British Fluoridation Society Prepares To Battle For Health And Care Bill Changes
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- Published: Tuesday, 26 October 2021 07:49
- Written by Chris Tapper
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As the new proposed Health and Care Bill reaches the Commons Committee stage, Lord Philip Hunt has called the Government’s plan to centralise the control of water fluoridation schemes “An opportunity to take a big step forward in not only improving this generation’s oral health, but those for decades to come.”
The former Health Minister and former President of the British Fluoridation Society was speaking at the opening of the BFS national conference held at Birmingham Dental School at the weekend.
The purpose of the water fluoridation clauses in the proposed Health Bill is to give the Secretary of State the power to directly introduce, vary or terminate water fluoridation schemes.
The Bill will be debated in parliament through the remainder of this year and early next, and is expected to be passed in time for changes to come into effect in April 2022.
Lord Hunt said that if the Bill passes both the Commons and the House of Lords, “Key questions then remain.”
He said “Having got the power back to initiate fluoridation schemes, what is the government programme going to be? Do they have a target of either number of schemes, or population reach over say the next five years. “How much resources is going to be made available?”
“And I think importantly in the end, given the pernicious nature of the campaign against fluoridation how determined in the end are ministers to drive forward, even in the face of some opposition.”
The Labour Peer told the conference “Those are the kind of questions which remain, which I hope that I’ll be able to initiate based on this, when the bill reaches us.”
Lord Hunt concluded “I do think we need to be prepared to battle and campaign to get fluoridation through.”
Health Minster Maria Caulfield said in a pre-recorded video message that while poorer and disadvantaged groups “Face challenges in eating healthily, engaging with dental services and brushing regularly, what we all know is that water fluoridation is the only intervention to improve oral health, that does not require sustained behaving change over many years.”
Ms Caulfield said the current legal framework, which leaves local authorities to implement water fluoridation, has been a ‘barrier’ for new schemes.
The Minister told the conference “This is why we are taking steps with a health care bill to transfer the responsibility for water fluoridation from local authorities to the Secretary of State for the first time. This will make it simpler to expand scales, subject to funding basic cures and consultation with local communities.”
Ms Caulfield said that the dental profession can “Play a key role as a sort of source of trusted advice for the population, which will be vital in supporting the case for water fluoridation and providing that reassurance. We are also keen to continue to work with those in the room and across the dental and all health sectors to promote the benefits of water fluoridation.”
Dr Anna Ireland, National Lead for Dental Public Health England outlined the problems associated with the current water fluoridation administrative process. She said that local authorities have said that fluoridation schemes involve “A cumbersome and complex process.”
She said local authorities “Have to do a lot of preparation that itself is expensive, and water pipelines do not follow local authority boundaries. So, when planning new schemes, they have to consider which other local authorities might be affected and they have to consult and liaise with them and work with them.”
“And it may be the neighbouring local authorities are of a different political persuasion, they may have different values and views on water fluoridation so it all makes it really quite complicated.”
But Dr Ireland warned “I think it’s important to note that fluoridation is only part of the solution, it’s not a silver bullet.”
“If we have promotion expansion, it doesn’t mean that we should stop all the more targeted programmes such as supervise tooth brushing and fluoride varnish and things like that.”
She reassured the conference “Water quality is incredibly tightly controlled, and it’s regulated by the Drinking Water Inspectorate. We have very clear limits as to the amount of fluoride in the water.”
Guest speaker Dr Eddie Crouch, a native of fluoridated Birmingham, and Chair of the British Dental Association, gave the conference a brief history of fluoridation in England.
He said that in 2013, John Langford and John Morris carried out a study of patients aged ‘nought to nineteen.’
The study produced stark results.
Dr Crouch said the study “Compared the Primary Care Trust areas of the West Midlands and the Northwest for general anaesthetics, and despite the fact that Birmingham has one of the of the most deprived areas of Primary Care Trusts in the country - and the second was Liverpool - you were 27 times more likely to go into hospital in Liverpool than you were in Birmingham.”
Sandra White, Clinical Director, Association of Dental Groups told the conference about her experiences and difficulties when participating in past fluoridation consultations in Southampton and emphasised that good communication is essential in promoting fluoridation schemes.
During a panel discussion, GDPUK asked the panel “There are still GDP’s out there who oppose putting fluoride in the water, incredibly. How do you get through to them. They are just opposed to mass medication?”
Dr White recalled meeting a dentist who threw fluoride toothpaste during a meeting and called it ‘toxic.’
Dr White said that “We have to treat the public as adults. They should be able to see through some of this.”
Dr Barry Cockroft, Chairman of the BFS echoed Dr White. He said “The general public on the whole has a lot more sense than we sometimes give them credit for.”
Dr Simon Hearnshaw said “The only option is to agree to disagree with them and point out the evidence base.”
GDPUK asked the speakers for their forecast on the chances of the fluoridation proposals in the Health Bill going through Parliament successfully.
Dr Cockroft said “I’m not sure I can answer that. I would say it’s got cross party support, and it’s proposed by the Government. The Labour Party have said to me that they will support the clauses in the Bill on water fluoridation. So I think my thought is that the bill, the clause that people go through. The big question is then, taking it forward.
Dr Crouch answered “I’ve been fortunate to speak to quite a lot of MPs about the Bill. More so about the concerns obviously where dentistry will fit in the structure in the voice of the profession. But I had a meeting with Alex Norris. We spoke about fluoridation, and it didn’t detect anything from what he said that there was nothing but the support for the for the elements of prevention within the Bill. There are some concerns about other areas in the bill but fluoridation isn’t one of them.”
The afternoon session of the conference heard from British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry President Maria Morgan on how a public health approach can make a difference in the acceptance of water fluoridation.
Dr Yewande Oduwole and Dr Victoria Ojetunde presented a talk on the impact of social media on informing the public, while Fiona Ellwood, Patron and Executive Director of the Society of British Dental Nurses, presented a talk entitled ‘Making a difference in practice.’
GDPUK understands that a video of the conference will be available on the BFS website in the coming days. Free membership of the BFS can also be accessed at this link.
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