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Regional town suffering double the tooth decay thanks to town’s flouride refusal

Article image for Regional town suffering double the tooth decay thanks to town’s flouride refusal

The community of Oberon in New South Wales is facing mounting pressure to introduce fluoride into the town’s drinking water.

More than 70% of Australians have access to fluoride in their drinking water, in New South Wales that percentage is at 93%.

Oberon, a town of less than 3,000 people, is one of the six councils refusing to budge.

In December, the state government asked those councils without it, to consider it.

But at a recent council meeting, the residents of Oberon passionately debated against putting the mineral in the water supply.

Bathurst dentist Dr Theresa Cook tells Ben Fordham she can tell where a child’s from by looking at their teeth.

“When I came out to work [in Bathurst], I noticed some disturbing trends. I was providing extensive dental treatment – fillings and extractions – on almost every tooth to some children.”

Those children were from neighboring Oberon and Lithgow.

Lithgow introduced flouride in 2008, and 15 years later Dr Cook says she is now seeing less and less children with serious dental problems from that area.

“But the trends of extensive decay are continuing from the Oberon district,” she tells Ben.

Dr Cook says the figures reflect double decay in Oberon over Bathurst.

Click PLAY below for Ben’s full chat with Dr Theresa Cook.

Ben Fordham
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