Meryl Horn (Senior Producer, PhD)

But you might catch me humming a little ditty about it.

That's science passes.

That's science passes.

That's science passes.

Okay, there's so much controversy right now around water fluoridation. I know. Which we'll get to. Okay. But first, I have to tell you the, like, wild and surprising story about why we started putting fluoride in the water in the first place. Because it is kind of weird that we do this, right? I guess so. How did it all start? Well, it's actually a detective story. It starts in 1901.

Okay, there's so much controversy right now around water fluoridation. I know. Which we'll get to. Okay. But first, I have to tell you the, like, wild and surprising story about why we started putting fluoride in the water in the first place. Because it is kind of weird that we do this, right? I guess so. How did it all start? Well, it's actually a detective story. It starts in 1901.

So picture a young dentist. Frederick McKay moves to Colorado Springs. And he starts seeing patients and immediately notices that there's something weird going on. A lot of his patients have dark brown stains on their teeth. He writes that the color was sometimes dirty or an almost ebony black.

So picture a young dentist. Frederick McKay moves to Colorado Springs. And he starts seeing patients and immediately notices that there's something weird going on. A lot of his patients have dark brown stains on their teeth. He writes that the color was sometimes dirty or an almost ebony black.

Do you want to see pictures?

Do you want to see pictures?

All right.

All right.

Yeah. So McKay starts to obsess over this, searching for an explanation. He writes to a friend at one point who responded, quote, I have never seen a stain that penetrated the enamel so deeply before. And this guy guessed that maybe the stains came from dead organisms. Hmm. So, like, they had no idea at first, like, what was going on here.

Yeah. So McKay starts to obsess over this, searching for an explanation. He writes to a friend at one point who responded, quote, I have never seen a stain that penetrated the enamel so deeply before. And this guy guessed that maybe the stains came from dead organisms. Hmm. So, like, they had no idea at first, like, what was going on here.

I mean, it looks, you could see, it looks like mold on their teeth.

I mean, it looks, you could see, it looks like mold on their teeth.

Yeah. It must have been pretty startling, right? Yes. So, McKay starts traveling around the U.S. looking at other places which also have this staining. And he starts suspecting that it's coming from, quote, something in the drinking water. But he doesn't really know for sure.

Yeah. It must have been pretty startling, right? Yes. So, McKay starts traveling around the U.S. looking at other places which also have this staining. And he starts suspecting that it's coming from, quote, something in the drinking water. But he doesn't really know for sure.

But then he goes to this town in Arkansas where people only started getting stains in their teeth if they were born after 1909. And apparently that's when the town switched water supplies. So now they just have to see what is in the new water supply. Yes, what's different. And so someone does this analysis and McKay finally gets an answer after three decades of searching. It was the fluoride.

But then he goes to this town in Arkansas where people only started getting stains in their teeth if they were born after 1909. And apparently that's when the town switched water supplies. So now they just have to see what is in the new water supply. Yes, what's different. And so someone does this analysis and McKay finally gets an answer after three decades of searching. It was the fluoride.