{"id":1870,"date":"2025-10-14T08:49:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1870\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:49:14","slug":"st-petersburg-invests-50000-in-childrens-dental-health-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1870\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg invests $50,000 in children\u2019s dental health program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>St. Petersburg is expanding access to preventative dental care for children through fluoride varnish applications. <\/p>\n<p>Officials allocated $50,000 to partner with Evara Health and establish the city&#8217;s Fluoride for Families program, which includes providing on-site fluoride varnish application during community etvents. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In response to the statewide water fluoridation ban earlier this year, my administration explored ways to help impacted residents maintain their dental health,&#8221; said Mayor Ken Welch.<\/p>\n<p>In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2025\/700\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">(SB 700<\/a>) that banned fluoride and other additives in local public water systems.  <\/p>\n<p>The legislation followed a November 2024 advisory by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladap against fluoridation due to potential neuropsychiatric risks, particularly for pregnant women and children.<\/p>\n<p>Dental groups opposed the decision, adamant that low levels of the mineral only have positives. They say the move will worsen dental health, especially for those who can&#8217;t afford regular care.<\/p>\n<p>This content provided in partnership with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">StPeteCatalyst.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg is expanding access to preventative dental care for children through fluoride varnish applications. Officials allocated $50,000&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-1870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}