FluoridationIn 1967, the first fluoridation law in the U.S. went into effect in Connecticut, requiring fluoridation of public water supplies serving 20,000 or more population, to prevent dental caries. The water fluoridation era began in 1945 when the cities of Newburgh, New York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, began adding sodium fluoride to their public water systems. This followed the work done (1930-1943) by Frederick S. McKay, a Colorado dentist, who related brown stains (mottling) on his patients' teeth to low dental caries due to the source of their drinking water containing high levels of naturally occurring fluoride. By the early 1940s, H. Trendley Dean had determined the ideal level of fluoride in drinking water to reduce decay without mottling. |
