HEALTH: Support water fluoridation in Pierce County

Re: “Anti-fluoridation billboards are misleading, irresponsible” (Viewpoint, 8-9).

We are a dentist and family doctor working at Community Health Care in Tacoma. We are part of a team that serves more than 36,000 patients in our community with medical and dental care.

We emphatically agree with the importance of supplementing naturally occurring fluoride in our community water supply. We as a community cannot afford to fall victim to the scare tactics of an outside interest group that denies the vast public health science proving the health benefits of supplementing fluoride in our water.

If we remove fluoride supplements from the water, then parents would need to purchase oral fluoride supplements for their kids to take daily, which would be hardest on low-income families. Adding fluoride to drinking water is like adding soap to hand-washing - simple, safe and effective.

Tacoma

(Reynolds is dental director and Krebs is assistant medical director with Community Health Care.)

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 11:02 AM with the headline "HEALTH: Support water fluoridation in Pierce County."