A new study assesses the dental health of two cohorts of young children over a six year period: in West Cumbria, where water fluoridation was reintroduced in 2013, and the rest of Cumbria, which remains fluoride free. Dental teams carried out examinations on the children at regular intervals and took images of their teeth which were blinded to the fluoridation status of each participant to remove bias.
The CATFISH study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, was published on Monday 14 November in the journal Public Health Research.
Journalists came to this online news briefing to hear the authors explain their findings.
Speakers included:
Dr Michaela Goodwin, Division of Dentistry at the University of Manchester and senior investigator of the study
Prof Mike Kelly, University of Cambridge and senior member of the research team
Dr William Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of Manchester
Prof Martin Tickle, emeritus professor and former director of The Institute of Population Health at the University of Manchester
Prof Tanya Walsh, Professor of Healthcare Evaluation at the University of Manchester