Key Findings - Fluoride & Tooth Decay (Caries): (Click for more detail)

According to the current consensus view of the dental research community, fluoride's primary - if not sole - benefit to teeth comes from topical application to the surfaces of teeth (while in the mouth), and not from ingestion.

It is also acknowledged by dental researchers that fluoride has little effect on preventing cavities in the pits and fissures (chewing surfaces) of teeth - where the majority of tooth decay occurs.

Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, tooth decay rates have declined at similar rates in all western countries in the latter half of the 20th century - irrespective of whether the country fluoridates its water or not. Today, tooth decay rates thoughout continental western Europe are as low as the tooth decay rates in the United States - despite a profound disparity in water fluoridation prevalence in the two regions.

Within countries that do fluoridate their water (such as the United States and Australia), recent large-scale surveys of dental health - utilizing modern scientific methods not employed in the early surveys from the 1930s-1950s - have found little difference in tooth decay, including in "baby bottle tooth decay", between fluoridated and unfluoridated communities.

Full-Text Papers Online - Fluoride & Tooth Decay:

FULL TEXT - pdf: Neurath C. (2005). Tooth decay trends for 12 year olds in nonfluoridated and fluoridated countries. Fluoride 38:324-325.

FULL TEXT - pdf: Colquhoun J. (1985). Influence of social class and fluoridation on child dental health. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 13:37-41.

FULL TEXT - html: Diesendorf M. (1986). The mystery of declining tooth decay. Nature 322: 125-129.

FULL TEXT - html: Hileman, B. (1989). New studies cast doubt on fluoridation benefits. Chemical & Engineering News. May 8.

FULL TEXT - html: Yiamouyiannis JA. (1990). Water fluoridation and tooth decay: Results from the 1986-87 national survey of U.S. schoolchildren. Fluoride 23: 55-67.

FULL TEXT - html: Brunelle, JA, Carlos JP. (1990). Recent trends in dental caries in U.S. children and the effect of water fluoridation. Journal of Dental Research 69(Special edition): 723-727.