farmworkers and fluoride levels

[Guest guest]

Dear colleagues,

I'm involved in an effort to optimize fluoride levels in the public water supply of the community in which I chiefly work. As some of you might know, this is an uphill struggle at best (it failed 2 years ago in the same community) due to the passionate opposition of very vocal area residents in virtually every remaining area in the US where water is not already fluoridated.

In my experience, many of the fluoridation opponents don't trust mainstream scientific evidence, but are amenable to social justice arguments. A large number of migrant and seasonal farmworkers reside and work in our area, and of course few have a vote in the upcoming ballot measure on fluoridation. Since they can't vote in their families' interests, I thought one thing I could offer would be to get the word out to the "undecided" or to some fluoride opponents about farmworker oral health issues. I have some of our standard things (untreated dental caries, etc.), but I'd love to locate one or more studies linking farmworker oral health to fluoride levels in public water supplies. Has anyone seen anything like this?

Many thanks.

Tina Castañares, MDCastañares Consulting637 Highway 141White Salmon, WA 98672509 / 493-1600 voice347 / 412-0087 faxtina.castanares@...