SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Board of Health is gathering information about fluoridation and the possibility of having fluoride in Southwick’s public water supply.
Dr. John Fischer is seen speaking to the Board of Health about fluoridation on Thursday night. (Photo courtesy of Greg Fitzpatrick)
During Thursday night’s BOH meeting, Dr. John Fischer attended to speak about fluoridation. Fischer, a dentist who has his own practice in Salem, Massachusetts, is an advocate for fluoridation and uses it daily on his patients.
Fischer made a presentation to the board about his findings, experience, and positive benefits that he believes to be true about fluoridation. A key point that Fischer made was that by having fluoride in a community public water supply, residents will be exposed to fluoride which will help reduce the chance of getting decay in your teeth by 25% over a person’s lifetime.
Another supposed benefit from Fischer is that community water fluoridation has proved to save as much as $38 for every $1 that is spent by increasing fluoride to a town water supply.
“Community fluoridation is the most cost-efficient,” said Fischer.
As the presentation progressed, Fischer spoke about a couple of different studies across the United States that have had a positive outcome. Fischer discussed a 2003 Colorado study that showed an annual savings of $148.9 million in Medicaid savings which then calculated out to $60.78 per person that are in fluoridated communities. Fischer also noted a 2000 study in Texas that displayed an annual Medicaid savings of $24 per individual.
Fischer explained that he first became an advocate of fluoridation when he and his wife were volunteering on a mobile access to care van where they gave free care to poor children. Fischer began to see a great amount of varying levels of decay during his experience.
Although Fischer is a supporter of having fluoridation in a town’s public water supply, he also acknowledged some of the most noted examples of groups or people who are against this action. On November 23, 2016, the Fluoride Action Network, along with a number of other groups, filed a petition to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to try and prohibit the purposeful addition of fluoridation chemicals to U.S. water supplies. The EPA ended up denying the petitioner’s request as they believed that the studies and science that the petition brought forth didn’t support the facts that they originally presented.
Besides being a dentist in Salem, Fischer is also the current Chairman of the Better Oral Health for Massachusetts Coalition and a past president of the Massachusetts Dental Society. Fischer is also a member of the Oral Health Committee for the Massachusetts Medical Society.
