When officers in Collier County, Florida, just lately voted to finish fluoridation, dental professionals and pediatricians weren’t the one individuals who have been disheartened. College nurses have been involved too. College nurses see firsthand the destructive impression that persistent illness, of which tooth decay is one, has on kids’s capacity to attend college and be taught.
After the county’s board of commissioners made its choice, main voices from the college nursing group went on social media to specific their skilled issues. Martha Bergren, govt editor of the Journal of College Nursing, referred to as Collier County’s vote the “newest anti-science choice” that may negatively have an effect on kids’s well being, reminding us that ingesting fluoridated faucet water reduces decay by 25%.
The Nationwide Affiliation of College Nurses (NASN) shared Bergren’s message on its social media account. NASN’s message included the hashtag #healthequity, and for good cause. A
2021 report by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being writes that water fluoridation “can particularly profit kids in low-income households.”
Though Collier County is called the house of prosperous communities, about 40,000 of its residents reside at or beneath the poverty line. This locations them at greater danger for oral well being issues and will increase the problem of accessing skilled dental care. For a lot of kids in low-income households, fluoridated water is the first type of illness prevention they obtain. With out it, they’re at higher danger of cavities which, if left untreated, will solely worsen.
The choice to stop fluoridation in a group is usually justified with data that’s false, deceptive or incomplete. This was true in Collier County. Earlier than the board of commissioners took its vote, Commissioner Daniel Kowal made his case. In his remarks, Kowal named Australia as one of many nations that don’t have interaction in water fluoridation. That is false. Actually, 89% of the Australians have entry to ingesting water that incorporates the advisable degree of fluoride.
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 assets for its members on its Oral Well being Connections internet web page. College nurses are trusted, important companions in educating households and the general public to lift consciousness of fluoride’s advantages. We thank them for elevating their voices to focus on the impact of public coverage choices on the well being of the kids and households they serve.