When public action undermines public health: a critical examination of antifluoridationist literature

Armfield, Jason M.

doi:10.1186/1743-8462-4-25

Cited by 40 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Such findings notwithstanding the idea that fluorides worked topically rather than systemically did not gain much ground in many countries. There continue to be claims that ‘if a little fluoride ingestion is good, more is better’ advanced by public health dentists well into the 1980s, just as drinking water fluoridation continues to be propagated in a number of countries . While many proponents of drinking water, milk or salt fluoridation now recognise that fluoride exerts a local cariostatic effect , the systemic use of fluorides is still advocated .…”

Section: Dentistry and Evidence‐based Caries Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There continue to be claims that ‘if a little fluoride ingestion is good, more is better’ advanced by public health dentists well into the 1980s, just as drinking water fluoridation continues to be propagated in a number of countries . While many proponents of drinking water, milk or salt fluoridation now recognise that fluoride exerts a local cariostatic effect , the systemic use of fluorides is still advocated . Although most now recognise that dental fluorosis is an unwarranted side effect of ingestion of fluoride , this side effect is typically downplayed with arguments that the resulting dental fluorosis is not ‘aesthetically objectionable’ .…”

Section: Dentistry and Evidence‐based Caries Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A functional natural dentition for all – and for life? The oral healthcare system needs revision

Fejerskov

Escobar

Jøssing

et al. 2013

J of Oral Rehabilitation

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The cost of dental care adds to the costs of the already overburdened health sector. Do we - as patients and as society -receive oral health care that is both aligned with the actual disease experience and also, critically based on up-to-date scientific knowledge about the major oral diseases? In many places, the practice of dentistry reflects a response to disease patterns that once existed and is based on diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that are no longer valid. Instead, a new cadre of dental professionals is needed, one that is capable of meeting the actual health needs of our populations. This cadre should ensure that patients maintain a functioning dentition from cradle to grave based on cost-effective disease control principles. There is an urgent need to: (i) reconsider the roles of the different oral health cadres involved in the provision of oral health care; (ii) integrate oral health into general healthcare services; and (iii) restructure the training of oral health personnel. We advocate a radical reform of the oral healthcare system involving the training of two new types of professionals integrated with the general healthcare system: The oral healthcare provider - a highly skilled professional specialised in the diagnosis and control of oral diseases and with a profound understanding of oral health as part of general health - and the oral clinical specialist - whose role is the provision of advanced oral rehabilitation, able also to treat people with complex chronic diseases and multiple medications.

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Section: Dentistry and Evidence‐based Caries Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dentistry and Evidence‐based Caries Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

A functional natural dentition for all – and for life? The oral healthcare system needs revision

Fejerskov

Escobar

Jøssing

et al. 2013

J of Oral Rehabilitation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Although it would be challenging to keep up with the litany of new and false claims, much of the rhetoric has been recycled across decades, and short responses to many of these unsubstantiated arguments are available. 62 …”

Section: Water Fluoridation Messagementioning

confidence: 99%

The dentist's role in promoting community water fluoridation

Melbye¹,

Armfield²

2013

The Journal of the American Dental Association

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Background and Overview Community water fluoridation is an important public health intervention that reduces oral health disparities and increases the health of the population. Promotion of its safety and effectiveness is critical to maintaining its widespread acceptance and ensuring its continued use. Dentists are a potentially important source of knowledge regarding the oral health benefits and safety of water fluoridation. However, few dentists regularly discuss fluorides, and water fluoridation in particular, with patients. The authors aim to describe and discuss the role and importance of dentists’ promotion of public water fluoridation, barriers to dentists’ involvement and some approaches that might influence dentists to promote water fluoridation more actively. Conclusions and Practice Implications Ongoing promotion of fluoridation by dentists is a key factor in ensuring sustained municipal water fluoridation. However, current undergraduate dental curricula do not adequately prepare dentists for this role, and continuing dental education may be insufficient to change clinical practice. Although smoking-cessation literature can shed some light on how to proceed, changing dentists’ practice behavior remains a largely unstudied topic. Dental associations are a key resource for dentists, providing information that can assist them in becoming advocates for water fluoridation.

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“…Successful lobbying by anti‐fluoridation groups has also led to the abolition of water fluoridation in some jurisdictions where water fluoridation is already established. Pressure on governments and local authorities to abrogate decisions on introducing fluoridation to the general public via a plebiscite has provided the opportunity for a number of successful anti‐fluoride campaigns (2,3). These outcomes are a blow to public‐health dentistry given the acclaimed effectiveness of water fluoridation in reducing caries experience (4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk perception and water fluoridation support and opposition in Australia

Armfield

Akers

2010

Journal of Public Health Dentistry

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Objectives: A considerable body of evidence confirms that water fluoridation effectively reduces the community incidence of dental caries with minimal side effects. However, proposals to introduce this widely endorsed public-health measure are often perceived as controversial, and public opinion frequently plays a role in the outcome. Despite this, the public's perception of risk associated with water fluoridation has not been well researched and remains poorly understood. Our objectives were to determine whether risk perceptions reflecting various "outrage" factors are associated with water fluoridation support and opposition. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of a national sample of 517 Australian adults (response rate = 34.7 percent) aged 18-92 years.Results: Approximately 70.5 percent of respondents supported water fluoridation, with 15.1 percent opposed and 14.3 percent neutral. Sixteen of the 20 assessed outrage factors were significantly associated with water fluoridation stance in the predicted direction, with greater outrage being related to increased water fluoridation opposition. An overall outrage index computed from the 16 significant outrage factors accounted for a statistically significant 58 percent of the variance in water fluoridation stance beyond the effects of age, gender, socioeconomic status, and age and presence of children. Conclusion: Outrage factors are important aspects of the public's perception of risk in relation to water fluoridation. Given that water fluoridation appears to be a lowrisk, high-outrage controversy, efforts to mitigate the level of public outrage, rather than continuing to deny possible hazards, may offer a worthwhile strategy in gaining public acceptance for the extension of water fluoridation.

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When public action undermines public health: a critical examination of antifluoridationist literature

Cited by 40 publications

References 55 publications

A functional natural dentition for all – and for life? The oral healthcare system needs revision

A functional natural dentition for all – and for life? The oral healthcare system needs revision

The dentist's role in promoting community water fluoridation

Risk perception and water fluoridation support and opposition in Australia

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