Dental Services (Hansard, 27 March 1995)

§ Mr. Skinner
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will instruct family health services to stop the practice of allowing dental contractors to take early retirement other than for genuine medical reasons.[16390]

§ Mr. Malone
Under the limited early retirement scheme agreed with the dental profession, decisions on which applicants to accept are taken centrally on the advice of a selection panel. Full account is taken of the need to maintain the accessibility of general dental services.

§ Mr. Alex Carlile
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will make a statement on the long-term effects on health of exposure to fluoride; [16336]
(2) if she will indicate the ways she has considered of delivering fluoride to its target population other than through the main water supplies; and if she will make a statement; [16335]
(3) what has been the incidence of caries in (a) fluoridated areas and (b) unfluoridated areas, for each year since 1990; and if she will make a statement. [16337]

§ Mr. Malone
Information, by year, about the incidence of caries compared between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas is not readily available. However, epidemiological evidence in general continues to support the Government's position on the positive benefits of fluoridation. Studies which have been carried out contrasting comparable fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas have consistently shown that the reduction in dental decay is between one third to one half greater in the fluoridated than in the comparable non-fluoridated area.
The long-term health effects of fluoride have been a widely considered aspect of this issue over the 50 years since water fluoridation began. No significant long-term ill effects have ever been found to exist as a result of domestic water fluoridation at the optimum level of one part per million.
There may be a number of alternative ways of delivering fluoride to the target population, and we are considering what these are, but it is generally held that fluoridation of domestic water is the most efficient means of delivery, and offers the best cost benefit.
The Government remain convinced that fluoridation of drinking water is a safe, effective and cost-effective public health measure and will continue to support the introduction of such schemes, particularly where the dental health of the population is known to be poor. In 1994 the Government agreed to help with the capital funding of seven schemes in the north of England which would bring fluoridation to 1.7 million more people.