{"id":730061,"date":"2026-06-11T16:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/730061\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:06:10","slug":"public-health-boss-backs-adding-fluoride-to-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/730061\/","title":{"rendered":"Public health boss backs adding fluoride to water"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Oxfordshire&#8217;s director of public health has supported calls to add fluoride into the county&#8217;s drinking water, describing it as &#8220;the single most effective measure to reduce tooth decay in children&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking at a health scrutiny committee meeting, Ansaf Azhar said there are good examples of the benefits of fluoridation in the UK and Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But warned the barriers to progressing the idea meant it would take a decade to implement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The committee has now recommended a public consultation on the suggestion, before approaching the government to start any process.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Ansaf Azhar outside the council headquarters. He has short greying black hair, wears glasses, a grey suit, a light blue shirt and a dark blue tie.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"541\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d0d4cad681f1a11fc4606746b0c9d5db.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ansaf Azhar says fluoridation of Oxfordshire&#8217;s water supply would be the most effective way to protect children&#8217;s teeth. [BBC]<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral which can protect teeth against decay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Parts of the UK, including areas of the West Midlands, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire already have a programme that adds small amounts of fluoride into the water network.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But the process of adopting the scheme can take years, with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/ckg2zer56wko?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:newly approved plan;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;newly approved plan&quot;}\" class=\"link \">newly approved plan<\/a> to expand an existing network in the north east, estimated to only be up and running by 2030.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Despite the delays, Azhar says fluoridation in Oxfordshire is a &#8220;no brainer&#8221; and something he &#8220;absolutely wants to progress.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Describing the process as &#8220;completely safe,&#8221; Azhar added that the benefits were not just about reducing tooth decay, but could be life changing, by improving body positivity and mental health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The health committee has asked the director of public health to report back to them, outlining the potential costs and benefits of progressing a fluoridation scheme in Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Any scheme would need the backing of Thames Water, as well as agreements with bordering counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oxfordshire&#8217;s director of public health has supported calls to add fluoride into the county&#8217;s drinking water, describing it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[262999,49,48,38572,263001,84,263000,52780,105745,33025],"class_list":["post-730061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ansaf-azhar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-drinking-water","tag-fluoridation","tag-health","tag-nottinghamshire-and-derbyshire","tag-oxfordshire","tag-water-supply","tag-west-midlands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}