41.  Is water fluoridation a cost effective means of preventing tooth decay?

Yes. Data from scientific studies continue to confirm that fluoridation has substantial lifelong decay preventive effects and is a highly cost-effective means of preventing tooth decay in the United States, regardless of socioeconomic status.

It has been calculated that the annual cost of community water fluoridation in the U.S. is approximately $0.50 per person per year. It can be calculated from this data that the lifetime cost per person to fluoridate a water system is less than the cost of one dental filling.
(Centers for Disease Control.  Public health focus: fluoridation of community water systems. MMWR: Update 1992;41(21):372-5.)

Health economists at a 1989 workshop concluded that fluoridation costs approximately $3.35 per tooth surface when decay is prevented, making fluoridation "one of the very few public health procedures that actually saves more money than it costs."
(Burt BA, ed.  Proceedings for the workshop; cost effectiveness of caries prevention in dental public health: results of workshop. J Public Health Dent 1989;56(5 Spec No):331-40.)

The economic importance of fluoridation is underscored by the fact that frequently the cost of treating dental disease is paid not only by the affected individual, but also by the general public through services provided by health departments, welfare clinics, health insurance premiums, the military, and other publicly supported medical programs.
(White BA, Antczak-Bouckoms AA, Weinstein MC.  Issues in the economic evaluation of community water fluoridation.  J Dent Educ 1989;53(11):1989.)

| top of page |

42.  Is it practical to fluoridate an entire water system?

It is more practical to fluoridate an entire water supply than to attempt to treat individual water sources.

It is technically difficult, perhaps impossible, and certainly more costly to fluoridate only the water used for drinking. Community water that is chlorinated, softened, or in other ways treated is also used for watering lawns, washing cars, and for most industrial purposes.  The cost of compounds for fluoridating a community's water supply is inexpensive on a per capita basis; therefore, it is practical to fluoridate the entire water supply.

| top of page |