Nature’s gift?…..well, yes and no.
In 1901, a young dentist named Dr. Frederick McKay traveled west to practice dentistry in Colorado Springs. What he discovered there shocked him. He observed a previously unrecorded malformation of the adult teeth in children born and raised locally. The teeth were stained dark brown, and were virtually impervious to tooth decay. Over the next 8 years, 90 percent of all the local children displayed signs of this unnamed condition.
By 1909, Dr. McKay was able to persuade the Colorado Springs Dental Society to fund his research into what became known as “Colorado Brown Stain,” and launched his 30 year quest to discover the cause.
Over the next 22 years, McKay followed the disorder to Oakley, Idaho and Bauxite, Arkansas. Eventually in 1931, he had water samples from all of the known locations tested with newly developed spectrographic analysis, and the riddle was solved. All of the affected towns had high concentrations of naturally occurring fluoride in their water.
Once it had been established that water born fluorides caused the discoloration of otherwise healthy teeth, the National Institute of Health (NIH) began to investigate the astonishing ability of fluoride to prevent tooth decay. After years of research, the NIH determined that one part per million of fluoride in public drinking water was not only safe for consumption, but also effective in significantly reducing the occurrence of cavity formation in the adult teeth of children.
In 1945 the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first test site in America for fluoridated public water. The 15 year study involved over 30,000 school children, and resulted in an astounding 60% decrease in cavities. For the first time in human history, tooth decay became a preventable disease. Today, water fluoridation projects benefit over 200 million Americans, and an additional 13 million school children participate in school based fluoride mouth rinse programs.
Virtually every toothpaste and mouthwash on the market today contains the beneficial addition of low dose fluoride for every age group. Additionally, millions of older Americans, who are susceptible to dental root cavities, are protected by prescription strength fluoride gels from their dental professionals.
The discovery of water born fluoride began as a gift from nature with mixed blessings. Although it caused disfiguring discoloration to the teeth of thousands of young children, it also held the secret to unlocking one of the greatest public health advances of the 20th Century.