[hayst4ck]

It also seems to mirror the rhyme with the vaccine "debate."

That debate is framed around being vaccinated vs the scare of "vaccine caused autism" (or myocarditis), but that frame is missing the risk of things like measles.

Likewise tooth decay is not only expensive, but it can have dreadful health consequences if left unaddressed. Missing teeth is also socially costly. Being poor or "ugly" or poor looking is a serious adverse health consequence. Imagine parents barely making ends meet or working multiple jobs. It's easy to imagine disadvantaged kids missing out on dental care.

I also explicitly remember reading multiple reports of poor tooth health correlating with dementia development. I've also read that serious infections of any sort can harm IQ.

[kelnos]

Sure, but we need to look at this from the other side, too. Does fluoridating water provide benefits? I think it's safe to say it did way back when we started doing it. But we didn't have fluoride toothpaste back then. Putting fluoride in the water is presumably more costly than not doing it. If it's actually providing benefits, and the risk of harm is below some very low threshold, then sure, let's keep doing it. But is it actually providing benefits?