Fluoride. In drinking water. It’s a controversial topic. We’ve posted about it before. People have differing opinions about whether it’s healthy or unhealthy. The only reason that water is fluoridated is to help prevent cavities – mainly in children. That’s been the reasoning for the practice since fluoridation of public drinking water started in 1945 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And it’s pretty clear that fluoride does help lower the rate of cavities in children. But what is being questioned more and more is the need to put fluoride into drinking water. We’ve been following the topic closely because many of our customers are concerned about having fluoride in their drinking water and ask us to install a reverse-osmosis system specifically to remove fluoride – which RO does very well. But some people worry that removing fluoride from their drinking water might harm their children’s teeth – expose them to a higher rate of cavities. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Here’s a link to a study that compares cavity rates in countries that fluoridate their water with countries that don’t. It takes a look all the way back to 1975 to see how many kids get cavities and how many they get by age 12. And what they found is that the number of cavities is going down in all countries – whether they fluoridate or not. And they think they know why. People around the world now have easy access to dental products that contain fluoride – toothpaste, dental rinses, mouthwashes. So, yes, fluoride is tied to a reduction in cavities. But we don’t have to drink it to get that effect. If you want to remove fluoride from your drinking water, give us a call and we’ll install a reverse-osmosis system that will take it out of your water.