IT’S IN THE WATER!
Grand Rapids Fights Cavities With Water Fluoridation
On January 25, 1945, municipal workers in Grand Rapids, Michigan, began adding a fine white powder to the city’s water supply. The powder quickly dissolved and flowed out through the pipes across the city. Soon, every time a citizen of Grand Rapids filled a glass of water, they would also be getting a dose of sodium fluoride. Grand Rapids was the first community in the United States to add fluoride to their drinking water as part of an experiment to determine if water fluoridation could help fight cavities. The path to the great Grand Rapids experiment was a long one. It started in 1901, when a young dentist, Dr. Frederick McKay, opened his first practice in Colorado Springs, Colorado. McKay was shocked to discover that many of his local patients had dark brown stains on
their otherwise healthy teeth. Noting that these stained teeth were also less prone to cavities, McKay set out to find the cause. His mission would take him over the Rocky Mountains to Oakley, Idaho, and then down south to Bauxite, Arkansas. Eventually, the cause of the stains was identified as naturally high levels of fluoride in the local drinking water. Shortly after McKay’s discovery, the National Institute of Health suggested low levels of fluoride may be able to improve cavity resistance without staining teeth. Around 15 years later, the people of Grand Rapids voted to add fluoride to their drinking water. For about a year leading up to the experiment in Grand Rapids, local school children had undergone preliminary examinations to record their oral health. Once the fluoride was added,
Public Health Service scientists were surprised by how quickly it made a difference. They saw a significant decrease in tooth decay among children in only a few years. The positive impact of fluoride in Grand Rapids was so great that citizens of Muskegon, Michigan, the control city located 40 miles away, demanded fluoride be added to their public water. The study, which was meant to last 15 years, was over in just six. Soon, cities across the country and around the world were fluoridating their water. In 1951, 5 million Americans got their drinking water from fluoridated supplies; as of 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 72 percent of Americans have access to fluoridated water. For over 70 years, countless Americans have enjoyed the benefits of fluoride in every refreshing glass of water.
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