As Texas Bigwigs Target Fluoride, Dallas Has Already Waded Through This Debate

Anyone who has a habit of tuning in for the open microphone portion of Dallas City Council meetings knows there is a small but stubborn contingent of Dallasites who are vehemently opposed to fluoride being added to their drinking water.

Most American cities add fluoride in small quantities to their drinking water because they understand that it helps prevent cavities and tooth decay. Dallas jumped on the fluoride wave back in 1965 and has, for the most part, stuck by the practice despite the urges of that aforementioned contingent.

Which is a good thing, science says. Some of Texas’ top dogs, though, may disagree.

Once a somewhat fringe conspiracy, anti-fluoride fears have recently become prominent among Texas leaders. In February, Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called for a statewide ban on adding fluoride to public drinking water. A month later, Utah became the first U.S. state to ban this practice.

And this past Thursday, Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton launched an investigation into the companies that sell Crest toothpaste, claiming the product is being marketed to children despite “a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating that excessive fluoride exposure is not safe.”

The investigation claims that, despite advisories from leading health experts instructing parents to use only small amounts of fluoride toothpaste for young children, the marketing and flavors of children’s toothpastes “encourage kids to ingest” more than the recommended amount.

“I will use every tool available to protect our kids from dangerous levels of fluoride exposure and deceptive advertising,” Paxton said in a statement. “Toothpaste manufacturers must follow state law to ensure that they aren’t putting Texas families in peril through their false, misleading and deceptive marketing.”

Paxton referenced a recent federal study that supports the claim that high amounts of fluoride intake can lead to lower IQ levels in children. However, the amount a person would have to consume to lead to that impact far exceeds the amount of the mineral added to toothpastes and drinking water. The survey found insufficient evidence that fluoride at the level currently recommended by the CDC for drinking water impacts children’s IQ levels, and there is “no evidence” that any amount of fluoride ingestion impacts the cognitive ability of adults.

Nonetheless, Paxton’s announcement brings Texas’ stance on fluoride into question, and is likely seen favorably by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is one of the most powerful proponents against the mineral. In a recent interview, Kennedy said, “The more you get, the stupider you are” of fluoride, and earlier this month, he told reporters he plans to instruct the Centers for Disease Control to stop recommending adding fluoride to drinking water.

If all of this sounds incredibly dumb, you’ll be warmed to know the city of Dallas has already gone through this entire song and dance several times. Most recently was in 2023, when the Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture committee embarked on an effort to hear from both sides of the fluoride debate after representatives of the Texas Dental Association, the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, and Dallas County’s leading health authority, Dr. Philip Huang, gave a routine presentation on the mineral’s many, long-accepted-by-science benefits.

“I can tell you there is a lot of misinformation [about fluoride], a lot of scare tactics,” Huang, the director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, warned the committee.

The committee invited anti-fluoride activists to present at a meeting anyway. Still, the whole matter was pretty quickly settled when council member Gay Donnell Willis chastised the group for “cherry-picking” their data.

(It was one of Willis’ liveliest moments. She called out the presentation for lacking the fundamentals that would be found in a middle school project, which is about as close to Bravo TV as a council meeting gets.)

“The city’s decision to add fluoride to the water is based on thresholds set by the CDC, and as a result, there is no action needed to be taken by the council,” council member Adam Bazaldua told D Magazine after the presentation.

Since then, aside from the devoted anti-fluoride truthers who exercise their right to public participation during Wednesday City Council meetings, Dallas has largely stayed out of the fluoride conversation, even as it has crept into the mainstream. Now, we can’t help but wonder if our state leaders will decide for us.

Stock up on your Crest toothpaste now while you still can, Dallasites. Four out of five people who believe in science recommend it.