The debate about fluoride in the city's drinking water will be flooding council chambers on Monday.
Researcher and author Dr. James Beck will be asking city council to reverse its policy of fluoridating the city's water, which has been in effect since 1955. Beck is a professor emeritus of the University of Calgary in medical biophysics and co-author of The Case Against Fluoride.
Beck gave a small crowd a preview of his presentation to council on Sunday during a debate on the issue at the College of New Caledonia.
"It is a substance given for medical purposes," Beck said. "Medical ethics, common sense and human decency suggests that it shouldn't be done."
Fluoridating drinking water as a way to reduce tooth decay is endorsed by Health Canada, Canadian Dental Association, Canadian Medical Association, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization.
Health Canada recommends 0.7 mg/L as the optimal amount of fluoride in drinking water and 1.5 mg/L as the maximum acceptable limit.
Beck said new studies have questioned the effectiveness of fluoride in reducing tooth decay, while raising concerns about its health impacts like dental fluorosis, reducing bone strength, brain function and thyroid function.
A study of 39,000 children aged five to 17 years old in 84 communities in North America found in cities with fluoridated water kids averaged 2.8 cavities. In cities without fluoridated water, the kids averaged 3.4 cavities.
"If it is effective, it is marginally effective," he said.
In countries with and without fluoridation, tooth decay has been declining, he said. Even if the fluoride does reduce tooth decay, Beck said, is it worth the health risks?
"Even advocates of fluoride admit it causes dental fluorosis. You try telling a 14 year old with mottled teeth it is just a cosmetic issue," Beck said. "Fluorosis can be quite more than mottling of the teeth. It can result in pitting."
Studies of areas with high natural fluoride levels in water in China showed lower average IQs than other areas, he said. And high fluoride dosages have been linked to increased incidents of hip fractures in some studies, he said.
"There is differences in how people respond to treatments. Some people are more susceptible than others," he said. "[And] there is easily a 20-fold variation in the amount of water we drink. And our body sizes."
Fluoride is also found in products like toothpaste and tea which can substantially increase the amount of fluoride an individual consumes.
Local dentist Dr. Richard Wilczek said Health Canada and the Canadian Dental Association support fluoridating water for a reason. Approximately 45 per cent of Canadians drink fluoridated drinking water - although only four per cent in B.C.
Wilczek said in 30 years of dentistry in Prince George, he's seen the difference in his patients.
"The people that come from non-fluoridated communities, their kids have a third more cavities than kids from Prince George. Fluoride is very effective on the flat surfaces and between the teeth," he said. "I don't see [dental] fluorosis as a problem. A lot of the fluorosis we see is as a result of eating toothpaste."
Fluoride has the most benefit for children who have poorer diets, and poor dental hygiene.
"For the kids who don't know what a toothbrush is, those are the kids, if you take fluoride out of the water, that will suffer."
City council will hear Beck's presentation during the regular city council meeting at City Hall, starting at 7 p.m.
For more information about fluoride in drinking water, go online to www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
