"One of the physicians said to the dad, well, you know, your daughter was almost dead when she arrived because of the systemic infection," Guichon said.

READ MORE: Florida surgeon general says fluoride shouldn't be added to drinking water: 'Public health malpractice'

After a rash of anti-fluoride sentiments convinced Calgary's city council in 2011 to remove fluoride, it will be reinstated by 2025.  

Why? The number of kids with infections that required IV antibiotics rose at one hospital by 700 percent.  

For kids under five years old, the rate of kids needing anesthesia for dental treatments doubled, and for kids six to 11, it went up by 35%.  

"People have been saying, yes, now we've got fluoride toothpaste. It's not a problem anymore," said James Dickinson of the University of Calgary. "Well, by doing this experiment of taking fluoride out of the water, we show, yes, it is a problem."

Ladapo disagrees.

Last week, he held a press conference in front of Winter Haven's water tanks to thank them for removing fluoride after months of debate. 

READ MORE:  Pinellas County issues new stadium deadline to Rays 

He cited a half dozen studies that insist fluoride can impact IQ, attention disorders and behavioral health. 

He's urging Floridians to demand that local governments get rid of fluoride. According to him, 80 percent of Floridians get fluoride in their water. 

"It is public health malpractice, with the information that we have now, to continue adding fluoride to water systems in Florida," Ladapo said. 

Ladapo says Floridians should get fluoride from other sources until more is known. 

Pinellas County Commissioners removed fluoride from its water in 2011, but it was reinstated after a public outcry in 2013, which swept in commissioner Janet Long. 

She urged communities to fight what seems to be a rising sentiment against fluoride. 

"I don't know what people are thinking," Long said Monday. "And truth be told, if I were to run for office today, I'm not sure I'd get reelected again." 

The CDC still endorses the use of fluoride in public water systems, saying it is a cornerstone strategy for preventing cavities because it is cost-effective and equitable.               

The Trump administration is expected to see Robert Kennedy Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, who has openly questioned the use of fluoride in drinking water.  

Calgary residents voted 62 percent to 38 percent in 2021 to reinstate fluoride after seeing the results of public health studies.

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