CareQuest Institute Reacts to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Lee Zeldin’s Statements on Fluoride

(Boston, MA) – CareQuest Institute for Oral Health®, a leading national nonprofit focused on creating a more accessible, equitable, and integrated oral health system, issued a statement today regarding US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plans to direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin’s announcement that the EPA, which oversees water quality, will also "take action." 

CareQuest Institute Senior Director of Public Policy Melissa Burroughs issued the following statement: 

“Decades of research have proven that at safe and optimal levels, fluoride is safe and plays a critical role in preventing tooth decay and promoting good oral health. Efforts to remove it from public water systems — like those recently proposed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and already enacted in Utah — ignore this well-established science and risk worsening our nation’s oral health crisis. 

“These actions come at a time when 70 million people in the US lack dental insurance, 23 million face potential cuts to Medicaid dental coverage, and recent HHS layoffs have scaled back vital oral health programs at the federal level. As a result, our nation is at risk of losing critical layers of protection for basic oral health access. Without these programs and infrastructure, the US could see a sharp rise in not just dental disease, but also preventable conditions linked to poor oral health — including diabetes, hypertension, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. As this administration works to make America healthier, we need solutions on oral health that continue to make improvements and address challenges posed by recent changes.”