When was fluoride discovered to prevent tooth decay?
Over ninety years ago, in 1908, Dr. Frederick S. McKay started his first investigations in Colorado Springs which involved examination and charting of the teeth of 2,945 local school children. Over the years, Dr. McKay personally authored over 40 papers regarding the cause of ‘Colorado Brown Stain’ (mottling) and the benefits of fluoride. In 1935 to 1936 Dr. Trendley Dean was appointed by the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) to study fluoridated areas. He compared the populations of Colorado Springs and Pueblo to other cities and concluded in 1936 that water which contained one ppm fluoride cause mottling in its ‘very mildest form’ in ten per cent of the population. If the water contained 2.5 ppm fluoride, 75 to 80 per cent had mottling. Thus, he concluded, by keeping the fluoride content of the water at 1.5 ppm or less, mottling was unlikely to occur. http://www.cs-ds.org/feature_article_fluoride_body.htm#q_and_a Crest, in 1955, became the first fluoride toothpaste.
