When officers in Collier County, Florida, lately voted to finish fluoridation, dental pros and pediatricians weren’t the one individuals who have been disheartened. Faculty nurses have been involved too. Faculty nurses see firsthand the destructive have an effect on that power illness, of which teeth decay is one, has on kids’s skill to wait college and be told.
After the county’s board of commissioners made its choice, main voices from the varsity nursing network went on social media to specific their skilled issues. Martha Bergren, government editor of the Magazine of Faculty Nursing, known as Collier County’s vote the “newest anti-science choice” that may negatively impact kids’s well being, reminding us that consuming fluoridated faucet water reduces decay by means of 25%.
The Nationwide Affiliation of Faculty Nurses (NASN) shared Bergren’s message on its social media account. NASN’s message incorporated the hashtag #healthequity, and for excellent explanation why. A
2021 document by means of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being writes that water fluoridation “can particularly get advantages kids in low-income households.”
Despite the fact that Collier County is referred to as the house of prosperous communities, about 40,000 of its citizens reside at or underneath the poverty line. This puts them at upper chance for oral well being issues and will increase the trouble of gaining access to skilled dental care. For plenty of kids in low-income families, fluoridated water is the main type of illness prevention they obtain. With out it, they’re at better chance of cavities which, if left untreated, will simplest irritate.
The verdict to stop fluoridation in a network is regularly justified with data this is false, deceptive or incomplete. This was once true in Collier County. Sooner than the board of commissioners took its vote, Commissioner Daniel Kowal made his case. In his remarks, Kowal named Australia as one of the most international locations that don’t have interaction in water fluoridation. That is false. Actually, 89% of the Australians have get admission to to consuming water that accommodates the beneficial point of fluoride.
It’s laudable that college nurses are doing their section to boost consciousness of the will for community-level prevention. And NASN has many very good assets for its contributors on its Oral Well being Connections internet web page. Faculty nurses are relied on, essential companions in instructing households and the general public to boost consciousness of fluoride’s advantages. We thank them for elevating their voices to spotlight the impact of public coverage choices at the well being of the youngsters and households they serve.