[Music]

[United States Public Health Service]

[Introduces...]

[Benjamin Spock M.D.]

[For Children Because We Care]

[Dr. Spock:] We show our love for our children 

in different ways. 

We give them good things to eat. 

We protect them from the cold or the heat. 

We teach them how to get along with each other. 

We comfort them when they're hurt. 

When they're sick, we do our best to get them well again. 

Even more important in the long run 

are the things we do to keep them healthy. 

That's why I feel unhappy about Jim here. 

Look in his mouth. 

Can you see the missing and decayed teeth? 

And he is just 14 years old. 

This bothers me because two-thirds of this decay 

could and really should have been prevented.

Think of it. 

In many of our communities, we let our children 

have 65 percent more cavities, fillings, extractions, 

and toothaches than they need to suffer. 

[Our children have 65% more dental disease than they need suffer]

Sixty-five percent. 

If parents knew they were letting their children 

have toothaches, cavities, and extractions, 

it would shock them. 

But it's true. 

Most decay can be prevented. 

Tooth decay is the most prevalent 

of all diseases in the United States. 

It begins just a few years after the appearance 

of the baby teeth and continues right through adulthood. 

The toll in lost teeth is high. 

It can spoil appearances, too. 

It can lead to abscesses and other diseases. 

Here's Fred, 16 years old and a fine, healthy boy. 

But look at his teeth. 

He's already lost several and has ten more with cavities. 

Here's the mouth of the average 40-year-old. 

Half his teeth are gone. 

So we can anticipate, without much pleasure, 

that on the average, our youngsters will have lost 

half their teeth when they reach 40. 

You might think this is unusual, 

but 22 million Americans have no teeth at all. 

More than a million of them are under 34. 

One child in ten has some form 

of malocclusion or crooked teeth. 

Bad cases like this one 

are a real social and psychological handicap. 

Treatment means braces and dental bills. 

So that's the picture. 

Decay, pain, infection, facial disfigurement; 

22 million people without teeth. 

But, in about a thousand communities, 

almost everyone has attractive teeth,

and there are many fewer cavities, less malocclusion, fewer dentures. 

Why? 

The right amount of fluoride is present 

in their water supplies. 

It's always been there, naturally. 

Here they are. 

A thousand towns where nature has provided 

the right amount of fluoride. 

Here's Patricia, who lives in one 

of those communities. 

She's 16 and has been drinking 

fluoridated water since she was a baby. 

She has all her teeth and just three cavities. 

Compare that with the mouth of a 16-year-old 

from a non-fluoride town: 

several teeth gone and as many as ten with cavities. 

This is Mr. Conway. 

He lives in a fluoride town. 

He's 40 years old and started drinking 

naturally fluoridated water when he was a baby. 

He's lost only three teeth and has seven fillings. 

Incidentally, all these facts about teeth 

are based on research findings. 

They're not guesses, but actual averages 

obtained by examining thousands of people

in fluoride and non-fluoride towns. 

As you look at our map again, you should think 

of the adverse claims you have heard about fluoridation. 

That it's dangerous; causes heart disease, 

cancer, diabetes, and other diseases. 

If the unfavorable things you hear about fluoridation 

were true, no one in his right mind would live in these places. 

They'd be ghost towns. 

Think about all these towns,

the millions of people in them. 

the thousands of physicians serving them. 

Of course, practically all drinking water 

contains some fluoride.

So all our lives, most of us have been drinking 

water with a little fluoride in it. 

We also get a little fluoride in the food we eat. 

There's really no such thing as a fluoride-free diet. 

Chicken has 1.4 parts per million of fluoride. 

Spinach, 1 part per million. 

Corn, 1 part per million. 

Butter, 1.5. 

Milk, about 0.1. 

Bread, 1.0. 

In fact, a diet lacking in fluoride 

would be an inadequate diet. 

Whether the fluoride is added in by nature,

or by engineers in precise amounts under controlled conditions, 

the fluoride is always the same. 

It's released in the water and absorbed by the blood. 

Some is stored in the teeth and bones,

and the rest is excreted from the body. 

You'll find controlled fluoridation 

in more than 2,600 communities. 

Some are little places, just a few hundred people. 

Others are cities like San Francisco, Denver, Baltimore, 

Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Miami. 

You'll find controlled fluoridation in Washington, 

where Congress appropriated funds 

for adding fluoride to the city's water. 

So the President's family drinks fluoridated water. 

In fact, one out of every three people 

in the United States who use a public water supply 

drinks water with a controlled fluoride content. 

All the major scientific and professional groups 

concerned with health have long supported fluoridation. 

Opponents of fluoridation have asserted that all sorts of things 

would happen when communities decided to fluoridate. 

But in not a single instance have their predictions materialized. 

Some opponents have claimed fluoridation is unconstitutional. 

This is really like saying that vaccination 

or the chlorination of the water supply are unconstitutional. 

Actually, the courts say that fluoridation is constitutional. 

Let's take a look at what controlled fluoridation 

actually has done. 

Here's Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

In 1945, the fluoride content of the water was adjusted 

to the recommended 1 part fluoride per million parts of water. 

The people of Grand Rapids pay only 

$0.07 per person a year for fluoridation. 

All Grand Rapids children benefitted. 

The youngsters, as you can see, have less 

than half as many bad baby teeth. 

The 13-year-olds have fewer bad teeth, four compared to ten. 

The older children also have much less tooth decay, 

especially if they started drinking the water 

in their first month or so. 

Evanston, Illinois, found controlled fluoridation 

as effective as Grand Rapids. 

[Evanston 64% less]

Before fluoridation, only about one percent of the 

12-year-olds in Evanston had perfect teeth like these. 

After 11 years of fluoridation, 13 times 

as many 12-year-olds had perfect teeth. 

None missing, decayed, or filled. 

Eleven years of fluoridation in Evanston cost $88,000, 

but Evanston parents saved almost one-quarter of a 

million dollars in the cost of dental care,

and improved the health of their children. 

The experience of a town like Aurora, Illinois

with natural fluoridation shows how fluoridation lasts a lifetime. 

In Aurora, seven times as many adults 

have all their teeth than do adults in a non-fluoride city nearby. 

You may have heard that fluoridation causes unsightly teeth. 

In Grand Rapids, a half of one percent of the 12- to 16-year-olds 

have what dentists call mild fluorosis, like Marion. 

But the general effect is good here. 

Here's a better view. 

As you can see, locating fluorosis 

is a job for a specialist. 

There it is, those opaque white spots. 

Opponents say fluoridation makes teeth ugly, 

but I wouldn't call those teeth ugly. 

Some people object that fluoridation takes 

away their individual freedom and rights. 

But if that's true, then chlorine and other water treatment chemicals 

take away these rights. 

Have older people any reason to be concerned 

about fluoridation? 

Certainly not. 

In the specific case of heart difficulties, 

Dr. Paul Dudley White, the noted heart specialist, says, 

"Elderly people with tired hearts need have no fear of fluoridated water. 

It is safe for all." 

We can say the same of any malady of an older person. 

Fluoride has no adverse effect on any of the internal organs. 

Not on kidneys, liver, stomach, heart, or any other. 

All people of all ages, sick or well, 

can drink fluoridated water without question, doubt, or hesitation. 

I think older people should consider fluoridation 

a wonderful gift to the young ones they love. 

That's why many older people work so hard 

to bring about fluoridation programs. 

It means better health for their grandchildren 

and doesn't harm a living soul. 

Some people point out that a certain 

amount of fluoride is wasted. 

There's some waste, of course. 

All the water is not drunk. 

In that respect, it's no different from 

other water treatment chemicals. 

But since $1.00 invested for fluoridation eventually saves 

$56.00 in dental care, I'd scarcely call it wasteful. 

Other people urge that children take fluoride tablets 

instead of fluoridating the water supply. 

Well, as a pediatrician I simply can't recommend a tablet 

a child must take every day for eight or ten years. 

Tooth-brushing, of course, is still important for oral hygiene, 

but toothpaste can never be a substitute for fluoridation. 

But I'm getting away from the really important things. 

Here they are, just three key points to remember about fluoridation. 

It has never been known to harm anyone, old or young, ill or well. 

It prevents two out of every three cavities. 

And it costs about a dime a year a person. 

We're not really talking about a theory. 

We're not primarily concerned with 

the process called fluoridation. 

We're interested in flesh and blood 

children, healthy, happy children. 

Here's Linda and Carol and Lynn. 

And the twins, Jan and Jean. 

Here in Cleveland, 

we protect their teeth with fluoridated water. 

We started back in 1956. 

All I can say is, I hope you fluoridate. 

I know you'll be glad you did.

[For children...]

[Music]

[...because we care]

[Fluoridation...The beginning]

[U.S.A. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 

Public Health Service, Division of Dental Health]