Why did the review only look at studies that examine the effects of water fluoridation?
Our remit from the Department of Health was to conduct a systematic review of the evidence for the safety and effectiveness of water fluoridation based on the currently available evidence from population based studies. This was and is only a small section of the total fluoridation debate that needs to be considered when making the decision of whether or not public water supplies should be fluoridated. As well as information from studies looking at other sources of fluoride, toxicology studies and possibly from animal studies, there are also the ethical and legal considerations that need to be taken into account. The results of this review need to be considered in the light of all these other sections of the fluoridation issue before a decision on whether or not to fluoridate the public water supplies can be made. In order to investigate the review question given to us by the Department of Health the protocol was drawn up which stated that studies must look at positive and/or negative e
