Fluoridation and your community

Community water fluoridation has been hailed as one of the public health triumphs of the 20th century. For more than 65 years, communities across the United States have been supplementing naturally occurring fluoride in water supplies to promote oral health. At what are considered optimum levels, numerous studies have shown fluoride reduces cavities. At the same time, critics continue to fight water fluoridation efforts, armed with papers they say highlight the dangers of fluoride.

With battles playing out in communities from Alabama to Oregon, what do reporters need to know about the science and pseudo-science behind water fluoridation? Our webinar will feature Shelly Gehshan, director of  children’s dental policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Mary Otto, AHCJ’s Oral Health core topic leader. 

Date & time:
2 p.m. ET, Oct. 16 

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NOTE: This is exclusively for AHCJ members; will need your username and password. If you don’t have that, please email info@healthjournalism.org. A link to the webcast will appear on this page about 15 minutes before it begins.

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Shelly Gehshan (@SGehshan) directs children’s dental policy at Pew, supervising work with states to expand access to prevention and treatment for children through policy changes in Medicaid, sealant programs, community water fluoridation and the dental workforce. She speaks frequently about an expanded dental workforce and the benefits of community water fluoridation. She helped legislators in Minnesota draft the nation’s first state law licensing dental therapists. She served on the Institute of Medicine panel that released a major report in 2011 on the dental access problem. Gehshan spent nearly 20 years working for state policy makers on a range of issues affecting low-income women and children.

For technical questions about fluoridation, contact William Maas, adviser for the Children’s Dental Policy, The Pew Charitable Trusts: BMaas-consultant@pewtrusts.org

Maas is the former director of the Division of Oral Health in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.