Dentistry professor says Halifax Water should have told people about fluoride disruptions

Days after it was revealed fluoride hadn’t been added to the Halifax water supply consistently since 2021, experts are now calling out the municipality’s utility company for their lack of transparency.

Dr. Violet D’Souza, an assistant professor for Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry, says people had a right to know about the fluoride disruptions.

She says people who believed fluoride was in the water this whole time might have ignored certain precautions.

“So, they might ignore certain levels of fluoride toothpaste or visiting the dentist,” says D’Souza. “This is not excusable. It is our right to know.”

According to D’Souza, only about seven milligrams of fluoride can typically be found in water. That can be measured to about 30 per cent protection.

"Calgary and Edmonton started water fluoridation at the same time, and in 2011, Calgary discontinued their water fluoridation,” she explains. “And then they measured it immediately in 2014 to 2015 and 2019, and they saw that tooth decay increased in Calgary, but it stayed consistent in Edmonton."

For people with low-income status, the Dalhousie professor says a lack of fluoride has a greater impact.

“They may not have insurance, they may not be able to take workdays off without losing pay, they may not be having means to buy fluoride toothpaste,” she says. “And if they have tooth decay, they have to be given treatment at hospitals and there is a very big waitlist.”

Halifax Water told CTV News on Monday they should have done a better job at notifying the public about the fluoride disruptions.

“Moving forward, we are going to make sure the Nova Scotia Dental Association is made aware, the medical officer of health department is made aware, and we are also going to look at ways that we can make it more apparent on our own website,” says senior communications manager Jeff Myrick.

Myrick says they expect to have fluoridation “back online” by the end of the year.

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