After 74 years, city of Naples will stop fluoridating public water after repeated public demand to protect residents’ health, especially children and the elderly.
City Council voted 4-3 Dec. 4 to delete an ordinance that required fluoridation, with council members Ray Christman, Linda Penniman and Beth Petrunoff opposing. The city has been adding 0.7 mg of fluoride to city water since 1950 after a mandate by the state Board of Health. In a related vote, Council voted 5-2 to direct City Manager Jay Boodheshwar to discontinue fluoridation on or before Jan. 1.
The votes came after 13 residents, including a dentist and three doctors, urged Council to remove fluoride, while six, including two dentists and a dental hygienist, asked Council to continue fluoridating public water. Council members also received hundreds of emails for and against. During the first public hearing Nov. 6, the vote also was 4-3 in favor of removal.
“I think it’s incumbent to decide not whether fluoride’s great,” council member Bill Kramer said, calling that “completely irrelevant. Our decision is do we impose this on those who do not want it, who are our constituents? … You can get a 5-gallon jug of Culligan … fluoridated water for $15. … The kids that need it can get it provided for them.”
It was the second time since 2012 that Naples held public hearings on fluoridation. This month’s action followed a Nov. 22 announcement by State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, who issued guidance that recommends not fluoridating “due to the neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure.”
Demand in Naples grew after a Sept. 24 federal ruling questioning the safety of fluoridation levels, especially for children and the elderly. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the Food & Water Watch and others against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The judge wrote that his decision “does not conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health,” but there was now enough evidence of its potential risk, including a reduction of more than four IQ points to children. He ordered the EPA to strengthen federal Toxic Substances Control Act regulations to address health risks.
Armed with that ruling, city residents on Oct. 2 urged Council to remove fluoride and Council directed City Attorney Matthew McConnell to draft a resolution so they could hold two public hearings.
Fluoridation has been controversial for decades. In February, the Board of County Commissioners, after similar public pressure, stopped fluoridating water after 39 years, saving the county $126,000. The cities of Marco Island and Everglades City do not fluoridate.
Speakers who urged the city to remove fluoride cited lowered IQ levels, the federal ruling and research that shows fluoride is a dangerous neurotoxin, not a naturally occurring mineral. They contended it places liability on the city because it’s a forced medical treatment that violates the state Patient’s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities statute.
Fluoride advocates urged Council to wait for the EPA to act, saying the levels are safe and fluoride is needed, as well as toothpaste. They noted the studies cited in the federal ruling are twice those the city uses.
Dr. Alexis A. Diaczynsky, a dentist and past president of the Collier County Dental Association, said much of the controversy is due to the misinterpretation of the facts, including the federal ruling that relied on the National Toxicology Program’s research. “The presumed assumption is fluoride lowers IQs,” Diaczynsky said. “There are studies out there proving the opposite.”
She cited a 2021 Spanish study that found mothers’ prenatal fluoride exposure was associated with higher cognitive scores for boys, while a 2022 Australian study followed boys and girls exposed to fluoride and found no change in emotional and behavioral development or cognitive function through age 18. In addition, she said, a 30-year New Zealand study published in 2020 tested IQ levels throughout lifetimes and found no link between fluoride and IQ.
But Dr. Tim Driscoll, a retired Chicago dentist, told Council that he began practicing in 1986 and within two years, his practice was no longer recommending fluoride toothpaste, rinses or in-office treatments.
“It was a known neurotoxin even back then, and we believed in informed consent for all of our patients,” Driscoll said. “Patients could still request fluoride treatment or buy it over the counter by their own discretion.”
Driscoll, a founding member of the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry, said that group found no changes when fluoride was added, but by 2000, they found fluoride hid signs of early tooth decay. Using lasers and micro-instruments, they discovered fluoride hardened the tooth’s outer enamel, but there was a high incidence of tooth decay deep within the tooth, “causing more extensive and expensive restorative care for patients.”
A day after the decision, Dr. Johnny Johnson Jr., a pediatric dentist and president of the American Fluoridation Society in North Florida, said he couldn’t attend the Naples hearing because he was in Tavares, in Lake County, urging Council to keep fluoridating water. The vote was postponed until Dec. 18 to research the issue further.
“There are so many of these happening here right now,” Johnson said, adding that he’s caused many municipalities statewide and nationwide to reconsider. “This happened several years ago after I helped Pinellas County return fluoridation. Then I began helping other communities. The focused attacks began, but they were unsuccessful.”
With a new political atmosphere, he said, opponents are now using a different tactic, citing the court case and National Toxicology Program study. He called that research flawed.
“We are going to have losses, but we will turn this around,” he said. “Ultimately, it may have to happen at the ballot boxes like it did in Pinellas.”
