The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proclaimed community water fluoridation (along with vaccinations and infectious disease control) as one of ten great public health achievements of the 20th century.

Studies prove water fluoridation continues to be effective in reducing dental decay by 20-40%, even in an era with widespread availability of fluoride from other sources, such as fluoride toothpaste.

Fluoride protects teeth in two ways – systemically and topically.

Community water fluoridation benefits everyone, especially those without access to regular dental care. It is the most efficient way to prevent one of the most common childhood diseases – dental decay (5 times as common as asthma and 7 times as common as hay fever in 5-to-17-year-olds). Without fluoridation, there would be many more than the estimated 51 million school hours lost per year in this country because of dental-related illness.

For most cities, every $1 invested in water fluoridation saves $38 in dental treatments costs.

Water that has been fortified with fluoride is similar to fortifying salt with iodine, milk with vitamin D and orange juice with vitamin C.

Although other forms of fluoride are available, persons in nonfluoridated communities continue to demonstrate higher dental decay rates than their counterparts in communities with water fluoridation.

The majority of bottled waters on the market do not contain optimal levels (0.7-1.2ppm) of fluoride, AquaForte does.

Some types of home water treatment systems can reduce the fluoride levels in water supplies potentially decreasing the decay-preventive effects of optimally fluoridated water.

Over 405 million people in more than 60 countries worldwide enjoy the benefits of fluoridated water.

One of the most widely respected sources for information regarding fluoridation and fluorides is the American Dental Association. The ADA maintains Fluoride and Fluoridation Web pages at:   www.ada.org/goto/fluoride