ReviewPediatric research2021
Controversy: The evolving science of fluoride: when new evidence doesn't conform with existing beliefs.
Review in Pediatric research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biomimetic hydroxyapatite and caries prevention: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Canadian journal of dental hygiene : CJDH = Journal canadien de l'hygiene dentaire : JCHD · 2021Pooled it
- How the public's knowledge, attitudes, and practice intersect with scientific evidence about fluoride.Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care · 2025Article
- AMPA and NMDA Receptors in Hippocampus of Rats with Fluoride-Induced Cognitive Decline.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Where Fluoride Is Present, Hexafluorosilicate Might Be Encountered: Supramolecular Binding of the SiFACS omega · 2024Article
- How scientists should disagree.Pediatric research · 2024Article
- Improving Oral Health with Fluoride-Free Calcium-Phosphate-Based Biomimetic Toothpastes: An Update of the Clinical Evidence.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- A Qualitative Assessment of Factors Influencing Fluoride-Hesitant Parents' Trust of Dentists.Pediatric dentistry · 2023Article
- Fluoride in the Central Nervous System and Its Potential Influence on the Development and Invasiveness of Brain Tumours-A Research Hypothesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The impact of Er:YAG laser combined with fluoride treatment on the supragingival plaque microbiome in children with multiple caries: a dynamic study.BMC oral health · 2022Article
- Intrauterine and Postnatal Exposure to High Levels of Fluoride Is Associated with Motor Impairments, Oxidative Stress, and Morphological Damage in the Cerebellum of Offspring Rats.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- A Systems Approach to Remediating Human Exposure to Arsenic and Fluoride From Overexploited Aquifers.GeoHealth · 2022Article
- Invitation for controversy.Pediatric research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Over the past 75 years, health authorities have declared that community water fluoridation-a practice that reaches over 400 million worldwide-is safe. Yet, studies conducted in North America examining the safety of fluoride exposure in pregnancy were nonexistent. When a Canadian study reported that higher fluoride exposure in pregnant women was associated with lower IQ scores in young children, critics attacked the methodology of the study and discounted the significance of the results. Health authorities continued to conclude that fluoride is unequivocally safe, despite four well-conducted studies over the last 3 years consistently linking fluoride exposure in pregnancy with adverse neurodevelopmental effects in offspring. We describe the challenges of conducting fluoride research and the overt cognitive biases we have witnessed in the polarized fluoride debate. The tendency to ignore new evidence that does not conform to widespread beliefs impedes the response to early warnings about fluoride as a potential developmental neurotoxin. Evolving evidence should inspire scientists and health authorities to re-evaluate claims about the safety of fluoride, especially for the fetus and infant for whom there is no benefit.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.