When officers in Collier County, Florida, not too long ago 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 skill to attend college, study and thrive.
After the county’s board of commissioners made its resolution, main voices from the varsity nursing neighborhood took motion. They turned to social media to share their skilled considerations. Martha Bergren, government editor of the Journal of Faculty Nursing, referred to as Collier County’s vote the “newest anti-science resolution” that may negatively have an effect on youngsters’s well being. She reminds us that ingesting 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 motive. 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 giant numbers of retirees. But almost 48,000 school-age youngsters additionally dwell within the county — various which NASN is nicely conscious. Analysis reveals that youngsters with dental ache are:
Though Collier County is called the house of prosperous communities, about 40,000 of its residents dwell at or beneath the poverty line. Households with low incomes have greater charges of tooth decay. On the similar time, they’ve extra issue getting skilled dental care. For a lot of youngsters in low revenue households, faucet water with fluoride is the one illness prevention they obtain. With out it, they’re at larger danger 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 nations that don’t fluoridate their water. That is false. Totally 89% of the Australians have entry to ingesting water with fluoride on the really helpful degree to forestall cavities.
It’s laudable that college nurses are doing their half to lift consciousness of the necessity for community-level prevention. And NASN has many wonderful assets for its members on its Oral Well being Connections net web page. Faculty nurses are trusted, important companions in educating households and the general public. We thank them for elevating their voices to focus on the impact of public coverage selections on the well being of the kids and households they serve.
