fluoridation

Foundation Pledges $15,000 for Fluoridation

At its recent meeting via conference call, the Board of Trustees of the New York State Dental Foundation voted unanimously to
support a request for funding in the amount of $15,000 from the Chemung County-Corning Coalition for Water Fluoridation.

The Chemung County-Corning Coalition for Water Fluoridation is an affiliation of advocates who wish to complete the 25 mile
corridor of municipal water fluoridation from Chemung County to Painted Post, New York. To the east, Chemung County has
been fluoridated since 1953, a system which currently serves 70,000 of the 92,000 residents of Chemung County. To the west,
Painted Post has fluoridated since 1976, serving 9,100 residents. In the intervening years from initial fluoridation to today, many
studies have shown that children in the non-fluoridated 25 mile corridor exhibited elevated DMF.

Following a decades-long struggle against vitriolic anti-fluoridationists, public health advocates were able to successfully lobby the
Corning Board of Health and the Corning City Council to fluoridate the remaining water supply. The one catch: the Chemung
County-Corning Coalition for Water Fluoridation must obtain grants and donations for $100,000, a figure representing half of the
capital costs to start water fluoridation. Hence, the request for funding from the New York State Dental Foundation.

“We were greatly impressed by the level of support garnered for this project, from all possible stakeholders, but most notably by
the local dental communities,” states Foundation Vice Chairman Dr. Robert Raiber. At the time of the call, individual local dentists
had pledged more than $11,000 to the program; the Steuben County Dental Society $2,500, and the Seventh District Dental
Society, $10,000. In addition, the Ferraioli Dental Lecture had pledged $5,000.

Among the missions of the Foundation is to increase the public’s understanding of and access to dental services. Clearly,
fluoridation is an essential aspect of oral health. At the turn of this century, the Centers for Disease Control called fluoridation one
of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. In its MMWR Weekly, the CDC noted: “Fluoridation of drinking
water began in 1945 and in 1999 reaches an estimated 144 million persons in the United States. Fluoridation safely and
inexpensively benefits both children and adults by effectively preventing tooth decay, regardless of socioeconomic status or
access to care. Fluoridation has played an important role in the reductions in tooth decay [40% - 70% in children] and of tooth
loss in adults [40% - 60%].”

The Foundation commends the hard work and efforts of the Chemung County-Corning Coalition for Water Fluoridation, and is
thankful, as always, for the opportunity to support and assist in efforts to improve the oral health of all New Yorkers.

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