News Health & Medicine

FDA plan to ban fluoride supplements baffles and alarms dental experts

The move could mean further oral health decay, especially in rural areas

A large white ceramic tooth surrounded by white fluoride tablets against a light blue background.

Fluoride tablets and drops are prescribed to prevent tooth decay in places without fluoride in the water, such as U.S. rural communities.

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By Tina Hesman Saey

A decades-old dental health treatment may soon vanish in the United States. Access to fluoride supplements, prescribed to prevent cavities in children without access to fluoridated water, is now under threat from a controversial move by the U.S.