Fluoridated Water Is Safe, Has No Impact on IQ, Brain Function

• A brand new examine finds no proof that fluoridated ingesting water impacts youngsters’s IQ or the cognitive talents of older adults.
• Consultants say fluoride in ingesting water helps stop tooth decay and cavities.
• They add that an individual’s dental well being instantly impacts their general well being.

Fluoride in ingesting water doesn’t have an effect on youngsters’s IQ or lower cognitive talents in older adults, in line with a brand new, large-scale examine.

“We discover no proof that [community water fluoridation] is negatively related to adolescent IQ or grownup cognitive functioning,” the examine authors wrote.

The findings are in distinction to Well being and Human Providers (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s announcement in April that he would require the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) to revise its long-standing recommendation that fluoride be added to ingesting water.

In addition they contradict earlier analysis, together with a January study, that has prompt a attainable hyperlink between fluoride and kids’s IQ ranges. Researchers famous that the research have been carried out in China and different international locations with larger fluoride concentrations than permitted in the US.

Scott Tomar, DMD, a spokesperson for the American Dental Affiliation, stated this analysis supplies necessary data for the general public at a essential time. Tomar wasn’t concerned within the examine.

“Regardless of misinformation that’s on the market, one of the best out there proof signifies that neighborhood water fluoridation has no impact on IQ, cognition, or different measures of neurodevelopment,” stated Tomar, who can also be a professor and affiliate dean for Prevention and Public Sciences on the School of Dentistry on the College of Illinois Chicago.

Danelle Fisher, MD, a pediatrician at Windfall Saint John’s Well being Middle in Santa Monica, CA, stated the findings affirm earlier analysis on fluoridated water. Fisher wasn’t concerned within the examine.

“They reassure us that the usage of fluoride in correct quantities doesn’t have any definitive results on IQ,” she informed Healthline. “It makes a very good case for having fluoride in our ingesting water.”

The brand new examine was led by Rob Warren, PhD, a sociologist and inhabitants well being professional on the College of Minnesota.

Warren used information from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has adopted greater than 10,000 folks in that state since they graduated from highschool in 1957. Members took IQ checks at age 16, then had cognitive testing executed at ages 53, 64, 72, and 80.

The unique function of the Wisconsin examine wasn’t targeted on fluoride so there was no information out there on urine or blood checks that may have measured actual ranges of fluoride. Warren’s staff primarily based their estimates on publicity from data of when neighborhood water fluoridation started in sure areas.

The brand new findings observe a November 2025 study led by Warren that discovered no hyperlink between neighborhood water fluoridation in youth and mind perform in folks at age 60.

Consultants observe that fluoridation at applicable ranges doesn’t seem to trigger any unfavorable well being results.

“On the ranges of fluoride that we use for neighborhood water fluoridation in the US and different international locations, there aren’t any antagonistic well being results,” Tomar informed Healthline.

Graham Tse, MD, a pediatrician and chief medical officer of MemorialCare Miller Kids’s & Girls’s Hospital in Lengthy Seashore, CA, agreed that the low ranges of fluoride in U.S. ingesting water pose no menace. Tse wasn’t concerned within the examine.

“There is no such thing as a proof of any well being impacts,” Tse informed Healthline.

He added that fluoride, like nutritional vitamins or different substances, can pose some points if persons are uncovered to excessive ranges. “That’s the case with many, many issues,” Tse stated.

The well being advantages of fluoride in ingesting water have been first studied in 1909 in Colorado.

In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan, grew to become the primary state so as to add fluoride to its municipal water in an effort to assist stop tooth decay. Preliminary research reported that tooth decay amongst Grand Rapids schoolchildren born after 1945 had declined by 60%.

In 1962, the U.S. Public Well being Service recommended fluoridation in ingesting water.

The CDC states that the optimum stage of fluoride in ingesting water to forestall cavities is 0.7 milligrams (mg) per liter (L). That quantities to three drops in a 55-gallon barrel. The legal limit for ingesting water in the US is 4 mg/L.

Immediately, greater than 70% of individuals in the US on public water methods obtain fluoridated water. That represents greater than 200 million People.

Nonetheless, that quantity is shrinking. Two states — Utah and Florida — have enacted bans on fluoride in ingesting water. A number of different states, together with Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma, have pending laws to restrict fluoride.

Fluoride, a chemical present in nature in addition to in toothpaste and ingesting water, works by inhibiting the expansion of micro organism that trigger cavities, strengthening the onerous outer enamel of tooth, reversing the injury brought on by cavities, and supporting new bone formation.

Extreme fluoride consumption, nevertheless, might trigger fluorosis, a situation that can lead to white spots or brown stains on tooth.

Consultants say the advantages of fluoridated water are quite a few and widespread.

“We now have extraordinarily constant proof that water fluoridation helps to forestall tooth decay and reduces its severity,” stated Tomar. “We even have very constant proof that neighborhood water fluoridation saves cash for households, communities, and state governments by lowering dental prices and missed days of labor or college on account of dental issues.”

“The first hazard of stopping fluoridation is that the degrees of tooth decay, and its associated remedy prices will improve,” he added. “The results present up first – and most pronounced – among the many youngest youngsters locally however finally impacts everybody.”

Amongst different points, gum disease can have an effect on blood sugar ranges in folks with diabetes and improve the danger of coronary heart illness and respiratory infections.

As well as, poor dental well being may result in the development of diabetes and different continual ailments later in life.

Poor dental well being can also affect folks with continual kidney illness.

Fisher stated that cavities can result in abscesses and infections, which may have an effect on any a part of the physique.

“Cavities aren’t simply little holes in your tooth,” she informed Healthline. “Infections can unfold and trigger all kinds of issues.”

“Oral well being isn’t restricted to the mouth,” Tse famous. “It’s related to general well being.”

CDC officers say there are a number of ways you possibly can promote good oral well being. Amongst their recommendations:

• Keep away from meals and drinks with added sugars.
• Drink fluoridated water and use fluoridated toothpaste.
• Brush your tooth no less than twice a day and floss usually.
• Go to the dentist no less than annually.

Fisher agreed with these suggestions and added a couple of extra recommendations for fogeys.

She stated adults ought to set a very good instance for youngsters on common brushing and flossing. She provides that folks ought to keep away from giving youngsters too many drinks and meals with added sugars.

Fisher stated infants ought to by no means go to sleep whereas ingesting juice or soda from a bottle. That enables sugar to coat their tiny tooth. She added that gummy merchandise may keep on with tooth and needs to be used sparingly.

Tse agreed that good dental habits are necessary for youngsters, as their tooth are nonetheless rising. He stated that if everybody had entry to high quality dental care and adhered to wholesome dental habits each day, then maybe fluoridated water wouldn’t be vital.

“Possibly we wouldn’t want fluoridated ingesting water below these circumstances, however that’s not the fact,” he stated. “Fluoridation is an affordable, efficient method to promote good dental care.”