Could it be as simple as there’s been a huge increase in the number of people using fluoridated toothpaste since 1955?
Fluoride advocates often claim that the reduction in tooth decay that has occurred since the 1950s is the result of the widespread introduction of fluoridated water. In 1999, for example, the Centers for Disease Control stated that “as a result [of water fluoridation], dental caries declined precipitously during the second half of the 20th century.”
What the CDC failed to mention is that tooth decay rates have “precipitously declined” in all western countries, irrespective of whether the country ever fluoridated its water. Indeed, most western countries do not fluoridate their water and yet their tooth decay rates have declined at the same rate as the U.S. and other fluoridated countries. This fact, which is widely acknowledged in the dental literature (see below), can be quickly demonstrated by examining the World Health Organization’s (WHO) data on tooth decay trends in each country. The following two figures and table, for example, compare the tooth decay trends in western countries with, and without, water (or salt) fluoridation.
For graphs and the rest of the analysis please click the link below:
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