- Millions of teeth have been saved through adding fluoride
to water supplies in the West Midlands, say experts.
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- People in Birmingham have had fluoridated tap water for
more than 40 years, and around 3.5 million in the West Midlands get it.
Public dental health experts in the area believe it has saved millions
of teeth. Opponents fear other effects of a lifetime's consumption of what
they say is a poison only slightly less toxic than arsenic.
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- Around 10 per cent of the population - five million -
receive fluoridated water, but the legislation is expected to triple that
number. Birmingham has had it since the 1960s and other parts of the West
Midlands, like Wolverhampton, Walsall, and Dudley, for more than 20 years.
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- Children in these areas have levels of tooth decay up
to four times lower than in places like Manchester and Glasgow, which have
the worst oral health in the country.
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- Solihull is top of the league for the lowest tooth decay
in children in the country. Leicestershire sits around the middle. Eight
out of the 10 top areas in the league for children's oral health have fluoridated
water. A poll in 2000 showed four out of five West Midlands people supported
fluoridation.
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- Opponents say fluoride is why Birmingham has the highest
infant mortality rate in England and claim babies given infant formula
with fluoridated water could be ingesting up to eight times the World Health
Organisation recommended maximum dose for infants.
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- Carol Mander, consultant in public dental health for
Leicestershire, said there was no evidence linking infant mortality or
any other medical condition to fluoride.
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- http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=42629
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