Does Europe Have Fluoride in the Water? Exploring Details of This Controversial Additive

Whether or not to select oral health products that include fluoride as an additive is a personal health and wellness matter that should be discussed with a dental provider.

However, many consumers have a widespread aversion to fluoride, such that families often choose extra strength filters to remove as much fluoride as possible from their tap water.

While the debate rages on in the U.S. as to the long-term safety of fluoride in our water, is the same true in Europe?

If you avoid fluoridated water as well as products that contain fluoride as an additive, should you be on alert when traveling to Europe? Are all European countries the same with their policies governing fluoride in the water?

Below, we explore the status of Europe's drinking water and what you should know when traveling abroad throughout Europe.

Yes, some countries in Europe fluoridate their water supply. According to a presentation from the not-for-profit British Fluoridation Society, the United Kingdom, the Irish Republic, Spain, and Serbia each operate fluoridation programs (also known as "schemes") that add fluoride to the community's water supply.

In fact, more than 6 million people in the UK, representing 10% of the population, receive water that is either naturally or artificially fluoridated.

Furthermore, according to a city council presentation by the City of Spokane, Washington, an additional 70 million Europeans across several countries add fluoride to their table salt for public oral health purposes.

Interestingly enough, according to Temple University's Center for Public Health Law Research, adding fluoride to milk is a practice done by various European countries, whereas such a practice is not currently legal in the U.S.

Finally, public health officials in some European countries acknowledge there are some health benefits to "community water fluoridation" (CWF) programs; however, they do not employ such practices due to the naturally occurring fluoride content in their country's water.

Researchers from the University of Palermo (Italy) noted that countries like Austria, Belgium, France, Norway, and Italy do not participate in CWFs, and Italy cites the natural fluoridation of their water supply as the reason why.

According to a health guide from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral available in both rocks and soil.

As the California-based Caring Tree Children's Dentistry practice elaborates, fluoride is found in natural bodies of water and is a chemical ion of Fluorine.

Fascinatingly, per the dental practice, much of the fluoride found in oral health products is man-made in a laboratory. This allows scientists to work with a stabler form of fluoride, and it affords oral health product companies to dictate the strength or concentration of the synthesized fluoride in their products.

Public health researchers have not officially declared whether or not fluoride directly causes cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, one of the reasons for growing concerns about the link between fluoride and cancer is due to animal research in 1990, which found "uncertain" evidence of the potential that fluoridated water could cause cancer in male rats — but no such evidence among female rats or male or female mice.

If that sounds like a complicated mouthful, that's because it is. Debate rages on whether or not fluoride causes cancer. As the American Cancer Society explains, some people theorize that fluoride causes cancerous cells in growth plates to rapidly grow, in turn leading to osteosarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer.