YORK COUNTY — Voters within the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District have overwhelmingly chosen to remove fluoride from their drinking water following Tuesday’s election.

Voters in the district — which also serves Ogunquit, Arundel and parts of York and coastal Biddeford — were asked if they wish to add fluoride to the water supply for the intended purpose of reducing tooth decay.

By a landslide, voters rejected the referendum 13,405 to 6,918. Results from York came in Thursday morning, slightly upping the totals from Tuesday night’s results. Voting no was a vote stop putting fluoride in the water.

The outcome is a victory for KKW, which had taken a stance against fluoridating the water, citing health concerns.

“We are pleased with the outcome of the vote. Although we felt that the vote would result in as it turned out, we did not expect the landslide that happened,” Norm Labbe, superintendent of the water district, said Thursday.

Labbe said KKW ceased fluoridation of its water supply at 7 a.m. Wednesday, immediately following the election, and had notified the state about its ending the process.

Labbe said fluoridation was not necessary because some fluoride is already present in KKW’s water supply, and because people are ingesting more fluoride through dietary sources than they have in the past.

The federal government has set an optimal minimum requirement of 0.7 ppm of fluoride, and Maine has a minimum fluoridation requirement of 0.5 ppm, with an optimal guideline the same as the federal level. KKW’s water supply already contains a natural 0.2 to 0.3 parts per million of calcium fluoride, Labbe said.

Labbe said fluoride is effective when applied topically but, when ingested, excess fluoride consumption may possibly be a health hazard because fluoride bonds strongly to calcium, which could lead to weaker bones. He also said fluoride could lead to dental fluorosis, a patchy whitening of the teeth.

But those in support of fluoridation, known as “fluoridationists,” disagree with the district’s position, saying fluoride has no proven negative health effects.

Dianne Smallidge, associate professor at the Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene at MCPHS University in Boston, said Thursday the voters’ choice to end fluoridation was “disheartening” because many people who need supplemental fluoride will now no longer receive it.

Smallidge, who is a Wells resident, also said she believes the water district inappropriately used a public agency to circulate what she called “junk science” and “propaganda” to scare people into voting against mass fluoridation.

“Not one of them has the credentials to be talking about dental science and the impact of fluoride,” Smallidge said of Labbe and the water district’s board of trustees. “They scared people. This is what anti-fluoridationists do. Those scary things really jump out at them.”

Smallidge said it has been shown dental decay rates increase when fluoride is removed from public water supplies, and said those who cannot afford dental care will be directly affected.

Moving forward, Smallidge said she and other area dental professionals will have to work to increase public awareness of proper dental hygiene through outreach and education efforts. But not everyone will benefit from that, she said.

“Those people who would benefit most from fluoride aren’t going to be the ones who will have access to that education,” she said. “The most vulnerable people in our communities are now being robbed of the what CDC says is one of the great public health achievements we have ever known.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that drinking fluoridated water reduces tooth decay by 25 percent in children and adults. The American Dental Association also says the same.

“The facts speak for themselves. Fluoride is safe, it is effective and helps those without access to care and don’t have the opportunity to be educated about oral health,” Smallidge said. 

Labbe said he is glad to see the argument be put to rest following Tuesday’s election, saying the water district can now go forward with its mission to provide the best quality water at the most reasonable cost to consumers.

He did say operating costs were not a motivating factor in opposing the referendum. Of the $7 million annually KKW requires to maintain its operations, it only costs $20,000 to fluoridate the water.

Labbe also said he is glad to see people take a stand against what he said are outdated models of public health.

“As we learn more in the world, sometimes we have to rethink the dogma, rethink things that we believed were true in light of science and knowledge,” he said. “This is one of those cases that it’s time to rethink the dogma and we did it, and the people responded positively.”

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.