Abby to consider removing fluoride

Abbotsford could become the latest municipality in Wisconsin to stop adding fluoride to its drinking water after the city council on Tuesday heard arguments from both sides of an issue that has recently re-emerged as a topic of debate in the United States.

After hearing from Clark County’s public health officer Brittany Mews, who supports the continued fluoridation of water, and former mayor Lori Voss, who believes it should be discontinued, the council voted to table the issue until its next meeting.

City administrator Josh Soyk said the city spends about $5,000 per year, not counting man hours, to fluoridate its water to a level between .6 and .8 mg/L, which is right within the range generally considered to be safe and effective for preventing tooth decay.

Mews urged the council to continue fluoridating the city’s water supply as a preventative measure against dental disease.

“As a local healthcare professional working in Clark County communities, including Abbotsford, for the past 16 years, I have seen the negative effects of poor oral health, especially on our children,” she said. “Cavities are the most common chronic disease in childhood, and they are largely preventable.”

Children from low-income families are disproportionately affected, Mews noted, due to limited access to dental care and fluoridated toothpaste. Mews noted that people routinely add other supplements to their diet, such a vitamin D and iodine in salt.

“Fluoride works the same way,” she said. “It helps those who need it the most – children, people on fixed incomes, residents who don’t have dental insurance – and it protects everyone regardless of their background.”

“Removing it would not only put our most vulnerable neighbors at greater risk of dental disease, but it would also increase the longterm health costs of families in the city,” she added.

Mews said she understands that some people have questions and concerns about fluoride, and she encouraged them to reach out to their dentist or other medical professionals for answers. She said the recommended fluoride level of .7 mg/L has been shown to be safe and effective, and acknowledged that “higher concentrations are not good.”

Clark County’s population is especially at risk of oral health issues, with just one dental health provider for every 2,310 people, Mews said. Only one dental clinic in the county accepts Badger Care, she said, and the wait list can be long.

The county’s Seal a Smile program, which offers free dental exams and sealants, had 185 students from the Abbotsford School District participate last year, and 30 percent of those had some level of tooth decay, she noted.

“So, it’s a big problem,” she said. “Six percent, or 11 of those students have abscesses, which means they have an urgent infection. If they don’t go in promptly, they could have a system-wide blood infection.”

Voss said city residents should be given the ability to choose whether they consume fluoride or not as a matter of “consumer choice.”

“We all make choices in life,” she said. “I think what we put in our bodies should be one of them.”

Voss noted that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services, does not endorse the fluoridation of water, and said tooth decay is mainly the result of “an absence of dental care and poor dental hygiene.”

When public water supplies started to be fluoridated back in the 1940s, Voss said the public didn’t have access to fluoridated toothpaste, mouthwash or tablets that can be purchased for $9 for a 90-day supply. She said various foods are also a source of fluoride, including tea, chocolate powder, pumpkin seeds, shellfish, turkey and coffee.

With fluoridated tap water, Voss said the residents really don’t have control over how much they consume. One-third of Wisconsin residents get their water from private wells, she noted, and 78 communities have stopped fluoridating their water, as have the states of Florida and Utah.

“The city of Abbotsford has some natural fluoride in its water,” she said. “I’m not asking you take out the natural fluorides. I’m just asking you to discontinue the additional.”

Soyk said the naturally occurring level of fluoride in the city’s water is about .4 to .5 mg/L, but that likely varies based on which of the city’s 28 wells the water comes from. He said the city currently measures fluoride levels on a daily basis using blended samples.

Voss said there’s also a financial reason to discontinue fluoridation.

“Looking at this would be saving the taxpayers the cost of buying more fluoride, and the maintenance of all the equipment,” she said. “I believe in choice and not mandates.”

Before the city could stop fluoridating its water, Soyk said the council would first have to adopt a resolution informing the public. Of the 192 million gallons of water treated by the city last year, Soyk said all of it was fluoridated but it’s unknown how much was consumed.

Other business

■ The council approved the 2026 budget proposed by Central Fire and Ambulance, which includes a 2.6 percent decrease in the amount of money the city will owe next year, down to $76,474.

The council took the following actions at its meeting on Aug. 20:

■ Approved a new two-year contract with the Colby-Abbotsford Police Association, as negotiated by the joint police commission. The contract includes 2 percent wage increases twice a year for the next two years, plus an extra $1 per hour for the department’s investigator, K-9 officer and school resource officers.

■ Approved a contract with MSA Professional Services to handle the administration of a $1 million Community Development Block Grant awarded to the city for an estimated $2.5 million project on Fifth Street. The contract will cover wage audits and labor standards monitoring as required by the federal program.

■ Appointed Jenny Jakel to the planning commission for a term that expires in 2027.