Someone brought in the cavalry to talk about the importance of keeping fluoride in Aberdeen’s drinking water.

No one spoke out against the natural chemical. The vote to keep or remove it is set for Oct. 9.

Dental and health experts from as far as Bellingham were in town Wednesday night for the Aberdeen City Council meeting at Grays Harbor College, which hosted a public hearing about whether the city should or should not remove fluoride. The decision would impact more than 17,000 people in Aberdeen, more than 1,600 from Cosmopolis — according to the 2020 U.S. census — and some people who live just outside Aberdeen city limits.

One of the dental experts who voiced ardent support of keeping fluoride in the city’s water was Jonathan Henry, who is a doctor of medicine in dentistry. Henry drove from Bellingham to speak during the public hearing about how important it is for Aberdeen to keep the natural chemical in its water supply.

“Bellingham does not have fluoride in their water,” Henry said. “I’m a dentist and I work for a community health center in Bellingham. I treat those patients every day. I’m gonna drive home tonight because I’m going to work tomorrow and face those kids’ teeth. I came down here because you all have the primo amount of fluoride in your water already. It is perfect. I wish Bellingham had it.”

Aberdeen isn’t the first city Henry’s worked to convince maintaining fluoride in its water. He also helped convince the city of Lynden, where he also lived.

“Over the past year, I dove into this topic because I had to convince that city council to keep their fluoride and they’re keeping it,” Henry said. “It’s the right thing to do for their people. I beg you. I drove down here four hours and I’m gonna drive home four hours. Leave it alone. It’s the right thing to do.”

Henry said it’s not just about the children.

“It helps the elderly, when you’re elderly and you live in a nursing home, you get cavities on the roots of your teeth,” Henry said. “You have a hard time brushing your teeth and you start to break teeth. And your cavities will lead to those teeth getting failures and you get infections and the rest of your body suffers. And you get anorexia when you lose your teeth. And you die younger when you’re in a nursing home and you don’t have your teeth. The fluoride in the water helps (with) those cavities, it prevents those cavities.”

Henry said it helps everyone in town.

“Even people who come to visit, if you go to a restaurant and you drink that water it helps your teeth,” Henry said. “There are no side effects. 0.6 like you all have, there’s no side effects. Anyone who comes in here and claims they have research that the fluoride is bad, they’re not talking about 0.6 points per million, they’re talking about above 1.5. That’s where the evidence is. And the U.S. government knows that. You might hear about a lawsuit the U.S. government’s talking about fluoride right now. The harm is when you’re above 1.5. You guys have 0.6, that is awesome. There’s nothing to fear. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m here to give you assurance, this is an excellent thing for your people. I wish Bellingham would do it. Thank god Lynden kept it.”

Henry was pretty close as to where Aberdeen’s fluoride level is.

The city of Aberdeen’s 2023 consumer confidence report showed a “low of 0.49 and a high of 0.88,” according to Rick Sangder, the city’s public works department director. “I spoke with the water customer service team and they stated the average was 0.7, but 0.6 is definitely in the range.”

Also 0.7 parts per million is the U.S. Public Health Service’s recommended level. “(It’s) the concentration that maximizes fluoride’s oral health benefits while minimizing potential harms, such as dental fluorosis,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states.

Online survey results

The city of Aberdeen offered an online survey between June 28 and July 31 that asked what residents thought about fluoride.

The survey was for people who live in Aberdeen, people who live in Cosmopolis — residents there use the same water — and people just outside of Aberdeen’s city limits. The results from the 298 survey responses there were split, with a bit more weight on the side of keeping fluoride in the water. And not everyone responded to each question. Ruth Clemens, Aberdeen’s city administrator, presented the results to the council and the public.

Here are a few of the questions, with voter support for each side:

Aware that the city of Aberdeen adds fluoride to drinking water: 243 yes votes to 33 no votes

Concerns with fluoride being added to your water: 159 no votes to 118 yes votes

Would you like the city of Aberdeen to remove fluoride? 158 no votes to 119 yes votes

The wards were mostly evenly split on the topic.

In Ward 1, 22 voted to remove fluoride, and nine voted to keep it. In Ward 2, 13 voted to remove while 22 voted to keep it. In Ward 3, 18 voted to remove while 22 voted to keep it. In Ward 5, 16 voted to remove it while 13 voted to keep it. In Ward 6, 20 voted to remove it while 22 voted to keep it.

Ward 4 had the most support for keeping fluoride, with 18 voting to remove and 52 voting to keep it. Of the Aberdeen business owners who responded, all 10 voted to keep fluoride.

Local expertise

And then there are the local dental experts who stood at the lectern to convince the city council to keep fluoride in the city’s drinking water.

Scott Rowley, who lives in Olympia now but is originally from Grays Harbor, was one of several strong statements in favor of keeping the natural chemical in the drinking water. And while currently in Olympia, Rowley treats children from Grays Harbor.

“I’m speaking from both my professional perspective as a board-certified pediatric dentist who treats many Grays Harbor children and a dedicated supporter of the Harbor since I was raised in Hoquiam,” Rowley said. “I spent many years living in Hoquiam and Aberdeen, and the fact I’m even an alumnus of Grays Harbor College.”

In 2004 I opened a dental office called Grays Harbor Pediatric Dentistry, which operated in Aberdeen until 2007,” Rowley said.

He said his dentistry was immediately busy but it was also “extremely taxing.” He dealt with several issues that made the job more difficult.

“Missed appointments, obtaining proper consent for children in foster care, not following instructions of no food or drink before sedation and scheduling interpreters to name a few,” Rowley said. “(It) led me to experience a high level of stress with subsequent desire to find a better balance. In 2007, I joined a group — Pediatric Dental Practice in Olympia — which allowed me to find a better balance of treating patients from all backgrounds but still save time to provide expert help to those who need our specialized care the most.”

Rowley spoke about the problems dental caries — or tooth decay — cause. Dental caries can be prevented with fluoride.

“Dental caries is the most common childhood disease, approximately five times more common than asthma,” Rowley said. “In our Olympia office, we treat children that are referred to us from approximately five counties, including Grays Harbor. In fact, just this morning, I saw a three-year-old Aberdeen resident referred to us from the Aberdeen Sea Mar Dental Clinic, who had cavities on 14 of 20 teeth. Children often require sedation for care. This boy will need care from general anesthesia. Why? Because if not addressed, he will likely end up with a swollen face in the emergency department.”

Rowley aided his speech with statistics.

“The No. 1 reason a child presents to Seattle Children’s Hospital with a swollen face is a tooth abscess,” Rowley said. “Of the roughly 50 children per month we treat with sedation, the vast majority of these have the state Medicaid system as their primary payer source. This specialized treatment, when done correctly and safely, is not only difficult to access in an expert setting but (it’s) also costly for the state taxpayers and raises an increased level of risk for managing preventable disease. Community water fluoridation is a simple, low-risk cost-effective way to help Aberdeen’s vulnerable children.”

Rowley said the benefits “greatly outweigh the risks” and are “abundantly evident in well-recognized scientific journals.”

For example, Rowley listed how community water fluoridation is supported by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and The American Dental Association, to name a few.

“I urge you to not just take my word for it, but I suggest reviewing peer-reviewed research on community water fluoridation,” Rowley said.

Decades of experience

Stephen Rupert, a dentist in Aberdeen since 2011, also spoke about fluoridation. He joined his father, who’s practiced dentistry since 1975. He was one of many dental health professionals in the audience at the meeting.

“I’d like to point out that both the Grays Harbor Board of Health and the Washington State Dental Association have submitted letters in support of maintaining fluoridation in Aberdeen’s municipal water,” Rupert said.

Rupert said he grew up, lives and work in Aberdeen and how he is in support of maintaining fluoride in the water that “myself, as well as my friends and my family consume.”

“Fluoridation of water is absolutely American,” Rupert said. “I want to make clear whether you’re red or blue, over 75% of the American population safely consumes fluoridated water. And furthermore that all American military bases have fluoridated water systems. The benefits of fluoride were even discovered in the United States due to presence of natural fluoride in the spring water consumed in Colorado Springs, (Colorado). There’s an associated, significant reduced rate of dental decay.”

Rupert spoke about how fluoride occurs naturally in water, which further localizes the issue for Grays Harbor County.

“All that fluoridation does is to balance … the fluoride level. This turns out to be the same parts per million that occurs in the sea water that is all around us here,” Rupert said. “The clams and seafood, and all the things that we consume and harvest in Grays Harbor, live in.”

Rupert then mentioned how he and his father have seen and cared for the children’s teeth of Grays Harbor for many years.

“I am here to tell you (fluoridation) is one of the safest, most significant public health advances that exists despite fringe opinions and false science saying otherwise,” Rupert said. “Furthermore, after reviewing the online survey that Administrator Clemens reviewed, I just want to remind the council that they are here to as elected positions that require you to represent constituents regardless of your personal beliefs.”

Clemens gave a brief response about the survey and Wednesday night’s hearing.

“The survey and public hearings have given the council an opportunity to make an informed decision on Oct. 9 based on the feedback they received from their constituents, the business community, out-of-city limits water customers, and from medical and public health professionals,” Clemens said.

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.