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For hundreds of years, making it to adulthood with a full set of teeth was a privilege. Oral healthcare was next to non-existent until the late 1800s, so keeping a full set of gnashers your whole life was basically like winning the lottery. These days it’s much easier to maintain your pearly whites, in no small part thanks to the discovery of fluoride.
Fluoride might sound like a scary chemical, but it’s actually naturally occurring in many rocks and soil samples, and chances are you’ve ingested it loads of times before. It’s in most toothpastes, mouthwashes, and even in our water. Well, some of it.
Which brings us to Sadiq Khan. A report from the London Assembly’s Health Committee has issued several recommendations for the London Mayor, one of which is adding fluoride to the city’s drinking water. There is already a small amount of the compound in London’s water, but the committee found that adding more would greatly benefit the oral health of the capital.
The report also discovered that an above average number of five year old children in the capital experienced tooth decay in the year of 2021-22, with over a quarter of them being found to have the condition. Although there is a wider issue of lack of access to dental care in the city, it is thought that increased fluoride would help reduce these rates.
Khan is now being urged to carry out a review of the feasibility of fluoridating London’s water this yearand submit the findings of the review to the Government, so it could be a little while before anything actually changes. A spokesperson for the London Mayor’s office has said that he is ‘concerned about the challenges many Londoners face accessing dental services’, and will ‘respond to the Assembly in due course’.
Until that fluoride injection does come, just make sure to keep brushing and, of course, always remember to floss.
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