Fluoridation Faced A Long And Winding Road Into Cincinnati’s Water Supply, Part I

There was a big anniversary at the Greater Cincinnati Water Works this year, but it does not appear that anyone celebrated the occasion. Fifty years ago, on March 15, 1976, after more than 25 years of controversy, the million-plus customers of the Greater Cincinnati Water Works first began drinking fluoridated water.Perhaps the Water Works simply forgot this golden anniversary. More likely, it was an intentional oversight. Although Water Works employees finally began dumping bags of sodium silica fluoride into Cincinnati’s water supply in 1976, that machinery had been fully installed but gathering dust since 1952, frozen by lawsuits, referendums and political gamesmanship.As far back as 27 November 1950, keynote speaker Dr. Harold W. Oppice of Chicago addressed the 85th annual meeting of the Ohio State Dental Association at Cincinnati’s Netherland Plaza Hotel. Dr. Oppice announced that fluoridation of drinking water was the “most significant advance in preventive dentistry in years.”…