Medicine: Fluorine Works

The long test made by the New York State Department of Health to test the value of fluorine compounds in preventing tooth decay reached the stage of announcing results last week. The finding: fluorine, added to drinking water, does cut down tooth cavities.

For almost six years, the Department of Health had added small amounts of sodium fluoride to the drinking water in Newburgh, N.Y.* (pop. 31,924). To act as “control” for the test, the city of Kingston (pop. 28,869), 32 miles up the Hudson, went without fluorides. In both towns, schoolchildren between the ages of six and twelve were methodically checked for signs of cavities.

Reported Herman E. Hilleboe, state health commissioner: the children of Newburgh had 33% fewer cavities than those of non-fluorinated Kingston; the number of Newburgh youngsters reaching the age of six without any cavities at all had more than doubled. Dr. Hilleboe was confident that fluorination had proved its worth, recommended that other New York municipalities—including Kingston—put it into effect. The cost: about 10¢ per capita a year.

In Washington last week, District of Columbia commissioners turned down a proposal to treat the city’s water with fluorine on the ground that the nation’s capital can’t afford it.

* The same procedure has since been tried in at least 62 other U.S. cities and towns.