Jo Raphael: Bloomfield adds teeth to fluoridation directive

OPINION

So it's finally happened. Fluoride is set to be added to a number of our drinking water supplies.

Outgoing director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has issued a directive for the mineral to be added to the remaining councils' water supplies that haven't already, including from our region the Rotorua Lakes Council, the Tauranga City Council, the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the Kawerau District Council.

The Rotorua Lakes Council has been asked to add fluoride to two of its nine supplies - the central and eastern water supplies.

The Tauranga City Council has been directed to fluoridate its whole supply including the Waiāri plant which is not yet online, while the Western Bay of Plenty District Council has been asked to add fluoride to two of its eight supplies affecting Athenree and Wharawhara.

A directive has been issued to fluoridate our drinking water. Photo / Getty Images

The writing was on the wall for those and other hold-out councils, however, when the Health Act was amended last year to move the decision-making power from councils to the director general of health, citing the decision more a health issue rather than a political one.

Community leaders, dentists, oral health experts and child health experts have all lauded the decision.

It's been labelled as a "game-changer" and an "important part of a toolkit" for dental health alongside consistent dental hygiene, regular dentist visits and a good diet.

The fortification of foods is not a new thing. Iodine has been added to table salt for many years.

If you eat store-bought bread, you more than likely will have been dosed with folic acid, an important vitamin needed to prevent birth defects such as spina bifida.

Whether you label this a "nanny-state" move or not, it's clear somebody needed to step in and make that decision for the good of everybody.

A 2019 University of Auckland study showed 41 per cent of Auckland and Northland children had one or more decayed, missing or filled tooth when they started school.

But councils mooting such a move have been stymied in previous years by vocal anti-fluoridation activists and those who felt their right to choose outweighed the health benefits of others.

We saw arguments of a similar nature over the Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

The Office of the Prime Minister's chief science adviser has looked into new information about water fluoridation and found there was no evidence fluoride levels used in New Zealand caused any significant health issues.

Bloomfield says fluoridated water is safe for everyone to drink, including babies and the elderly.

Fluoridating the water supply is a great first step in improving oral health but there's more we can be doing.

I agree with Waiariki MP Rawiri Waititi when he says we should also be looking at making oral health check-ups more affordable.

I believe the oral health sector should be managed in much the same way we manage our primary health sector. The two are inextricably linked.

Other things such as food labelling guides and better education in schools can also go a long way to help people make better choices for their oral health.