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Austria has never implemented fluoridation.[12]

Belgium does not fluoridate its water supply, although legislation permits it.[12]

Czech RepublicCzech Republic (Czechoslovakia respectively) started water fluoridation in 1958 in Tábor. After six years, 80% reduction of decay was asserted[citation needed]. This led to widespread introduction of fluoridation. In Prague, fluoridation started in 1975. It was stopped in 1988 there and subsequently in the whole country too. Currently (2008) no water is fluoridated.[21] Fluoridated salt is available.[22]

Croatia does not fluoridate its water.[23]

Denmark does not fluoridate its water, although the National Health Board is in favour.[12]

The Finnish government supports fluoridation, although only one community of 70 000 people was fluoridated, Kuopio.[12] Kuopio stopped fluoridation in 1992.[24]

France fluoridates salt.[12]

Drinking water is not fluoridated in any part of Germany. The GDR used to fluoridate drinking water, but it was discontinued after the German reunification.[1]

In the Republic of Ireland the majority of drinking water is fluoridated; 71% of the population in 2002 resided in fluoridated communities.[25] The fluoridation agent used is hydrofluosilicic acid (HFSA; H2SiF6).[26] In a 2002 public survey, 45% of respondents expressed some concern about fluoridation.[27]

In 1957, the Department of Health established a Fluorine Consultative Council which recommended fluoridation at 1.0 ppm of public water supplies, then accessed by c.50% of the population.[28] This was felt to be a much cheaper way of improving the quality of children's teeth than employing more dentists.[29] The ethical approval for this was given by the "Guild of Saints Luke, Cosmas and Damian", established by Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid.[28] This led to the Health (Fluoridation of Water Supplies) Act 1960, which mandated compulsory fluoridation by local authorities.[29][30] The statutory instruments made in 1962–65 under the 1960 Act were separate for each local authority, setting the level of fluoride in drinking water to 0.8–1.0 ppm.[31][32] The current regulations date from 2007, and set the level to 0.6–0.8 ppm, with a target value of 0.7 ppm.[33]

Implementation of fluoridation was held up by preliminary dental surveying and water testing,[34] and a court case, Ryan v. Attorney General.[35] In 1965, the Supreme Court rejected Gladys Ryan's claim that the Act violated the Constitution of Ireland's guarantee of the right to bodily integrity.[35][36] By 1965, Greater Dublin's water was fluoridated; by 1973, other urban centres were.[37] Dental surveys of children from the 1950s to the 1990s showed marked reductions in cavities parallel to the spread of fluoridation.[38]

Water was fluoridated in large parts of the Netherlands from 1960 to 1973, when the High Council of The Netherlands declared fluoridation of drinking water unauthorized.[39] Dutch authorities had no legal basis adding chemicals to drinking water if they will not improve the safety as such.[4] Drinking water has not been fluoridated in any part of the Netherlands since 1973.

Spain Around 10% of the population receives fluoridated water.[40]

Sweden In 1952, Norrköping in Sweden became one of the first cities in Europe to fluoridate its water supply.[41] It was declared illegal by the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court in 1961, re-legalized in 1962[42] and finally prohibited by the parliament in 1971,[43] after considerable debate. The parliament majority said that there were other and better ways of reducing tooth decay than water fluoridation. Four cities received permission to fluoridate tap water when it was legal.[41]:56-57 An official commission was formed, which published its final report in 1981. They recommended other ways of reducing tooth decay (improving food and oral hygiene habits) instead of fluoridating tap water. They also found that many people found fluoridation to impinge upon personal liberty/freedom of choice, and that the long-term effects of fluoridation were not sufficiently known. They also lacked a good study on the effects of fluoridation on formula-fed infants.[41]:29

In Switzerland since 1962 two fluoridation programmes had operated in tandem: water fluoridation in the City of Basel, and salt fluoridation in the rest of Switzerland (around 83% of domestic salt sold had fluoride added). However it became increasingly difficult to keep the two programmes separate. As a result some of the population of Basel were assumed to use both fluoridated salt and fluoridated water. In order to correct that situation, in April 2003 the State Parliament agreed to cease water fluoridation and officially expand salt fluoridation to Basel.[44]

United Kingdom Around 10% of the population of the United Kingdom receives fluoridated water[40] about half a million people receive water that is naturally fluoridated with calcium fluoride which is different to sodium fluoride, and about 6 million total receive fluoridated water.[45] The All Party Parliamentary Group on Primary Care and Public Health recommended in April 2003 that fluoridation be introduced "as a legitimate and effective means of tackling dental health inequalities".[citation needed] The Water Act 2003 required water suppliers to comply with requests from local health authorities to fluoridate their water.[45]

The following UK water utility companies fluoridate their supply:

Anglian Water Services Ltd
Northumbrian Water Ltd
South Staffordshire Water plc
Severn Trent plc
United Utilities Water plc
Earlier schemes were undertaken in the Health Authority areas of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Birmingham, Black Country, Cheshire, Merseyside, County Durham, Tees Valley, Cumbria, Lancashire, North, East Yorkshire, Northern Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Trent and West Midlands South whereby fluoridation was introduced progressively in the years between 1964 and 1988.[46]

The South Central Strategic Health Authority carried out the first public consultation under the Water Act 2003, and in 2009 its board voted to fluoridate water supplies in the Southampton area to address the high incidence of tooth decay in children there.[45] Surveys had found that the majority of surveyed Southampton residents opposed the plan, but the Southampton City Primary Care Trust decided that "public vote could not be the deciding factor". A judicial review has been initiated.[47] Fluoridation plans have been particularly controversial in the North West of England and have been delayed after a large increase on projected costs was revealled.[48]

The water supply in Northern Ireland has never been artificially fluoridated except in two small localities where fluoride was added to the water for about 30 years. By 1999, fluoridation ceased in those two areas, as well. Scotland's parliament rejected proposals to fluoridate public drinking water following a public consultation.[citation needed]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoridation_by_country