When officers in Collier County, Florida, just lately voted to finish fluoridation, dental professionals and pediatricians have been disheartened. Faculty nurses have been involved too. Why? They see firsthand the detrimental impression of tooth decay on youngsters’s capability to attend faculty, be taught and thrive.
After the county’s board of commissioners made its resolution, main voices from the college nursing neighborhood took motion. They turned to social media to share their skilled considerations. Martha Bergren, government editor of the Journal of Faculty Nursing, known as Collier County’s vote the “newest anti-science resolution” that can negatively have an effect on youngsters’s well being. She reminds us that consuming fluoridated faucet water reduces decay by 25%.
The Nationwide Affiliation of Faculty Nurses (NASN) shared Bergren’s message on social media too. NASN’s message included the hashtag #healthequity, and for good cause. A
2021 report by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) writes that fluoride in water “can particularly profit youngsters in low-income households.”
Collier County consists of the town of Naples and different communities with massive numbers of retirees. But almost 48,000 school-age youngsters additionally reside within the county — various which NASN is effectively conscious. Analysis exhibits that youngsters with dental ache are:
- 3 occasions extra prone to be absent from faculty
- 4 occasions extra prone to obtain decrease grades
Though Collier County is called the house of prosperous communities, about 40,000 of its residents reside at or under the poverty line. Households with low incomes have larger charges of tooth decay. On the similar time, they’ve extra problem getting skilled dental care. For a lot of youngsters in low earnings households, faucet water with fluoride is the one illness prevention they obtain. With out it, they’re at better threat of cavities which, if left untreated, will solely worsen.
The choice to cease including fluoride to a neighborhood’s water is usually justified with data that’s false, deceptive or incomplete. This was true in Collier County. Earlier than the board of commissioners voted, Commissioner Daniel Kowal expressed his reasoning. In his remarks, Kowal cited Australia as one of many international locations that don’t fluoridate their water. That is false. Absolutely 89% of the Australians have entry to consuming water with fluoride on the advisable stage to forestall cavities.
It’s laudable that faculty nurses are doing their half to lift consciousness of the necessity for community-level prevention. And NASN has many glorious sources for its members on its Oral Well being Connections internet web page. Faculty nurses are trusted, important companions in educating households and the general public. We thank them for elevating their voices to spotlight the impact of public coverage choices on the well being of the youngsters and households they serve.
