Dentistry faces new threats as community water fluoridation continues to be targeted, according to Barry Lyon, DDS.
Dr. Lyon, the dental director for Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics and the chief clinical auditor for Dental Care Alliance, spoke with Becker’s about the potential effects of ending water fluoridation in the U.S.
Editor’s note: This Q&A is part of a weekly series featuring Dr. Lyon focused on topics in the dental industry and DSO field. The views expressed are those of Dr. Lyon and do not necessarily reflect those of Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics or Dental Care Alliance.
This response was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Dr. Barry Lyon:
Many articles have been written recently about the difficulties individual dentists may be facing due to the Trump administration’s tariff policy. But it is also the dental profession itself that is facing a first-ever epoch-making issue.
Over the last 35 years, dentistry has been dealt with a number of challenges. By the end of the 1980s and 1990s, there was an overabundance of dentists. Several dental schools closed due to decreased enrollment and rising tuition costs. Further, Americans had better dental health than previous generations and it became clear there might be more dentists than the country needed. In 2020, dentistry was confronted with a pandemic that had almost catastrophic consequences for the profession. Fortunately, dentistry is resilient, and it survived the pandemic, but not without consequences we still see today.
What’s different now is that a tenet that the profession strictly adhered to, and which formed the foundation of its duty to protect the oral health and well-being of Americans, is being ripped away without any discernable justification by people who cannot see beyond their own shortcomings and egos. The government’s urging of removing fluoride from public water supplies is like driving a speeding, out-of-control car without brakes. The impact of this decision will have primary, secondary and tertiary effects on Americans for generations.
Many municipal water supplies have been fluoridated for 80 years, and currently more than 200 million Americans drink fluoridated water. The number of cavities prevented by fluoride during this time must be staggering, and yet the government is willing to jeopardize our health without a demonstrable reason. One of dentistry’s core beliefs for 80 years is being taken away, leaving a huge void in the arsenal to care for the oral health of Americans. This is a challenge never seen before by the dental profession.
