Cirujano Dentista

Waterfluoridation inVictoria, Australia:TheValueofNational Research
A Neil. Water fluoridation in Victoria, Australia: The Value of National Research. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2012; 40 (Suppl. 2): 71–74. All rights reserved. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S
Abstract – Water fluoridation has become the centrepiece in dental caries prevention for the Australian population since its introductionin 1953 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania. With the notable exception until recently of Brisbane, residents of the state and territory capital cities have enjoyed the dental health benefits of this important public health initiative for at least 33 years. For many communities in rural and regional Australia, however, the introduction of water fluoridation has only commenced in relative recent years – if atall. These efforts in recent years have been greatly assisted by the research of Professor John Spencer and his colleagues at the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH). This paper highlights some major pieces of research conducted by ARCPOH and demonstrates the application of that research to the extension of water fluoridation in Victoria. Water fluoridation has become thecentrepiece in dental caries prevention for the Australian popu- lation since its introduction in 1953 in Beacons- field, Tasmania (1, 2). The proportion of people in each Australian state and territory who receive the benefits of this important public health initia- tive, however, has not increased uniformly: pro- gress has occurred with great variation across the country (3). Since itsintroduction in the state of Victoria in 1962, with the state capital Melbourne commencing in 1977, no major extension activity occurred in Victoria until 2004 (2, 4). Since then, a major effort saw a large number of communities commence water fluoridation in Victoria, which resulted in an additional 700 000 Victorians receiving the benefits of optimally fluoridated drinking water (4). These recent efforts inVictoria, raising the percentage of Victorians with water fluoridation from approximately 74% in 2004 to 90% in 2010 (4), have been greatly assisted by research conducted by Professor John Spencer and his colleagues at the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH). This paper will highlight some of this research and demon- strate the application of that research to the exten-sion of water fluoridation in Victoria.
Where have we come from?
Figure 1 demonstrates that even as recently as 2007, water fluoridation coverage was not uniform in Australia, with the state of Queensland having <5% of the population covered (5). In 2007, approx- imately 70% of Australians had access to optimally fluoridated drinking water (3). Figure 2 demonstrates the significant increase inwater fluoridation extension by 2010, most notably in Queensland, followed by increases in Victoria and the Northern Territory (6). Ninety per cent of Australians now have access to optimally fluori- dated drinking water (6). It is important, however, to recognize that of the remaining 10% of Austra- lians currently without water fluoridation, a propor- tion will unlikely receive the benefits of theinitiative in the future: some households do not have reticulated water supplies and, given funding complexities, it is unlikely that all reticulated supplies can be fluoridated (7).
Key success factors behind the Victorian water fluoridation program Policy Healthy mouths healthy lives: Australia’s National Oral Health Plan 2004–2013 has a goal of: Extending water fluoridation of public water supplies tocommunities across Australia (8).
This has been the over-arching policy framework for each jurisdiction’s extension activ- ity. Researchers from ARCPOH were amongst a number of experts who sat on the National Advisory Committee on Oral Health, which pre- pared this significant national policy document (8). This national framework in turn assisted the jurisdictions’ policy settings.
Evidence...