THE RESULTS OF WATER FLUORIDATION IN IRELAND

The visit of Dr. Trendley Dean to Dublin in the mid-1950s helped accel erate the decision to introduce water fluoridation as a public health measure in the prevention of caries in the Republic of Ireland. A chal lenge to the constitutional validity of the Health (Fluoridation of Wa ter Supplies) Act 1960 failed and in 1964 the water supplies of Dublin city were fluoridated. Over the next seven to eight years all the maj or urban communities in the Republic of ireland were fluoridated Curre ntly, 67 percent of the 3.5 million people in the country reside in fl uoridated communities. Studies conducted over the last 20 years show t hat residents of fluoridated communities have better dental health tha n those in nonfluoridated communities-the mean dmft is lower in childr en and the number of natural teeth present in adults is higher.