Around half of the county’s water is currently fluoridated, a public health measure intended to prevent tooth decay.
According to the British Fluoridation Society, schemes to bring fluoride levels up to the recommended amount in parts of the county took place between 1970 and 1991.
But areas including Worcester, Kidderminster, Stourport and the Malvern Hills district are still without fluoride in their water.
At a county council health overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday, January 8, Cllr Richard Udall asked: “How close are we to getting full Worcestershire coverage?
“My area of Worcester city and other areas do not have that, and I’d consider it one of the main ways we can help prevent dental problems.”
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Charmaine Hawker, director of delegated commissioning at NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB said: “You’re right – some parts of Worcestershire have it, some don’t. Herefordshire doesn’t have fluoridisation at all. So it’s a real mixed picture across our patch.”
Lisa McNally, Worcestershire’s director of public health, said: “We wrote to government to request the whole of Worcestershire be included in fluoridisation.
“There’s a really good evidence base for fluoridisation and its effect on dental health among young people especially but also in more socially and economically deprived groups, where you tend to see poorer dental health.
“The regional director for public put in a request for us to be included in the next wave of fluoridisation. They decided to prioritise the north east of England, but we continue to request and maybe an action of this committee today is we repeat that request and say we’re still waiting and would be really keen to see fluoridisation across the county.”
Cllr Richard Morris said there is a “crisis” of under fives going into school with poor dental health.
And Cllr Adrian Kriss asked: “Do we miss out on the prevention of dental issues? Other countries have dentists go into schools.”
Dr McNally said there is a “lot of positive preventative work in place” including supervised tooth brushing for 0-4-year-olds.