On Dec. 21, 2017, a U.S. District Court judge in the Northern District of California denied the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) motion to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to ban the addition of fluoride to drinking water.

The lawsuit, filed in April 2017 by the Fluoridation Action Network; the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology; Food and Water Watch; and others, followed the EPA’s denial of an earlier petition from the fluoridation opponents that sought a ban on fluoridation additives. The EPA denied the petition because it said the petitioners had "not set forth a scientifically defensible basis to conclude that any persons have suffered neurotoxic harm as a result of exposure to fluoride in the U.S. through the purposeful addition of fluoridation chemicals to drinking water or otherwise from fluoride exposure in the U.S."

The ruling by the U.S. District judge rejecting the EPA’s assertion that the anti-fluoride advocates didn’t provide enough information to determine if the chemical poses an unreasonable risk sets the ball in motion for the coalition’s lawsuit to move forward.

Impact on General Dentistry: The ADA has long supported community water fluoridation as a safe and effective way to combat tooth decay.