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Report of the
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Oral health
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Report of the
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Oral health
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| Note: | The indicator includes those who either agree with or would agree to having fluoride added to their water supply. The questions used to define the indicator were: Has fluoride been added to your public water supply?. If the respondent answered Yes: Do you agree with adding fluoride to your public water supply to prevent tooth decay? If the respondent answered No, Don't know, or Refused: Would you be in favour of adding fluoride to your water supply to prevent tooth decay? Estimates are based on 1,773 respondents. 311 (14.92%) were not stated (Don’t know or Refused). LL/UL 95%CI = lower and upper limits of the 95% confidence interval for the point estimate. |
| Source: | NSW Population Health Survey (HOIST). Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health. |
Water fluoridation delivers the most cost-effective and socially equitable means of providing protection from tooth decay (ADA, 2004; ARCPOH 2006). Children living in unfluoridated areas have significantly higher dental decay rates than those living in fluoridated areas despite the availability of fluoride toothpaste (Armfield 2005).
In 2005, 87.8% of NSW residents responding to the NSW Population Health Survey supported fluoridation of the community water supply. Respondents in the major cities indicated highest support (91.9%), followed by inner regional (82.1%). Respondents in the outer regional and remote areas of NSW indicated the lowest support (76.2%).
The health area with the highest support was the Sydney South West Area Health Service (95.1% persons). The lowest was in the North Coast Area Health Service, where only 71.1% of female respondents to the survey and 73.8% of male respondents supported fluoridation.
Fluoridation of the community water supply helps protect against dental decay, but fluoride consumed excessively in early childhood can cause dental fluorosis, which is a disorder of dental enamel affecting the appearance of teeth. Excessive consumption of fluoride usually takes place when children who drink fluoridated water are also inappropriately given fluoride supplements or inadvertently ingest toothpaste containing fluoride. Fluoride programs in Australia seek to strike a balance by improving the oral health of children with a low level of side-effects (AIHW, 2006).
| For more information: |
Australian Dental Association. Policy statement: Community oral health promotion. Fluoride use. ADA, 2004. Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), Dental School, The University of Adelaide, South Australia. The Use of Fluorides in Australia : Guidelines. Australian Dental Journal, 2006. 51: (2) 195-199. Armfield J. Public Water Fluoridation and Dental Health in New South Wales. Aust New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2005. 29: 477-483 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia's health 2006. AIHW cat. no. AUS 73. Canberra: AIHW, 2006. Available at: www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10321 |
| Print version: | Although this page can be printed directly from your Web browser, a higher quality version of this entire page (graph, table and text) is available as an Acrobat PDF file which can be printed or viewed on screen using free software. |
| Downloadable files: | The data contained in the table on this page are available for download as a CSV file which can be imported into many software packages. The graph is available for download as an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file and as an EMF (Enhanced Metafile Format) file. Files in these formats can be imported into most word processing, presentation and graphics software packages. |
| Copyright notice: | This work is copyright NSW Department of Health, 2006. It may be reproduced in whole or in part, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. Commercial usage or sale is prohibited. |
| Suggested citation: | Population Health Division. The health of the people of New South Wales - Report of the Chief Health Officer. Sydney: NSW Department of Health. Available at: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/public-health/chorep/ora/ora_fluoagree_ahs.htm. Accessed (insert date of access). |
| Produced by: | Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Population Health Division, NSW Department of Health. |
| Last updated on: | 8 December 2006 |
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